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Dessert

Caramel Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream flavored with caramel.

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 ↓

Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix half the sugar with the salt and flour.

  2. Add the slightly beaten egg.

  3. Slowly add scalded milk and cook in a double boiler until thick.

Caramelize and combine

  1. Caramelize the remaining sugar in an omelet pan over heat, stirring constantly until brown but not burned.

  2. Add the caramelized sugar to the custard and stir until dissolved.

Cool and freeze

  1. Cool the mixture, then add cream and vanilla, and freeze.

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. Cream + sugartop 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 cooks, giving the base body and a smooth texture.
Flour
Stabilizes the custard, helping it thicken without curdling during cooking.
Sugar
Sweetens the base, and when caramelized it adds deep, toasty flavor and color.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the frozen ice cream rich and creamy rather than icy.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as it cooks.

The step that matters

Caramelize the remaining sugar. Sugar darkens quickly once it passes golden, so it can turn bitter and burned. Stirring constantly and removing it at brown but not burned keeps the caramel flavor pleasant.

“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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