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 ↓
Iced Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Combine egg yolks, sugar, and boiled milk in a saucepan to make a boiled custard.
Flavor the custard with vanilla to taste.
Freeze the custard according to standard ice cream freezing methods.
Add fruit and mold
When nearly frozen, add the fruit mixture and maraschino if using, and mix the mixture well.
Pack the mixture into a mold.
Freeze the molded mixture for a few more minutes.
Serve
Serve with a sauce of whipped cream.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Add richness and help thicken the custard base as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture softer by lowering the freezing point.
- Boiled milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives the pudding its creamy body.
- Whipped cream
- Trapped air makes the sauce light and adds a rich, creamy finish.
- Canned or dried fruit
- Adds chewy texture and fruity flavour throughout the frozen pudding.
The step that matters
Add the fruit when the custard is nearly frozen. Adding fruit to a custard that is still liquid lets it sink or settle unevenly. Adding it near the frozen stage helps distribute it through the pudding.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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