Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Sprinkle strawberries with sugar, wash well, and rub through a sieve to extract juice.
To the pint of strawberry juice, add ½ pint of heavy cream and make it very sweet.
Freeze and finish
Freeze the mixture; when it begins to set, stir in 1 pint of whipped cream and a handful of sweetened whole strawberries.
You can put it in a mold and embed it in ice, or keep it in the freezer.
Alternatively, mash 1 quart of strawberries with 1 pound of sugar in an earthen bowl, rub through a colander, add 1 quart of sweet cream, and freeze.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Strawberry + creamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,525 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Strawberry + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,060 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the flavor and, once rubbed through, the juice that gives the ice cream its base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice cream soft and scoopable.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving a smooth, creamy texture.
- Whipped cream
- Stirred in near setting, it adds airiness and a lighter texture.
- Sweet cream
- In the alternative method, supplies fat and richness for a creamy texture.
The step that matters
Freezing when it begins to set. Whipped cream and whole strawberries should be stirred in only once the mixture starts to set. Stirring too early lets them sink or melt in, and stirring too late leaves them unevenly mixed into a firm base.
Swap the strawberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberrythe original
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Raisinfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar. 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.
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