Why it works: Syrup and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Damson Cream Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the damson pulp
Combine 1 pint of damsons and ½ cup of water in a saucepan.
Boil until soft.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the stones.
Make and freeze the ice cream
Mix the damson pulp with 1 pint of thick syrup and 1 pint of thick cream.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream freezer and churn over ice until frozen.
Transfer the mixture into a mold and pack it in ice.
Let it set firm.
Serve
Dip the mold in warm water, wipe it with a cloth, and turn the contents out onto a fancy dish.
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.
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Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Damsons
- Provide the main fruit flavour and, once cooked and sieved, the body of the ice cream.
- Thick cream
- Adds fat, which makes the frozen ice cream rich and smooth in texture.
- Thick syrup
- Adds sweetness and sugar, which keeps the frozen ice cream softer and less icy.
The step that matters
Churn over ice until frozen. Churning while the mixture freezes keeps ice crystals small, so the ice cream turns out smooth rather than grainy or icy.
“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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