Name: Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 pint milk; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2 eggs; 1 square Baker's chocolate (or 2 for a stronger flavor); 2 tablespoons sugar (for chocolate mixture); 1 cup sugar (for final mixture); 1 quart milk (for final mixture); 1 tablespoon boiling water (for chocolate mixture)

Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 pint milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 square Baker's chocolate (or 2 for a stronger flavor)
2 tablespoons sugar (for chocolate mixture)
1 cup sugar (for final mixture)
1 quart milk (for final mixture)
1 tablespoon boiling water (for chocolate mixture)

Directions

Make the custard base

Combine 1 pint of milk, 2 tablespoons of flour, and 2 eggs in a double boiler and cook over boiling water.
While cooking, melt 1 square of Baker's chocolate with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of boiling water until smooth.
Add the chocolate mixture to the boiling milk mixture and stir well.

Cool and finish

Remove from heat and cool the mixture in cold water, stirring occasionally.
Once cool, add 1 cup of sugar and 1 quart of milk, mixing thoroughly.

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.

Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,128 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Eggs: Thicken the milk mixture into a custard as they cook and set.
All-purpose flour: Stabilizes the cooked base and helps it thicken smoothly without lumps.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the custard and the final ice cream mixture.
Baker's chocolate: Provides the chocolate flavor and color of the ice cream.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and softens the texture of the frozen ice cream.

The step that matters

Cook the custard gently over boiling water with constant stirring. Eggs thicken as proteins set; if the mixture overheats or is not stirred, it can curdle or turn grainy, so the base should be cooked slowly and stirred.

“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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Chocolate Ice Cream