Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Boil the milk in a pot.
Once it is almost boiling, add enough flour dissolved in milk to create a thin gravy.
Boil for 20 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add 1½ cups sugar and let it boil briefly.
Strain the mixture and let it sit overnight.
Finish and freeze
In the morning, taste and add more sugar if needed.
Stir in 1 pint of cream, the beaten egg whites, and 2 tablespoons of vanilla.
Freeze the mixture.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 that the custard-like mixture is built on.
- Flour
- Thickens the boiled milk into a thin gravy that gives the ice cream body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and softens its texture once frozen.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and airiness to the mixture when stirred in.
The step that matters
Boil for 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Flour thickens best when it is fully heated and kept moving, so constant stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pot.
“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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