SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM
Here’s a funny thing about salt: Used wisely and judiciously, it highlights flavors and makes them sing. Dessert without even a pinch of salt seems flatter, less lively, and food cooked without salt is bland and barely edible. Somewhere along the line, perhaps because of high sodium levels in processed foods, salt became public enemy number one. But if you cook and eat whole foods, salt isn’t something to be afraid of. A little bit will make your food shine brighter.
With salted caramel ice cream, the salt takes on a starring role. Salted caramel is nothing new—a classic flavor from the Brittany region in France. Still, despite its name, most of the time when we try salted caramel ice cream, we find ourselves wondering, Where’s the salt? And so, in making our Salted Caramel Ice Cream, we wanted you to taste the contrast between the salty and the sweet; we think it makes for one of the most alluring flavors. If you’re worried about making your ice cream too salty, start with half the suggested amount and work your way up, tasting as you go.
MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART
¾ cup (150 grams) sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
1 cup whole milk
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out
8 large egg yolks
1. Place the sugar in a deep, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously and break up any lumps of sugar—this will help the sugar caramelize evenly. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring with a spatula to dissolve the sugar, then simmer, without stirring, until the caramel turns the color of a copper penny (or an Irish setter), about 4 minutes. If, while the caramel cooks, any sugar crystallizes on the sides of the pan, brush down the sides with a clean, wet pastry brush. Reduce the heat to low, and slowly add ½ cup of the cream (the caramel will rise and bubble and might spit, so be careful). Stir until the cream is well incorporated into the caramel. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt. Should the caramel seize and harden, return the mixture to the heat and stir until it softens. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set another bowl over it. Set aside.
3. Pour the milk and remaining 1½ cups cream into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Add the vanilla bean seeds and pod and warm the mixture until you see steam rising from the top.
4. Meanwhile, 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, and stir in the caramel. 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 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, add the salted caramel, 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 You’ll notice that some ice creams yield a perfect quart, while others, such as this one, come up a bit short. In the case of Salted Caramel Ice Cream, there’s quite a bit of evaporation as you make the caramel, hence the smaller yield. Depending on the time of year and humidity levels, evaporation will vary, but you will likely always get somewhat less than 1 quart of ice cream for the yield here.