This recipe is just for an ice cream base — its derived from the likes of Jean Georges and Thomas Keller. Because I was using such delicious milk, I didn’t flavor it. But this base can be flavored with anything.
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 10 egg yolks
- Pinch of salt
Combine cream, milk, and sugar in a pot. Heat until sugar is incorporated.
Whisk together egg yolks. Pour some of the warm milk mixture into the eggs and whisk again. This tempers the eggs — if you add them straight to the hot milk, they may cook and you won’t have a nice custard.
Add the tempered eggs to the milk mixture and heat to 160 degrees, or until it starts to thicken and coat the back of a spoon. The slower you do this the better. Twenty minutes is a good amount of time for it to come up to temperature. Make sure you are stirring often as the eggs can scramble at the bottom of the pot if you aren’t careful. Pass through a fine sieve.
Let the mixture cool.
Outside, make a hole in the snow and add salt. Press a mixing bowl with the custard into the hole, packing snow in around the sides. Cover the bowl with a lid or a towel. Stir every 10-20 minutes for an hour (or more). The result will be a rich and delicious ice cream.
