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 ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the milk.
In a bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt, and whole eggs, then beat together.
Add the boiling milk to the mixture and stir well.
Transfer to a double boiler and cook for 20 minutes, stirring constantly until smooth, then occasionally.
Finish and sweeten
Once cool, add cream, flavoring, and additional sugar to achieve desired sweetness.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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 custard as they cook, giving it body and structure.
- Flour
- Stabilizes the custard so it becomes thick and less likely to curdle.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the texture of the frozen dessert.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Egg proteins set at gentle heat and can scramble if overheated. Constant stirring and gentle heat keep the custard smooth and thickened.
“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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