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
Boil the milk with the grated chocolate.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sugar and salt.
Add the egg mixture to the boiling milk and chocolate, and cook in a double boiler until thickened.
Chill and freeze
Let the mixture cool, then stir in the cream and vanilla.
Pour the mixture into a six-quart ice cream freezer and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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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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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Thicken the custard as they cook, giving the ice cream a smooth, rich body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer and scoopable.
- Cream
- Adds fat, which gives a creamy texture and reduces iciness.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and some fat that adds richness to the base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken and the other ingredients are suspended in.
The step that matters
Cook the egg mixture until thickened in the double boiler. Eggs thicken gently at moderate heat; if they get too hot they can scramble, leaving lumps in the custard and a grainy texture in the finished ice cream.
“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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