On making ice cream
Hand-crank machines can be trouble, because they require loads of salt and ice and require steady churning for more than half an hour.
Many electric makers require ice and salt but use a motor to turn the dasher in the ice cream. These require a little fuss -- although you must have half-a-dozen trays of ice and a pound of salt.
Donvier was the first of a genre that used a bucket of cold gel to hold and freeze the custard mixture.
No ice, no salt, no mess and very little effort, though you need to stay nearby to churn every few minutes.
Some electric makers combine the freezing gel with automation and make wonderful ice cream, but again, you’ll need to refreeze the cylinder before you make another flavor.
Ice cream tips
Some ice creams are made with custards (liquid cooked with an egg yolk-sugar mixture). Adding egg yolks enhances the smooth texture of a custard; cooking the egg yolks makes them ultra-safe. But many recipes don’t require egg yolks.
A custard can coat the back of a spoon (when you can draw your finger down the middle of the back of a custard-coated spoon and see a little silver trail of spoon remains with custard on both sides).
This happens when the custard reaches 175 degrees on a thermometer. Any higher, and the custard will curdle. (If yours curdles, put it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the minuscule lumps of egg.)
In virtually any ice cream recipe, you can alter the liquid to be less or more fatty.
That is, you can use whole milk, half-and-half and cream nearly interchangeably.
The texture of your final product might change to reflect the butterfat content. However, cream makes a smoother ice cream; milk makes it a little grainier. Again, any one of these cooked with egg yolks will be creamier than those without egg yolks.
Chill any ice cream mixture in the refrigerator before churning it into ice cream.
The quality of freshly made homemade ice cream declines rapidly in the freezer. Always store it with plastic wrap pressed right against the surface and don’t expect it to hold up more than three days. (It might get grainy, or gummy, though it will be safe to eat.)
4. Vanilla Ice Cream
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