Homemade vanilla ice cream being churned.
Homemade ice cream really rocks! If you’ve ever tried it, you know what I mean. Expensive boutique ice creams are all good, but homemade is great. I first learned how to make ice cream when I attended La Varenne Cooking School in Paris in the late 1980s. My ice cream repertoire has since expanded after working in a string of restaurants, the most memorable by far being a stint at Restaurant L’Arpege in Paris (then 2 Michelin stars, now 3!). During my two-week internship in the kitchen I was blown away by chef Alain Passard’s curry ice cream, made with an Indian-spice-infused caramel. Sweet, spicy, and cold all at the same time, it was magical.
Here’s my basic recipe for rich vanilla bean ice cream.
Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Makes about 1 quart
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean
6 egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Combine the milk, heavy cream, sugar, and salt in a heavy-based nonreactive saucepan. Using a paring knife, cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, then scrape out the black seeds and add them directly to the milk mixture. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring just to boiling point. Remove from heat and allow the vanilla bean to infuse the milk mixture for least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours. If longer than 15 minutes, reheat the milk again just to boiling point before proceeding.
- Prepare a heatproof bowl with a fine-mesh sieve placed over it; set aside. Place a quart-size metal bowl in the freezer for the freshly churned ice cream.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl. Slowly pour 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the bowl, whisking constantly. Transfer the egg yolk mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens enough to leave a clean streak (sometimes called a ribbon) across the back of the spoon. This usually takes about 7 to 9 minutes.
- Strain the custard into the prepared bowl, and return the vanilla bean to the custard. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
- Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to the chilled metal bowl and freeze until set: this can take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours.
