Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry or Strawberry Cream Ices
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Mix the jam with the lemon juice and cream (or milk and cream mixture).
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve into the tin freezing pot.
If using fresh fruit, mix it well with the powdered sugar before adding.
Freeze
Place the pot in an ice pail and stir until frozen.
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 + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Strawberry + creamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,525 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Strawberry + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,206 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Strawberry + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,060 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Jam
- Supplies the fruit flavour and sweetness that give the ice its character.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the frozen ice a smooth, creamy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the fruit flavour and balances sweetness.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves easily into fresh fruit, adding sweetness and softening the texture of the frozen ice.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve. Sieving removes seeds and any lumps of jam so the mixture freezes smooth rather than grainy or icy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (strawberry, cream, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Bananafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against strawberry, cream, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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