Vanilla Ice Cream
- 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
- A pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 2 cups (500ml) heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream)
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.
- To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.
- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula and reached 175 degrees.
- Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight, potentially in bowl of ice.
- Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Notes:
- You can combine the milk/sugar/bean and let it steep overnight in the fridge.
- Don’t worry if when you pour the egg mixture into the strainer some of the egg doesn’t go through. You can use a spatula and push some but it’s OK if some doesn’t make it. And you can use the spatula on the bottom/outside of the strainer to remove stuff too.
Adapted from David Leibovitz