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 ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Bring the milk to a boil in a large pot.
In a bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, flour, and starch.
Pour the mixture into the hot milk and cook for a few more minutes.
Remove from heat and let it cool.
Finish and freeze
Once cooled, stir in the cream and your choice of flavoring.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the texture of the frozen custard.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness.
- Flour
- Helps thicken the custard and stabilise it against curdling.
- Starch
- Thickens the base and gives a smooth, body-rich texture.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a creamy mouthfeel and softer freezing.
The step that matters
Pour the mixture into the hot milk and cook. Adding the egg and starch mixture to hot milk can scramble the eggs or leave lumps if it is not stirred constantly. Cooking gently until thickened lets the starch and egg set the custard smoothly before it cools.
“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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