I wanted to create an ice cream base with the smoothness, body, and stability of an egg yolk-ladden, very rich, custard-based ice cream--but without the strong egg flavor or the greasy film that these ice creams can leave in your mouth.

I turned to some of the tricks used by my favorite pastry chefs. There are two yolks per quart, instead of the usual six or more. There are also added milk solids, and very small amounts of gelatin, starch, and alcohol. The recipe is a bit more complex than typical homemade ice cream, but I think it's worth it. It has a full body, a natural and creamy melt, and it will last several days in the freezer without deflating or getting icy. It will be a bit too hard to serve when it's at freezer temperature, but not rock-hard like typical home recipes.

This recipe will work best with a slow-turning machine that doesn't introduce a lot of air (overrun). It will give you between 3/4 and 1 quart of 15% butterfat ice cream.

You can replace the vanilla with the seasoning of your choice. You can also increase or decrease the amount of fat by changing the proportion of milk to cream. I like to use less fat with fruit flavored ice creams, and much less fat with chocolate.

1-1/2 c Whole Milk* (367g)
1 tsp Cornstarch (2.8g)
1 Vanilla bean (I like Madagascar, but Mexican is also good)
3/4 c minus 1 TB Granulated Sugar (128g)
2-1/2 T Nonfat Dry Milk** (25g)
1/3 tsp Powdered Gelatin (1g)
1 pinch Salt (1g)
2 Egg Yolks (36g)
1-1/2 c Heavy Cream* (358g)
2 tsp Vodka or alcohol-based vanilla extract (10g)

-Make slurry with cornstarch and a small portion of the milk

-Add cornstarch slurry to 1/2 of the milk and bring to a light simmer in a saucepan. Stir until it thickens.

-Add the rest of the milk. Stir and heat just until it steams (about 180 degrees F). While it's warming up, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a finger or paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk. When the mixture reaches temperature, remove from heat. let it sit covered for 30 minutes.

-Whisk yolks until pale (optional—to diminish yellow color of base)

-Remove vanilla bean from milk and set aside. Thoroughly mix the dry milk, powdered gelatin, and salt into sugar. Whisk this mixture into the milk.

-Temper yolks with a portion of the warm milk and pour the milk / yolks back into the saucepan.

-Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and corners with a spatula until the custard thickens (about 180 to 185 degrees).*** Turn down heat and continue stirring vigorously for 15 seconds, then remove from heat and stir another 15 seconds.

-Pour the custard into the heavy cream. Stir in the vodka or extract. Put the vanilla bean back in. Chill thoroughly, at least 8 hours. If making a large quantity (more than 1 quart) chill in an ice bath before refrigerating.

-Strain with a fine strainer or chinois (important). Rinse and reserve vanilla bean for something else. Freeze the mix in your ice cream maker. With a mulitispeed machine, start on slowest speed. At end when ice cream firms up and begins to expand, raise speed until you get the volume you want (this recipe works best with a low overrun).

-Harden for several hours (ideally overnight) in a cold freezer. If you can set your freezer to -5 degrees F or lower, you'll get better results. Ice cream will have to warm up several degrees before serving. 20 to 30 minutes in the fridge works well. Ideal serving temperature is 5 to 10 degrees F.

*Use the best quality milk and cream you can get, ideally from an artisinal farm. Avoid ultrapasteurized cream. Unhomogenized milks and creams are ok, but may lead to a slightly icier texture.

**Dry milk needs to be high quality and it needs to be fresh and properly stored. There should be no off odors either when it's dry or when it's mixed. Better to leave it out than to use substandard dry milk. If you leave it out, increase sugar to 140g and increase vodka to 1TB.

***The starch and gelatin will have pre-thickened the custard, making it a bit trickier to tell when the yolks are properly cooked. However, the starch also offers some protection against curdling.

Date User Comment

Thu 07/24/08 22:14:50 paulraphael Initial entry of recipe.