Sometimes we make a bunch of things that require only egg whites, and we’re left with a lot of egg yolks. Egg yolks are more difficult to deal with: they don’t freeze as well as the whites, and it seems as if there are fewer recipes available, so, we generally just make ice cream. We know, we know, but we suffer through, just for our fellow scratchers. This time we decided to test out the Caramel Ice Cream recipe from Thomas Keller’s cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home.
Okay, it’s not often that we get the opportunity to make one of Thomas Keller’s recipes better, but we do make a change in the ingredients to make your ice cream adventure go more smoothly. Don’t worry; it’s a simple change, and, to be honest, we’re surprised that it isn’t already in there. Basically, we swap out 2 tablespoons of sugar for 2 tablespoons of corn syrup when making the caramel. Why? Having two types of sugar helps prevent crystallization. And, trust us, you don’t want to be making caramel and have the pan all of a sudden seize up and form sugar crystals.
Thomas Keller’s Caramel Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 325 g sugar, divided (1 1/2 cups + + 2 Tbs)
- 40 g corn syrup (2 Tbs)
- 120 g water (1/2 cup)
- 480 g milk, warm (2 cups)
- 480 g heavy cream (2 cups)
- 10 large egg yolks
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Place 1 1/2 cups sugar, corn syrup, and water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the mixture turns a rich amber, about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove pan from the heat and slowly add milk, stirring all the while. If the caramel seizes, return pan to the heat and stir until caramel dissolves, then remove from heat.
- Whisk the remaining 2 Tbs sugar into the egg yolks in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowly add the hot milk mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan.
- Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer (165-170°F), stirring continuously.
- Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Stir in heavy cream and salt.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Set up an ice cream churn and churn custard according to manufacturer's directions.
Ingredient discussion:
Whoa! Ten (10) egg yolks! Really? Yes, that’s what’s called for, but, if you only use 8 or 9, it’ll be fine. We used 9 egg yolks, and everyone still loved the ice cream. Ideally, the eggs would come from pastured hens, because pastured hens lay better, richer eggs. For the heavy cream, in the ideal world, we’d use organic, simply because it’s just cream, nothing else. Finally, check the ingredients list on your corn syrup (if you care about these things); we find that the store brands are made with high-fructose corn syrup, while the national brand is not. We choose the latter.
Procedure in detail:
Make caramel. Yes, you can make caramel with just sugar, but here’s the thing. Caramel made with just sugar can crystallize. All of it. In seconds. We’ve had it happen, and, while it’s amazing to watch, it’s not a good thing for making caramel. That’s why we put in the corn syrup along with the sugar. Having two (or more) types of sugar helps to prevent crystallization — the molecules can’t lock together as easily. So, put 1 1/2 cups of sugar, the corn syrup, and the water in a large saucepan and stir together over medium heat. Keep stirring and heating until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to simmer. Now, stop stirring and just watch the sugar mixture as it slowly becomes caramel. Once the mixture is a rich amber, remove from heat. If you do see sugar crystals starting to form around the edges of the pan, dip a pastry brush into a bit of water and brush just above the crystals so the water runs down the sides of the pan and dissolves them.
Add milk. While stirring the caramel, slowly add the milk. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to add it all and not have the caramel seize up. If so, move onto the next step. If the caramel does seize and becomes a hard mass that sticks to the pan, don’t panic. Just continue adding the milk, stirring as best you can. When all the milk is added, place the pan back over the heat, and stir and heat until the caramel dissolves.
Temper eggs. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Continue whisking, and slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the yolks. Go slowly, so the egg yolks mix in without cooking into scrambled eggs. Once you’ve added about 1/2 cup of the hot liquid, you should be able to add the rest moderately rapidly, while whisking, of course.
Cook custard. Return the liquid to the saucepan and place over medium heat. Stirring continuously, and scraping the bottom, bring the custard to a simmer, about 165-170°F, so that it thickens. It won’t get real thick, just a bit thicker. Remove from heat.
Strain. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a large clean bowl, and strain the custard. You might have a few pieces of sugar, or a bit of cooked egg in the custard, and straining is the way to make super smooth ice cream, and everyone wants that.
Add heavy cream. Stir in the cold heavy cream to help cool the mixture, then stir in the salt. We add the cream like this for two reasons: one, it cools the custard, and, more importantly, it adds a fresh cream taste. Some people cook the cream in the custard, and that works; we just like the taste of the added fresh cream, rather than the cooked cream.
Chill. Cover the custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely chilled, preferably overnight.
Churn. Set up an ice cream churn and churn the custard according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer.
We’ve made caramel ice cream before, specifically a Salted Caramel Ice Cream, but that was too sweet. This Caramel Ice Cream is perfect, a nice caramel flavor, slightly salty, but not so that you taste it a lot, and just the right hint of sweetness. We shared this with a number of people and several came back for seconds, so we think it rates five stars (we had to have seconds, too).
