Name: Strawberry Cream Ice
Ingredients: 2 cups double cream; 1 lb. picked strawberries, pressed through a coarse sieve; 1½ cups sifted sugar or nearly 1 pint of syrup (32 degrees strength); a few drops of cochineal (optional, for color)

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 ↓

Strawberry Cream Ice

Ingredients

2 cups double cream
1 lb. picked strawberries, pressed through a coarse sieve
1½ cups sifted sugar or nearly 1 pint of syrup (32 degrees strength)
a few drops of cochineal (optional, for color)

Directions

Make the mixture

In a bowl, mix the double cream, pressed strawberries, sugar (or syrup), and cochineal if using.

Freeze and set

Freeze the mixture, stirring occasionally to ensure it has a smooth texture.
Once frozen, work the ice to give it sufficient body.
Transfer the ice to a mold and set it.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Double cream: Adds fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
Strawberries: Provide the main fruit flavor and acidity, along with moisture in the base.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer when frozen.

The step that matters

Stirring while freezing. Stirring the mixture during freezing breaks up ice crystals as they form, which keeps the texture smooth rather than grainy.

“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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Strawberry Cream Ice