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Chocolate Ice Cream

A custard-based chocolate ice cream made with milk, sugar, cream, eggs, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk in a double boiler.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks mixed with sugar and salt.

  3. If it does not thicken, add a little cornstarch mixed with milk.

  4. Stir the custard constantly to keep it smooth.

  5. When cooked, remove from heat and stir in the melted chocolate.

Cool and finish

  1. Set aside to cool.

  2. Just before freezing, mix the custard, cream, beaten egg whites, and vanilla.

  3. If not perfectly smooth, strain before adding the cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Eggs
Egg proteins set as the custard heats, thickening the base and giving it body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the other ingredients.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the texture of the frozen ice cream.
Cream
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, creamier mouthfeel.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavor and adds fat that makes the ice cream richer.

The step that matters

Stir the custard constantly while it cooks. Egg proteins set when heated, and if the custard gets too hot or sits still it can scramble or curdle. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so it thickens smoothly.

“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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