Why it works: Vanilla and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry piperonal, which smells bitter, coconut. The science ↓
Bisque Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the stale macaroons, kisses, and lady-fingers through a colander.
Make the base
Heat 1 pint of cream in a saucepan; when hot, add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Remove from heat; when cool, add the remaining cream and strain into the ice cream maker.
Freeze and serve
When nearly frozen, add the vanilla, caramel, pounded cakes, and sherry.
Beat until perfectly smooth.
Re-pack as directed and let stand for 2 hours or more in a cold place before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Vanilla + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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
- Rich cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
- Macaroons
- Crumbled into the base, they add body and a toasted almond sweetness.
- Lady-fingers
- Crumbled sponge cake adds soft body and absorbs flavour from the sherry.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and flavour, and its alcohol keeps the frozen texture softer.
The step that matters
Adding the crumbs when nearly frozen. If the base is too liquid, the crumbs sink and the ice cream turns grainy. Adding them once it is nearly frozen keeps them evenly distributed, and beating then smooths the mixture.
“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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