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Dessert

Nesselrode or Ice Pudding

A custard-based ice pudding flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, brandy, and cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Nesselrode or Ice Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Boil milk with sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon to make a rich custard.

  2. Beat the egg yolks.

  3. Pour the hot milk mixture over the egg yolks while stirring.

  4. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

  5. Let the mixture cool.

Freeze

  1. Stir in thick cream, brandy, and halved cherries.

  2. Pour the mixture into a freezer.

  3. Freeze until firm.

Serve

  1. Decorate the pudding with preserved fruit.

  2. Pack the pudding in ice for one hour before serving.

  3. Dip the mold in cold water.

  4. Turn the mold out onto a dish.

  5. Pour maraschino or noyau over the pudding.

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. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

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

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

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard base and add richness as they set gently with the warm milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, carrying sugar and flavour.
Thick cream
Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture that resists iciness.
Lump sugar
Sweetens the custard and lowers the freezing point, keeping the pudding softer.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour, and lowers the freezing point to soften the frozen texture.
Dried cherries
Add chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness.

The step that matters

Pour the hot milk over the egg yolks while stirring. Adding hot milk too quickly or without constant stirring can scramble the yolks. Gradual, stirred tempering keeps the custard smooth so it thickens evenly.

“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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