Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Iced Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Combine egg yolks, sugar, and boiled milk in a saucepan to make a boiled custard.
Flavor the custard with vanilla to taste.
Freeze the custard according to standard ice cream freezing methods.
Add fruit and cream
When nearly frozen, add the fruit mixture and maraschino liqueur.
Cover and freeze for a few more minutes, then fold in the whipped cream.
Freeze and serve
Pack the mixture into a mold and finish freezing as per standard ice cream instructions.
Serve with a sauce of whipped cream.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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 to the frozen texture.
- Whipped cream
- Adds air and creaminess, keeping the frozen dessert light and smooth.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture softer by lowering the freezing point.
- Maraschino liqueur
- Adds aroma and flavor, and its alcohol keeps the frozen mixture softer.
- Dried fruit
- Adds sweetness and chewy texture through the frozen custard.
The step that matters
Fold in the whipped cream while the custard is only partly frozen. If the custard is too hard, the cream will not blend in evenly and the texture will be lumpy. If it is too soft, the cream will deflate and the dessert will be dense and icy.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.