Country Vanilla Ice Cream

Nothing tastes like summer quite like ice cream cranked out on the back porch. This is the real, old-fashioned vanilla ice cream: a rich egg custard frozen in a rock-salt churn until thick and creamy.

It starts with eggs and sugar. Beating them together until the mixture turns pale, thick, and stiff builds the custard base that gives this ice cream its dense, velvety body, a world away from the airy stuff in a carton.

Then in go the milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. That generous pour of cream is what makes it scoop so smooth and rich, while the salt sharpens the sweetness and the vanilla perfumes the whole batch.

The rock salt is the clever bit. Packed around the canister, it drops the surrounding ice well below freezing, cold enough to freeze the custard as the paddle churns it.

Churn until hard, and you have a creamy, nostalgic scoop that beats anything from the store.

Chef Tips

• Beat the eggs and sugar until truly thick and pale; this is what makes the ice cream dense and creamy.
• Layer plenty of rock salt with the ice around the can so it gets cold enough to freeze.
• Chill the custard base in the fridge before churning for faster, smoother freezing.
• Let the churned ice cream harden in the freezer for an hour for firmer scoops.

Variations

• Steep a split vanilla bean in the warmed milk for deeper, speckled vanilla flavor.
• Fold in fresh peaches or strawberries at the end of churning.
• Swirl in chocolate, caramel, or crushed cookies just before it sets.