Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Beat the eggs and ½ pound of sugar until very light.
Stir this mixture into 1 quart of boiling milk, stirring constantly until it boils.
Combine and freeze
Add 1 pint of strong coffee to the cooled mixture.
Add 1 pint of rich cream sweetened with 1 cup of sugar to the mixture.
Mix everything together and adjust sweetness if necessary.
Freeze the mixture as you would ice cream.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard base and add richness and structure as they set with heat.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the base and helps keep the frozen texture softer.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding creaminess and body.
- Coffee
- Provides the main flavour of the ice cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture that feels creamy when frozen.
The step that matters
Stir the egg mixture into boiling milk. Stirring constantly keeps the eggs from scrambling in the hot milk. Egg proteins set at high heat, so uneven heating can leave lumps and a grainy custard.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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