Name: Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 quart of cream; 1 quart of milk; ½ pound of macaroons; ¼ pound of almonds or pecans; ⅓ bottle of Maraschino cherries; 1½ cups of sugar

Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓

Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Combine the cream, milk, macaroons, almonds or pecans, Maraschino cherries, and sugar in a large bowl.
Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

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.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,130 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream: Adds fat and richness, giving the frozen ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
Milk: Provides liquid and body, forming the base that freezes into the ice cream.
Macaroons: Add almond flavour and a soft, chewy texture that breaks up within the frozen base.
Almonds or pecans: Add crunch and nutty flavour that contrasts with the smooth frozen base.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer and scoopable.
Maraschino cherries: Add sweetness, fruity flavour and colour to the frozen mixture.