Vanilla Ice Cream
A cooked custard base, aged overnight, then churned. The ageing step is the one everyone skips and the one that matters.
- Prep
- 30m
- Cook
- 15m
- Waiting
- 12h
- Total
- 12h 45m
- Serves
- about 1 litre
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 2 cups | Heat until steaming, then infuse 20 minutes 25m | Pour the hot cream onto the yolks, whisking 4m | Cook, stirring constantly, to 82°C / 180°F 12m It coats the back of a spoon. Two degrees higher and it scrambles. | Strain and cool over an ice bath 10m | Age the base in the fridge overnight 12h Overnight ageing lets the fat crystallise and the proteins hydrate — smoother texture, less ice. | Churn, then freeze 4 hours to harden 40m Straight from the machine it is soft-serve. It needs time in the freezer to set. | |
| 1 cup | |||||||
| 1 | |||||||
| 6 | Whisk until pale 3m | ||||||
| 3/4 cup | |||||||
| 1/4 tsp | |||||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||||
-
Heat until steaming, then infuse 20 minutes
25m- whole milk 2 cups
- double cream 1 cup
- vanilla pod 1
-
Whisk until pale
3m- egg yolks 6
- caster sugar 3/4 cup
- fine salt 1/4 tsp
-
Pour the hot cream onto the yolks, whisking
4m- from 1 Heat until steaming, then infuse 20 minutes
- from 2 Whisk until pale
-
Cook, stirring constantly, to 82°C / 180°F
12m- from 3 Pour the hot cream onto the yolks, whisking
It coats the back of a spoon. Two degrees higher and it scrambles.
-
Strain and cool over an ice bath
10m- from 4 Cook, stirring constantly, to 82°C / 180°F
-
Age the base in the fridge overnight
12h- from 5 Strain and cool over an ice bath
Overnight ageing lets the fat crystallise and the proteins hydrate — smoother texture, less ice.
-
Churn, then freeze 4 hours to harden
40m- from 6 Age the base in the fridge overnight
- vodka (optional) 1 tbsp
Straight from the machine it is soft-serve. It needs time in the freezer to set.
Why ageing works
Straight after cooking, the fat globules are dispersed and the milk proteins are not fully hydrated. Twelve hours cold lets the fat partially crystallise and the proteins bind water that would otherwise freeze into detectable ice crystals. The result is measurably smoother and it costs nothing but patience.
Notes
- 82 °C is the number. Below it the custard is thin; above it, it curdles. Strain regardless, as insurance.
- Freeze the machine bowl for a full 24 hours. A marginally cold bowl churns slowly and slow churning means big ice crystals.
- Best within a week. Home ice cream has no stabilisers and gets icy.