Making Ice Cream 101
While there are some very good ice creams available in the market, nothing beats the taste and texture of homemade. Making ice cream at home used to involve a large machine with a bucket for the mixture and an outer container that held crushed ice and rock salt. Now with lightweight and relatively inexpensive machines utilizing an insulted freezer bowl it is very simple to pull out the machine and make a batch of your favorite flavor or two.
There is a basic set of procedures to follow when making ice cream, regardless of the recipe or the flavor. All egg-based ice creams start with a custard (crème anglaise) with various flavorings, cooked to 180 °F, strained, cooled rapidly in an ice bath, chilled overnight, and churned in an ice cream machine. That’s basically it, but the right tools and attention to procedures are necessary for recipe success.
Procedure steps for most custard-based ice creams:
- Cream and milk are combined in saucepan with part of the sugar, and a flavoring (i.e., vanilla bean) brought to the simmer, heat turned off and left to steep.
- Egg yolks and the remaining sugar are combined in mixing bowl to form a liaison (thickening agent).
- The egg yolk/sugar mixture is warmed (tempered) by slowly whisking some of the hot cream into it. If egg yolks aren’t warmed prior to adding to the cream in the sauce pan, they will coagulate.
- The custard is cooked over low heat just until it coats the back of the spoon, 180 °F. Cooking much further will result in cooked egg particles.
- The mixture is strained into a clean container, excess heat is released by brief whisking, placed in an ice bath to cool down to 60 °F, then placed in a refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.
- Mixture is added to ice cream machine bowl and churned according the particular machine’s instructions.
Tools and equipment:
- Ice cream machines:the basic Cuisinart 1.5 qt ice cream maker does a fine job. It uses an insulated freezer bowl which must be placed in the freezer overnight. Breville makes one with a built-in compressor which has gotten good reviews from my ice cream making friends. Old-fashioned bucket models with a larger capacity are still available, but they require ice and rock salt.
- 3-qt heavy bottomed sauce pan – to cook the custard, heavy bottom necessary to provide even cooking and reduce chance of over-cooked (scrambled) eggs on the bottom.
- Instant read thermometer – tells you exactly when the custard has reached the necessary temperature (180 °F).
- Stainless bowl or bain marie for the custard after straining.
- Large bowl or sauce pan to hold ice bath.
- Other tools: fine mesh strainer, whisk, heat-proof spatula, spoon (to check custard in absence of thermometer), liquid measuring cup, dry measuring cup or scale, trivet or hot pad to place the hot sauce pan.
Pre-recipe setup:
- Day before: put insulated machine bowl in freezer (if using this type of machine).
- On counter: small bowl for egg yolks, whisk, ice bath, clean bowl or bain marie for cooked custard, fine mesh strainer, hot pad or trivet.
- On stove: 3 qt. heavy bottomed sauce pan
- Adjacent to stove: whisk, heat-proof spatula to stir the custard, thermometer, pot holder, plate or something to hold the tools before and after they’re used.