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Vanilla Ice Cream II

A custard-based vanilla ice cream made by cooking milk, egg, flour, sugar, and vanilla, then freezing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Vanilla Ice Cream II

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Add the slightly beaten egg and gradually stir in the scalded milk.

  3. Cook the mixture over hot water for 20 minutes, stirring constantly at first. If the custard appears curdled, it will smooth out when frozen.

Finish and freeze

  1. Add the thin cream and vanilla.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Freeze the mixture until solid.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Thickens the custard as it heats, giving the base body and structure.
Flour
Stabilizes the custard and helps keep it smooth during cooking.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the egg and sugar cook into custard.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the frozen texture of the ice cream.
Thin cream
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
Vanilla
Adds the main aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Cook the custard gently over hot water. Egg proteins set when heated, so high heat or not stirring can curdle the custard. Gentle, constant stirring keeps it smooth and thickened.

“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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