Vanilla Ice Cream

If there's one thing that you always want to have on hand in the freezer, it's a classic vanilla ice cream. It's great on its own, easy to dress up with sauces or other toppings, can be added to all manner of drinks, goes well on many a cake and pie, and can even be melted down to make a quick creme anglaise should you ever not have time to make a custard to go with a dessert. 

There are many types of ice cream recipe, but this is a very straightforward one that uses the French custard method- which is only tricky in that you have to watch your custard carefully and stir a lot. The most important things to watch out for are:

• Make sure you stir the whole thing through, not leaving the bottom layer to burn.
• Heat the milk mixture only until steaming or lightly bubbling- don't let it bubble over! 
• Strain well to get rid of any curdling both when mixing the tempered egg yolks back in, and when adding the custard to the remaining cream. A little graininess won't be noticed in the final frozen product, but still should be avoided.

I use two vanilla beans as well as extract because I really like vanilla, but you can just use one bean or 2 Tsp. extract total for a more subtle flavour. I wouldn't recommend messing with the fat content of the dairy, number of yolks or amount of sugar, since all of these things will contribute to how smooth the ice cream will be- and a small scoop of very good ice cream is infinitely superior to a whole tub of less rich but less tasty generic store-bought ice cream. 

Some of the mix-ins that I can recommend are chocolate slivers, caramel sauce, jam, lemon curd, biscuit pieces- anything, really. The best part of homemade ice cream is that you can make absolutely any flavour that strikes your fancy.

Vanilla Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz

1 C. Whole milk, 3.8%
2 C. Whipping cream, 30-35%
6 Egg yolks
3/4 C. Sugar
2 Vanilla beans, sliced in half lengthwise
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract or rum
Large pinch of salt

In a large bowl, mix 1 C. of the cream and vanilla extract or rum. Cover with a strainer or sieve.

In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar, remaining cream, milk and salt. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla beans into the pot with a knife and put the empty pods in as well.

Bring to a slight boil, then remove from heat and let steep, covered, for at least 30 minutes.

In a separate, heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Heat the milk mixture until it begins to steam, then pour 1 C. of it, one third at a time, into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. When the yolks and liquid have been completely mixed, strain them back into the liquid remaining in the pot.

Cook the custard on medium heat, whisking constantly, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon or spatula- about the thickness of a gravy. Remove from heat and strain into the bowl with the remaining cream. Mix well and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, churn according to the instructions of your ice cream machine. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.