Name: Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 vanilla bean; 1 tablespoon gelatine; 1 cup sugar; 2 cups boiling water; 2 cups heavy cream

Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

Split the vanilla bean and cut it into small pieces.
Combine the vanilla bean pieces, gelatin, sugar, and boiling water in a saucepan.
Boil until the gelatin is dissolved.
Strain the mixture and let it cool, but not cold.

Finish and freeze

Remove the bean pieces, scrape the inside into the gelatin, and stir in the cream.
If not sweet enough, add sugar to taste.
Pour into a freezer and stir constantly until well 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.

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.

Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Heavy cream: Adds richness and fat, giving the frozen ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
Gelatin: Stabilizes the mixture and helps give the frozen ice cream a firmer, smoother body.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and softens the frozen texture by lowering its freezing point.
Vanilla bean: Provides the main vanilla flavour and aroma.