Why it works: Milk and fig are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
Tutti Frutti
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
In a small saucepan, add a spoonful of sugar and burn it to caramel, then add a little water to dissolve.
Make the custard
In a separate pot, make a yellow boiled custard by combining milk, sugar, and egg yolks. Color it with the caramel.
Add the curaçao for flavor, strain the mixture, and let it cool.
Once cooled, fold in the whipped cream and freeze the mixture, beating it occasionally.
Add the fruit and serve
Cut the fruits to the size of cranberries, mix them in, and cover the freezer with a fresh layer of ice and salt.
Serve by spoonfuls directly from the freezer.
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.
-
Milk + figtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,026 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,241 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a yellow color.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that freezes into the ice cream.
- Thick cream
- Adds fat, which makes the frozen mixture smoother and creamier.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point so it stays soft.
- French candied fruits
- Add chewy texture and sweet fruit flavor throughout the frozen dessert.
The step that matters
Fold in the cream after the custard cools. Whipped cream folded into warm custard deflates and melts, so the mixture loses its lightness. Cooling first keeps the cream airy and helps the dessert freeze smoothly.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Figthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
More tutti frutti recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.