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 ↓
Ices and Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Strain and beat the yolks of the eggs to a smooth cream.
Add sugar and beat again.
Strain and whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Stir the egg whites briskly into the yolk and sugar mixture.
Cook in a double boiler, stirring constantly until it coats a knife blade.
Remove from heat and strain through a wire sieve into a crock or pan.
Chill and freeze
Cover with gauze and let cool, then freeze.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard as they cook, while whipped whites add lightness and a airy texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the frozen texture by lowering the freezing point.
- Cream
- Adds fat, giving the frozen result a rich, smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Gentle, constant stirring over indirect heat lets the egg proteins thicken the custard evenly. Too much heat can scramble the eggs into lumps, so stop when it coats a knife blade.
“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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