Principles of ice cream making

[TheSkiingGardener]

I have been given an ice cream maker and can't wait to have a go. Can anyone tell me the basic principles of how to make ice cream? The sort of things that will help me pick the good recipes from the bad and will mean I can start playing with ingredients.

Thank you. Want to make chocolate, prune and armagnac ice cream eventually. Had it in France years ago and can still remember the taste.

Lola's prune and Armagnac ice cream
150g castor sugar
100ml Armagnac
200g pitted Agen prunes
500ml whole milk
500ml double cream
6 egg yolks

The day before you intend to make the ice cream take 50ml of the water 50g of the sugar, the Armagnac and the prunes and gently boil in a pan to make the syrup. Leave prunes to steep in the syrup.

Next day remove 6 prunes and chop roughly and set aside. Blitz the rest and return to syrup.

Heat milk and cream, whisk eggs and return to mixture. Do not allow to boil or it will scramble. Keep at 80C

Remove custard from heat and continue whisking for a few mins. Mix in the prunes and Armagnac syrup. Cool mixture rapidly and when it's cold put in fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or better overnight so that it is really cold. (I sometimes put it in the freezer for a couple of hours to get it good and cold). Churn according to your ice cream maker instructions. Hide and eat all of it!

I bought my book from The Book People for the bargain price of £4.99

Brilliant thread, I was also given an ice cream maker yesterday and can't wait to get started. I want to make a salted caramel ice cream and a bitter chocolate sorbet - had both in France and they were amazing. Thanks for Book People recommendation too...now where did I put my credit card?

The only problem with ice-cream makers (this has happened to me, & I'm sure to many others) is that after the initial burst of enthusiasm in using them, they can get fairly...eerm, shall we say neglected in the back of the cupboard. This thread has reminded me to rediscover mine & try a few recipes.

but that's ok, because you wouldn't want to eat too much ice cream

ours will come out again in the soft fruit season and again at Christmas.

Must say ours gets used regularly .

Thank you for the recipe. That book is a bargain so I think that will get ordered too.

As for salted caramel ice cream, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Unless you have small/fragile people to cater for, and if you have a good source of fresh eggs, try italian ice cream - raw eggs whipped with the sugar until almost white, add cream & milk (or for mind-boggling calorie levels, clotted cream and cream) and away you go.

I think I need to try prune and armangac one as no-one else eats prunes it sounds delicious.

thank you Lapin

Salted caramel ice cream - anyone got a good recipe for that one? Have some caramel liquer that may come in handy too.

Came across this one - must be more variations. Not sure its what I was quite expecting - maybe time to experiment!

• Serves 4

6floz/170g caster sugar

8floz/225ml double cream

5floz/150ml semi-skimmed milk

4 egg yolks

½ tsp Maldon sea salt

* Place a pan on the stove to heat. Once hot, put 5oz/140g of the caster sugar into the pan.

* Heat, shaking the pan occasionally until the sugar melts to a good caramel colour.

* Add the double cream and bring back to the boil, then finally add the milk.

* Meanwhile, in a separate bowl beat the egg yolks and remaining caster sugar until pale and mousse-like (this is called a sabayon).

* Pour the hot caramel on to the sabayon and whisk well, then sieve and chill it.

* Add the salt to the chilled mixture and churn in an ice cream machine.

* Freeze in a plastic box with a lid.

So thank you Foodbuzz and Gourmet Traveler for a dreamy recipe to help start this Spring day!

Salted Caramel Ice Cream
(from Gourmet, August 2009)
makes 1 quart

1 1/4 cups golden caster sugar
2 1/4 cups double cream
1/2 tsp fleur de sel (or maldon salt)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs

Heat 1 cup of the sugar in a dry pan on a medium heat, stirring with a fork to distribute sugar evenly. Once it starts to melt stop stirring and cook, swirling the pan occasionally to allow all the sugar to melt and turn a dark amber. Once it does, quickly remove from heat (or it will keep cooking and burn).

Add in 1 1/4 cups cream (be careful ? the mixture will spatter) and cook, stirring, until all of caramel has dissolved and it is smooth and runny. Pour into a bowl and stir in the sea salt and vanilla extract. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, bring the milk and remaining cream and sugar just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally.

Lightly whisk eggs in a bowl, then add half of the hot milk mixture in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon. Do not let the liquid boil or it will curdle (once it registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer it is ready). Pour custard through a fine sieve into a large bowl, then stir in the cooled caramel.

Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold (3-6 hours). Then churn the custard in ice cream maker until it holds together but is still quite soft. Place in an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up (do note that when it is ready it will still feel softer than regular ice cream).

Top each scoop with a few flakes of fleur de sel before serving.

I just made one v similar to the above recipe and my god, it was gorgeous. We had it with sticky toffee pudding just in case there weren't enough calories in the ice cream. Best to be careful about these things