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 finish

Freeze the mixture until it begins to set.
Work the mixture to give the ice a smooth texture.
Transfer the ice to a mold and set it up in the freezer until fully frozen.

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, which makes the frozen ice rich and creamy rather than icy.
Strawberries: Provide the main fruit flavor and some of the liquid in the mixture.
Sugar: Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point so it stays softer when frozen.

The step that matters

Working the mixture while it begins to set. Stirring or beating the partly frozen mixture breaks up ice crystals as they form, giving a smooth texture. If it is left to freeze undisturbed, larger crystals form and the ice turns coarse and 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