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Nesselrode Ice Cream

A chilled dessert made from cream, figs, almonds, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 519 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Nesselrode Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the figs and almonds very finely.

  2. Combine the chopped figs, almonds, and sherry in a bowl.

Freeze and finish

  1. When the cream is partially frozen, add the fig and nut mixture.

  2. Freeze again until fully set.

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.

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. Fig + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Fig + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Almond + sherrytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together517 recipes

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

  4. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream
Provides fat and richness, and freezes into the smooth, creamy base of the ice cream.
Figs
Add sweetness, body, and fruity flavour to the base.
Almonds
Add fat, nutty flavour, and a bit of crunch against the smooth cream.
Sherry
Adds aroma and flavour, and its alcohol keeps the frozen texture softer.

The step that matters

Add the fig and nut mixture when the cream is partially frozen. Adding it at this stage keeps the pieces evenly suspended instead of sinking to the bottom. If the cream is fully frozen the pieces stay unevenly distributed, and if it is still liquid they sink, leaving a dense layer below.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, almond, sherry):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Raspberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, almond, sherry. 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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