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Dessert

Plain Vanilla Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream made with milk, cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and whipped egg whites.

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 ↓

Plain Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Scald the milk in a saucepan, but do not boil.

  2. In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch.

  3. Gradually add the scalded milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

Combine and freeze

  1. In another bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Fold the whipped egg whites into the cream.

  3. Combine the milk mixture with the whipped cream, add vanilla, and mix well.

  4. Freeze the mixture until firm.

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

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

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

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the custard is built on.
Egg yolks
Thicken the base and add richness as they set with gentle heat.
Sugar
Sweetens the ice cream and softens its texture when frozen.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard base so it stays smooth and holds together.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture and a rich mouthfeel.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam to lighten the mixture and add airy volume.

The step that matters

Gradually add the scalded milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.. Adding hot milk too quickly or without constant stirring can scramble the egg yolks, leaving lumps instead of a smooth custard base.

“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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