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Dessert

Vanilla Ice Cream

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Vanilla Ice Cream

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Scald the heavy cream in a saucepan.

  2. Dissolve the isinglass in the milk over low heat.

  3. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix in the sugar until combined.

  4. Stir the scalded cream, dissolved isinglass mixture, and beaten egg yolks together.

Finish and freeze

  1. Add vanilla flavoring to taste, then strain the mixture and cool it.

  2. Fold in the whipped cream gently.

  3. Freeze the mixture and pack it in salt and ice for 4 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.

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.

  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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

  5. Cream + milktop 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

Heavy cream
Provides fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
Isinglass
Acts as a setting agent, adding body and helping the frozen texture hold together.
Egg yolks
Act as an emulsifier and thickener, adding richness and a smooth custard-like texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer and scoopable.
Whipped cream
Adds trapped air, making the frozen ice cream lighter and less dense.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped cream gently. Folding keeps the air trapped in the whipped cream. Vigorous stirring deflates it, leaving the frozen ice cream denser and heavier.

“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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