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 ↓
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Scald the milk with the dry coffee.
Strain the mixture into the beaten eggs, sugar, and salt.
Return to heat and cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
Freeze and serve
Add the cream and freeze.
Serve with marshmallow sauce.
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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Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard base and add richness as they cook.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and softens the texture of the frozen ice cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture that resists iciness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that carries the coffee flavor into the custard.
- Dry coffee
- Provides the main coffee flavor, infused into the hot milk.
The step that matters
Return to heat and cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Egg proteins thicken the custard as it heats, but overheating can curdle or scramble them. Stop once it coats a spoon so the base stays smooth and pourable before freezing.
“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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