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 ↓
Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Pick fresh strawberries and place them in a basin or pan.
Add powdered sugar and strawberry jam equal to the amount of strawberries.
Mix in lemon juice to taste and a small amount of whole milk.
Add heavy cream and mix well.
Freeze
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Strawberry jam + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together144 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Fresh strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and most of the body of the ice cream.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer and scoopable.
- Strawberry jam
- Adds concentrated strawberry flavour and extra sweetness.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the strawberry flavour.
- Whole milk
- Adds moisture and dairy richness to the base.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture that resists large ice crystals.
The step that matters
Freeze the mixture until solid. Sugar and fat keep the texture soft and smooth, but freezing too long without stirring lets large ice crystals form, making the ice cream hard and icy.
Swap the strawberry jam
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, milk, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangefits better
- Strawberry jamthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, milk, cream. 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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