The Essential: Ice Cream

Ice cream holds a premier spot in the portrait of Americana. From the jingle of the ice cream truck cruising the streets to the vision of precariously scooped ice cream cones melting in the hot summer sun, the frozen dessert kindles a nostalgia dappled in the colors of red, white, and blue. Ice cream may not be an American invention, but it is an American art form. Over the past two centuries, pioneering American innovation saw the birth of soft serve ice cream, the waffle cone, the home ice cream machine, and commercial ice cream production. And our love for the treat can be backed up with staggering statistics: the average American eats about 23 pounds (roughly 4½ gallons) of ice cream per year.

Our ice cream primer is all about bringing this iconic treat back to your home kitchen. Focusing on the classic custard-based ice cream, our ice cream recipe is the perfect marriage of rich egg yolks and decadent cream. From there, we share sweet inspiration on how to create your own customized scoop with a look at infusions, mix-ins, and more. No need to scream, bakers. The ideal ice cream is here.

Vanilla Infusion

Our rich vanilla flavor begins with a quick heat and a slow steep

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together cream, milk, ⅓ cup (67 grams) sugar, vanilla bean and reserved seeds, and salt; cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until steaming. (Do not boil.) It may seem like we are heating this mixture to melt the sugar, but this heat is used to properly jump-start the infusion process. Dairy is naturally very absorbent of flavors and odors, but the heat helps draw out the delicate oils in the vanilla bean and circulate the flavors more thoroughly in the mixture. That’s why using a vanilla bean is key for this custard base, as vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste won’t have the complex flavors that the pod contains.

2. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 45 minutes. After heat, time is the most important step in infusing. Covered and left to stand for 45 minutes, the flavors of the vanilla are allowed to truly bloom. For other infusions, feel free to taste as you go, steeping just until desired flavor is reached.

Making Your Custard Base

How to transform your vanilla cream into vanilla custard

1. Wring out vanilla bean, extracting as much liquid as possible; discard vanilla bean. Heat cream mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently, until steaming. (Do not boil.) In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together egg yolks and remaining ⅓ cup (67 grams) sugar. You may be wondering why we didn’t add all the sugar to the infusion in the first part of this process. This bit of sugar acts as a little anti-curdling insurance for our egg yolks. Once whisked in, sugar will act as a slight buffer to the heat of the cream mixture added in the next step.

2. Gradually add half of warm cream mixture to egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. The same thing that makes custard work—heat—can also be its undoing. Egg yolk that is incorporated into a hot mixture too quickly will curdle. For our custard base, we temper our egg yolks before cooking them on the stovetop. The method calls for scalding your dairy—heating it on the stovetop until steaming— before adding it in a steady stream to your eggs yolks and sugar while whisking constantly. This keeps the eggs from being shocked into premature coagulation on the hot stovetop.

3. Add egg yolk mixture to remaining cream mixture in pan, whisking constantly. When heated with dairy and sugar, the egg yolk proteins spread evenly throughout and congeal to create a smooth, creamy mixture. Custards made only with egg yolks, like a typical custard-base ice cream recipe, have a more tender, less gelatinous texture than custards made with whole eggs.

4. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until an instant-read thermometer registers 178°F (81°C) to 180°F (82°C). (Mixture will lightly coat the back of a metal spoon and hold a trail when a finger is run through.) We’re thickening our custard base, but it’ll be much looser and more pourable than your typical custard. Think of the texture of melted ice cream. It’s thick enough to lightly coat the back of your spoon, but it isn’t thick enough to pour in luxurious ribbons like a fudge sauce. This step is also important for killing any harmful bacteria lingering in the raw egg yolk. This is what makes custard ice cream food-safe.

The Big Churn

How to chill and churn your custard

1. Place mixture in bowl in an ice water bath until an instant-read thermometer registers 35°F (1.6°C) to 37°F (2.7°C). Whisk chilled ice cream base, and pour into ice cream maker. You need your mixture to be slightly colder than what your refrigerator can give you but not as cold as if you had stored it in the freezer either. This cold temperature ensures a faster freezing process in the ice cream maker, making the ice crystals smaller and the overall texture of the ice cream smoother. For a less messy pour, use a spouted liquid-measuring cup to add ice cream base to the ice cream maker.

2. Churn according to manufacturer’s instructions until thickened to the consistency of soft serve. While each ice cream maker works slightly differently, each one is working to achieve the same thing. The container of your ice cream maker has coolant-chilled walls, a super cold surface that helps your custard form “seed” crystals, tiny little ice crystals that give your ice cream its signature texture. A paddle in the center often stays stationary while the chilled container rotates, ensuring that the custard receives even exposure to the chilled surface area. This spinning also helps keep the seed crystals from clumping together to form chunky ice chips. Once it reaches the soft serve texture, you’ve made just the right number of seed ice crystals to create a smooth and creamy ice cream.

3. Spoon into a chilled, airtight, freezer-safe container, and cover with a piece of plastic wrap, pressing wrap directly onto surface of ice cream; freeze until solid, about 4 hours or overnight. While the delights of soft serve ice cream are undeniable, they’re also famously fleeting. To transform your soft serve into a more solid scoop, a final stage of freezing is needed. This is known as the hardening process, where the rest of the liquids set up and freeze and the seed crystals are no longer isolated in a looser mixture.

Customize Your Ice Cream

One reason ice cream has become an American classic? It appeals to the American spirit of individualism. Your options are boundless, subject only to your taste and creativity. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

INFUSE YOUR BASE: Stir flavorful items like a vanilla bean and its seeds, citrus zests, or whole spices into your cream mixture. Cook until steaming; remove from heat, cover, and let stand until desired flavor is reached, tasting as needed. Remove or strain out unwanted solids before continuing with the recipe as directed.

FLAVOR YOUR CUSTARD: Jazz up your chilled custard with extracts, alcohol, citrus juice, or strawberry sauce. (See our strawberry variation on page 47.) Be particularly careful with alcohol, though, adding no more than 3 tablespoons (45 grams). Too much can prevent your ice cream from churning properly. Once flavored, cool your base further, if needed, before churning as directed.

MAKE IT YOUR OWN WITH MIX-INS: Add ¾ to 1 cup of mix-ins—such as chopped or crushed cookies, brownies, marshmallows, nuts, or cake pieces—to ice cream during final 2 minutes of churning. Note that chocolate chips or chunks tend to take on a hard or unpleasant texture when frozen. Instead, make your own; check out our mint chocolate chip variation on page 47 to learn how.

DRESS IT UP WITH RIBBONS: Once ice cream has churned to soft serve consistency, transfer to desired container, layering in ¾ to 1 cup fruit preserves, prepared caramel topping, or prepared fudge topping (not warmed) in dollops or piped ribbons as desired.

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