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Vanilla Ice Cream with Eggs

A custard-based vanilla ice cream made with egg yolks, milk, sugar, vanilla, gelatin, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Vanilla Ice Cream with Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Cream the egg yolks and sugar together until light.

  2. Heat the milk with the vanilla until boiling, then gradually stir it into the egg mixture, whisking briskly.

  3. Place the mixture over hot water and stir constantly until it thickens slightly, but do not let it boil.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the soaked gelatin until dissolved.

  5. Strain the custard into a bowl and let it cool completely before freezing.

Churn and set

  1. Prepare your ice cream maker with ice and salt.

  2. Pour the custard into the cylinder, pack with ice and salt, and churn steadily.

  3. When the crank is difficult to turn, scrape down the cream from the sides and fold in the chilled whipped cream.

  4. Close the cylinder and churn again until too stiff, then remove the dasher and smooth the ice cream.

  5. Cover and pack with more salt and ice, then let it sit for 2 to 3 hours.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 as they set on gentle heat, and add richness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that freezes into the ice cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point for a softer texture.
Gelatine
Adds body and helps the frozen ice cream hold a smooth, stable texture.
Cream, whipped
Adds air and fat, making the ice cream lighter and creamier.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard over hot water. If the egg yolk mixture boils, the eggs scramble and curdle. Gentle heat that only thickens it keeps the custard smooth.

“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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