Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

Equipment

Method

  1. Pour the milk and cream into a pan. Add to the pan all the seeds from the vanilla pod. Cut the pod into two or three pieces and also add these to the pan.
  2. Heat the pan gently stirring in half the caster sugar. *Do not let it boil* - you should see only see a few bubbles at the edge. Once the sugar has all dissolved, take the pan off the heat and set aside to cool, for half an hour at least (while you perform the other steps, below, and giving time for the vanilla favour to infuse into the liquid).
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and other half of the sugar, for about 2 minutes. The mixture should be consistently mixed, and fall off the beaters in ribbons.
  4. Add a quarter of the liquid from the pan into the egg/sugar mixture, and whisk until consistent (should only take around a minute). Reheat the liquid in the pan gently until it just boils. Remove the pan from the heat and mix into the pan the remaining egg/sugar mixture from the bowl. Whisk until it is consistent (should take around 1-2 minutes).
  5. Reheat the mixture in the pan *gently*, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. *Do not let the mixture boil, or let it curdle.* After around 10 minutes, the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, and bubbles should trying to burst the surface of the liquid. When this happens, remove from the heat.
  6. Pour the mixture from the pan into the heat-proof dish and let it cool, but keep stirring to avoid a skin forming. It may take around 15-20 minutes to cool. Remove the vanilla pod pieces - the seeds can remain in the mixture.
  7. Once cool, place in the freezer for an hour. After this, whisk for 5 minutes. Put back in the freezer for an hour, then remove and whisk again for 5 minutes. Do this four times. On the last whisking, transfer to a plastic storage bowl and place in the freezer overnight.
  8. The ice-cream should keep in a freezer for three months. Do not refreeze if it melts.