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
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Mix the eggs, sugar, and vanilla together.
Pour the boiling milk over the mixture and stir well.
Cook over low heat until it begins to thicken, but do not allow it to boil.
Remove from heat and let it cool.
Finish and freeze
Whip the cream to a moderately stiff froth.
Mix the whipped cream with the custard.
Pour the mixture into a freezer and freeze until stiff.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving the ice cream body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that the other ingredients are cooked into.
- Cream
- Whipped to a froth, it adds richness and air, making the ice cream light and smooth.
The step that matters
Cook the custard over low heat without boiling. Egg proteins thicken gently at moderate heat, but boiling can curdle them into a grainy texture. Stop once the custard begins to thicken.
“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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