Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Liqueur Cream Ice, Another Wat
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Mix the milk, egg yolks, and sugar in a saucepan.
Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.
Strain the mixture to remove any lumps.
Add the liqueur and mix well.
Freeze and set
Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker or suitable container.
Once frozen, transfer to a mold and set aside until firm.
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.
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth, creamy texture when frozen.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice creamy rather than rock-hard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the yolks thicken and the freezing turns into a creamy ice.
- Liqueur
- Adds flavour and aroma, and some alcohol softens the frozen texture.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. Egg yolks can scramble if overheated. Gentle heat with constant stirring thickens the custard evenly, giving a smooth base instead of curdled bits.
“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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