Why it works: Cream and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓
Ices
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the freezer
Pack one part coarse table salt with two parts ice around the cream pail to the height of the freezer.
Pour 1½ pints of water over the ice for 3 pints of cream.
Add 1 pint of water for each additional quart of cream.
If no ice cream freezer is available, place cream in a tin pail with a closed cover.
Pack ice and salt in a larger pail around the cream pail and let it chill for 20-30 minutes.
Freeze and set
Remove the cover.
Stir the freezing mixture until stiff.
Repack the cream pail.
Cover with a woolen cloth or carpet.
Leave it in a cool place for 1-2 hours.
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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Cream + walnuttop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Forms the rich, fatty base that freezes into a smooth, creamy texture.
- Coarse table salt
- Lowers the temperature of the ice-water mixture so it freezes the cream.
The step that matters
Stir the freezing mixture until stiff. Stirring while the cream freezes keeps ice crystals small and the texture smooth; if it is left still, larger crystals form and the ice cream turns grainy.
“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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