Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Let’s talk vanilla…

Vanilla Extract: You can absolutely use Nielsen-Massey’s Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract for the same flavor, if you don’t have access to vanilla bean paste. It’s a 1:1 ratio for substitution. Add the vanilla extract to the ice cream base after straining the cooked custard into the rest of the chilled cream.

Vanilla Pods: You can also substitute the paste with a single Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean pod. Slice down the center of the pod and scrape out the insides with the back of your knife. Add both the seeds and pod at the same point you’d add the paste. Using a vanilla bean pod adds about 30 extra minutes to the recipe. In order to infuse the custard enough, it must steep for a bit. Don’t forget to reheat the cream back up to 140°F (60°C) before tempering the eggs.

Okay, so here’s my ringing endorsement of Nielsen-Massey products. (No, I am not sponsored. I WISH!) Their quality and variety are, quite frankly, amazing. I don’t use any other vanilla extract products in my home. This means I can only tell you about what they have for purchase. Real quick, here is a description of each extract and how I would use it: (An * means it also comes in paste form.)

Madagascar Bourbon vanilla*: This extract is rich, warm, and complex in flavor. I use it in anything where I want the vanilla to stand out on its own against deeply flavored ingredients.

Mexican vanilla*: This vanilla has a lighter flavor and spiced edge that works well in chocolately, tangy, spicy, and tropical applications.

Tahitian vanilla: This extract has the lightest flavor of them all. Use it where strong-tasting ingredients won’t overwhelm it; think Chantilly cream, meringue, pavlova, etc. If you want a light, almost floral vanilla ice cream, this is the one to use.

Ugandan vanilla: This extract is fruity and bold with notes of chocolate, making it perfect for creamy chocolate and caramel applications.

Indonesian vanilla: This is another bold and fruity extract, but it has notes of caramel and smoke. I recommend this vanilla for baking spiced and masala chai-flavored recipes.

Pure vanilla*: Blended vanilla, aka pure vanilla extract, is crafted to be the best of all worlds. It comes from a blend of vanilla beans sourced from multiple countries for a balanced yet strong flavor you can use in any recipe. This would be my second choice of vanilla flavoring for this ice cream.

So, I know you noticed me using the words creme anglaise in this recipe. What is it? Crème anglaise is a sweet cream custard sauce that makes up the base of French-style ice creams. It’s also a popular pour-over sauce for hot pastries and cakes, like apfelstrudel (apple strudel) No need to churn it to ice cream when you can drink and dip right from the bowl right?!

– American ice cream is made with milk, cream, sugar, and flavorings. It has a very high milkfat content to get around its lack of egg yolks as stabilizers, think 14-25% milkfat. American ice creams’ volume changes drastically during the churning process, sometimes exceeding a 50% increase in volume. That’s a LOT of air!

– Italian ice cream or gelato, like American ice cream, does not use eggs. It also uses more milk and less cream than all other ice creams. Gelato usually has a milkfat content of around 4-9%. Gelato gets its density and creaminess from how slowly it’s churned and from the warmer temperature it’s served at. Gelato is so beloved, because it doesn’t build up a coating of fat on the tongue, the way ice creams with higher heavy cream contents do. (see OF NOTE)

– French ice cream or Crème glacée also uses egg yolks, but there can be less yolks by weight than in frozen custard. French ice cream’s custard base is always cooked before churning. Any ice cream that uses less than 1.4% egg yolks and more than 10% milkfat must be labeled French ice cream in the U.S. The change in volume (overrun) typically won’t be more than 40% after churning.

– Frozen custard includes at least 1.4% egg yolks by weight and more than 10% milkfat. The volume should not increase by more than 30% when churning. Originally, frozen custard was made in small batches, to preserve freshness and wasn’t heated before churning. But commercially it has to be pasteurized to kill any bacteria before churning.

Of Note: No churn ice creams notoriously create a layer of fat on the tongue, because they are made from sweetened, frozen whipping cream. I like no-churn ice cream recipes, because they are quick and approachable. I have two recipes for them myself. But, in my opinion, they are just not as enjoyable. Maybe that’s also a good thing. It’s like built-in portion control. 😉

Yes, with one caveat.

You can completely negate the need to chill before spinning the custard, as long as you get the ice cream base down to 43°F (6°C) before churning it. To do this, nest the cooked browned butter bourbon ice cream custard bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice. Stir until the aforementioned temperature is reached. You may need to add more ice or completely change out the larger bowl with fresh ice. Then, finish the recipe as written.

There is a trade-off to omitting the long chill time. Your flavors will be less developed without that time to infuse, mellow, and become uniform. 

Of Note: For anyone thinking about using rock salt, I don’t recommend it unless you have a machine that requires it. Yes, adding ice cream (rock) salt to the ice bowl will help cool the custard even faster. However, I promise you’ll get salt on your hands and possibly into the custard.

You have two options:

1. Make absolutely sure the cream mixture is 140°F (60°C) or less before tempering. 

2. Ladle the cream into the eggs a bit at a time, to control the temperature better.

The protein Ovotransferrin, found in egg whites, cooks in temperatures as low as 140°F (60°C), while yolks cook at 149°F (65°C). There is a difference, but it’s not much. Just play it safe. If you pour too much heated liquid at once or too hot of a liquid in any amount, the proteins will cook, causing them to coagulate and shorten (aka scrambled eggs).

As long as you add the hot liquid in small amounts and stir constantly it will spread out the intense temperatures and gentle heat the eggs.

1. Constantly stir: Do not walk away from the cooking custard. You need to continuously stir and scrape the bottom of the pot during cooking. It only takes a few moments for the custard to sit too long in one place and clump up. The fat, sugar, and water surrounding the egg proteins help lower the chance of scrambling, but it remains a concern. A few clumps might form here and there. You can strain them out but try to keep the custard as smooth as possible. I highly recommend using a spatula instead of a whisk, because a whisk doesn’t reach all the corners of a pan or fully scrape the bottom.

2. Use a double boiler: Add about 1in (2.5cm) depth of water to a saucepan and place a heat safe bowl over the top of the pan. Turn the burner to medium/med-low so the water begins to simmer (NOT a rolling boil) and heat the bowl. Add all the tempered custard to the bowl and stir until the mixture has thickened and passed the spoon test. This step takes longer with a double boiler, but you have far less of a chance to scramble it. With a double boiler, the custard isn’t directly touching the pot, which is touching the heat source, so there is less intense heat transfer.

So, I know the go-to descriptions are coating the back of a spoon or spatula and fluidity after running your finger over the coated utensils. But there’s quite a bit of nuance even in those phrases.

Here’s a larger description from uncooked to over-cooked creme anglaise to help you out.

Stage 1: During the first 5-7 minutes at medium-low/low heat, the ice cream base remains very liquid. If you dip a spoon into the mixture and look at the back of it, you will see the liquid bead up and run off the spoon.

Stage 2: Over the next 15-20 minutes, the custard will thicken and start looking like fruit nectar or buttermilk. You will feel a slight resistance as you stir, but the mixture moves easily, with the liquid trailing slightly behind the spoon instead of splashing freely. Look for a gentle swirling motion, with visible ripples forming on the surface. The cream will coat the back of a spoon at this point. However, if you run your finger along its surface, the cream will still be too runny. The coating will be thin and very see-through.

Stage 3: You shouldn’t have more than 5-10 minutes left at this point. Use the spoon test every 2-3 minutes until the cream doesn’t run back and it looks hazy on the spoon. You should be able to turn the spoon gently side to side and not have the cream shift into the separation you made. (YOU’RE DONE!)

Stage 4: If you continue to stir and let the custard thicken into the consistency of caramel syrup, honey, or condensed milk, you have cooked your custard too long. This does not mean it is over cooked or scrambled. It simply means that you’ve evaporated too much water out of the mixture. This results in a lower than recommended the freezing and melting temperature.

Don’t have an ice cream maker? That’s okay!

Put you fully chilled custard in the freezer and after about an hour remove it and scrape down the ice cream that has begun to freeze around the edges. Return it to the freezer and check in every 30 minutes using a hand-held mixer to really break up any frozen sections. It should be ready to eat in about 2-3 hours. It won’t be as creamy as a machine, but it’ll still be delicious