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Dessert

Nesselrode Ice Pudding

A chilled custard dessert with brandy, candied fruits, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Nesselrode Ice Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat milk, yolks, and sugar together until thickened.

  2. Let the custard cool in a basin.

  3. Whip the cream until soft peaks form.

  4. Fold the whipped cream into the cooled custard.

Freeze and serve

  1. Freeze the mixture until partly frozen.

  2. Add chopped almonds and mixed candied fruits, then mix in the brandy.

  3. Continue freezing until almost solid.

  4. Mold and pack in ice and salt.

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

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

  2. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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 and add richness as they set with the heated milk.
Heavy cream
Whipped into the custard to add lightness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and lowers the freezing point, keeping the pudding softer.
Milk
Forms the base of the custard that thickens with the yolks.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor, and its alcohol keeps the frozen texture softer.

The step that matters

Heat the milk, yolks, and sugar until thickened. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but can curdle or scramble if they get too hot, leaving a grainy custard. Stirring steadily and stopping once it coats a spoon keeps the base smooth before it is cooled and frozen.

“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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