ICE CREAMS

I know everyone thinks that there’s no point in making your own ice cream since you can buy such good stuff in the shops these days, but it just isn’t true. First of all, I never quite buy into the usual worth-making/not-worth-making paradigm: nothing’s worth making if the activity drives you to the edge of a nervous breakdown; anything can be rewarding if you actually get some pleasure out of the process. The strange thing about cooking is that obviously it is about an end product, and yet it isn’t entirely.

Not that I’ve become an ice-cream maker out of a desire for the making of it alone. It’s true I find mindless repetitive activity enormously relaxing (ie stirring a pan of custard for the ice cream’s base) especially when stressed out, but I make ice cream because good home-made ice cream is nothing like the bought stuff. That dreamy, voluptuous texture, the subtlety of possible flavours – you just can’t get any of that from a shop-bought tub, however expensive.

Making ice cream actually isn’t difficult – it’s all just stirring – but if you haven’t got an ice-cream maker it is labour-intensive. What you do then is put the cooled ice cream base into a covered container, stick it in the freezer and whip it out every hour for 3 hours as it freezes and give it a good beating, either with an electric whisk, by hand or in the processor. That gets rid of any ice crystals that form and that make the ice cream crunchy rather than smooth. If you’ve got an ice-cream maker, you’re laughing: it then takes 20 minutes from having a cooled mixture to having an ice cream that’s frozen but not set; it’ll probably need another 20 minutes in the deep freeze for that. The important thing is, however you make it, once it’s set hard, to let it ripen in the fridge for about 20 minutes before you eat it. You want it to be frozen but not rock hard. If you own a KitchenAid, there is now an ice-cream making attachment.

As for the method of making the custard for the ice cream, once you’ve got into the habit, it’s – like everything else – routine. Just fill the sink half full with cold water for plunging the custard into if it looks like splitting at any stage.

Heat the specified amount of cream or milk till nearly boiling. Whisk the required yolks and sugar, and pour, still whisking, the warmed cream over. Transfer to a saucepan and cook till a velvety custard. I don’t bother with a double boiler, and actually don’t even keep the heat very low, but you will need to stir constantly, and if you think there’s any trouble ahead, plunge the pan into the sink of cold water and whisk like mad. It shouldn’t however take more than 10 minutes, this way, for the custard to cook. And when it has thickened, take it off the heat, add whatever needs adding according to recipe, then cool (I transfer the custard to a bowl and sit it in the cold water in the sink) before chilling and freezing in the ice-cream machine (or see manual tips above).

I know the list of ice creams below is a long one, but once you start, this ice-cream making thing becomes addictive, especially if you want to justify the extravagance of buying an ice-cream maker in the first place. Besides, you don’t need summer as an excuse to make them – really you don’t.