Why it works: Milk and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,479 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
Ice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Pour the boiling milk over the crushed biscuits.
Add the custard, cream, candied fruit, noyeau, and sherry.
Freeze and serve
When cool, pour the mixture into a freezer and freeze.
Once frozen, mold the pudding and freeze until completely set.
Dip the mold in water and turn out the pudding.
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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Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Biscuit + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,235 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Biscuit + milktop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,332 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Savoy biscuits
- Crumbs soak up the hot milk, giving the pudding body and a light, absorbent texture.
- Custard
- Eggs and milk add richness and a smooth, creamy base for the frozen pudding.
- Cream
- Adds fat, which keeps the frozen pudding soft and smooth rather than icy.
- Candied fruit
- Adds sweetness and chewy pieces of fruit throughout the pudding.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and flavour, and its alcohol helps keep the frozen texture softer.
The step that matters
Freezing the mixture once it has cooled. Pouring warm mixture into the freezer can cause ice crystals to form and a grainy texture. Letting it cool first helps the pudding freeze smoothly and set 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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