GENMAICHA WITH HONEY ICE CREAM
We’ve had plenty of matcha ice cream before—popular in Japanese restaurants and made with the powdered, bright green tea of that name—but we decided to make ours with genmaicha, green tea combined with toasted brown rice for a deeper flavor, because we were so fascinated with the amazing taste of this tea.
Genmaicha, historically, was consumed by poorer Japanese—the rice served as filler and reduced the price of the tea, which used to be very expensive. These days, genmaicha is not relegated to the lower classes but is, in fact, considered upscale. The toasted brown rice adds an earthy flavor to the tea, which we thought would translate particularly nicely to the ice cream base. For our tea, we turned to our favorite supplier, Rishi. We add a touch of honey, rather than plain sugar, to highlight the grassy notes in the tea.
Tea-infused ice creams are some of the easiest (and most rewarding) flavors to make in this book, but the trick is to get the best ingredients available to you. Try to find good-quality genmaicha for truly spectacular results!
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
½ cup (45 grams) genmaicha
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (180 grams) mild honey
¼ teaspoon (1 gram) kosher salt
8 large egg yolks
1. Using a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder, finely grind 2 tablespoons (11 grams) of the genmaicha. Set aside.
2. Pour the cream and milk into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Whisk in the honey, the remaining 6 tablespoons (34 grams) genmaicha, and the salt and stir until the honey and salt have dissolved. Warm the mixture until you see steam rising from the top.
3. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set another bowl over it. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, with a kitchen towel underneath it to prevent slipping, whisk together the egg yolks until uniform. While whisking, add a splash of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks. Continue to add the dairy mixture, whisking it in bit by bit, until you’ve added about half. Add the yolk mixture to the remaining dairy mixture in the double boiler. Set the heat under the double boiler to medium and cook the custard, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon and reducing the heat to medium-low as necessary, until steam begins to rise from the surface and the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Hold the spoon horizontally and run your finger through the custard. If the trail left by your finger stays separated, the custard is ready to be cooled.
5. Strain the custard into the bowl sitting over the prepared ice bath, pressing on the solids in the strainer; discard the tea leaves in the strainer. Add the reserved finely ground genmaicha and stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the custard has cooled. Transfer the custard to a quart-size container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.
6. Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place the container in which you refrigerated the custard in the freezer so you can use it to store the finished ice cream. Churn the ice cream until the texture resembles “soft serve.” Transfer the ice cream to the chilled storage container and freeze until hardened to your desired consistency. Alternatively, you can serve it immediately—it will be the consistency of gelato. The ice cream will keep, frozen, for up to 7 days.
ben’s note Your yield here will be somewhat lower, because the tea leaves will absorb some of the liquid.
