We grow a lot of mint in our garden. By weight, by accident and through neglect, it is probably the plant we have so far grown most of, this year. We have four kinds: spearmint, peppermint, apple-mint, and catnip.
My standard way, my habit, of making ice cream, is to make a custard, and then freeze it in an ice-cream maker (super-frozen cylinder w/stir paddle). I vary the proportions of milk to cream and the number and type of eggs and yolks depending on the richness I want in the finished ice cream. In this case, a light summer thing… mostly because the good milk going past-date was on $1 sale. But, it was perfect. So, custard:
Beat:
4 duck egg yolks (bigger and richer than chicken eggs’s)
2 duck egg whites
Mix in:
2 pints creamline (whole) milk
1 pint half and half
Stir over medium, medium-low heat, add sugar:
(a little more than to taste)
keep stirring this until it noticeably thickens (often, just shy of boiling: don’t boil it) and you have a basic custard: just put it in cups and chill.
However, we want to flavor it. So: take some mint sprigs, some of each kind you can find, and throw them in whole on the stem with the sugar. Every few minutes as you stir, throw in a few more. This way, the more delicate flavors, which will be cooked out (to some extent) of the first handfuls will still be present at the end of cooking. Put in more of the kind you like best at the end. Taste it now and again to see how minty it’s getting, to gauge eventual mint levels. Don’t worry: there is a very large margin for error.
Once it thickens, take the mint out at let the custard cool. Four-mint custard! Want ice-cream? Stir it up in a super-frozen cylinder!
Post about making ice-creams without cylinders forthcoming.
6 Comments
I’m telling you – basil ice cream. You’ll never return.
I think the reason you don’t get more comments is people have to allow cookies. What do you think?
Oh, now they just allowed this comment without disallowing cookies…good. I like cookies with my ice cream, non-cookies too.
Emily: I am sure you are right. Also, I have been eyeing the marjoram patch. Greedily.
Ma: Disallow cookies? You? Since when?
willum. will turkey eggs due? don’t have access to quackers.
Anzers: For sure. How come you didn’t feed me any turkey eggs when I was out visiting you? How big are they? Duck eggs are about half again bigger than big chicken eggs, with a higher yolk to white ratio and richer, thicker yolks. But the recipe is flexible. Put in too little yolk or cream and you’ll just get more of an ice-milk than an ice-cream. Do you have an ice-cream maker?
Post a Comment