Summer is definitely upon us. We’ve had quite a few days with the temperatures topping out in the low 100’s, and will be close to 110°F later this week. We need something to cool us off, so, we figured cool, creamy ice cream would do the trick. And, we immediately knew the flavor we wanted to try: black pepper. Yep, we planned to flavor our ice cream with nothing but black pepper, the same stuff you find in pepper grinders. How did we come up with that, seemingly unusual, idea?
A few months back we were reading through Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen, by Meera Sodha, and this recipe stood out. Partly because of the juxtaposition of black pepper in ice cream, but, perhaps, more so because she explained that it didn’t taste like black pepper, or, more accurately, what you think black pepper tastes like. After all, how can it not taste like black pepper? That’s the only flavoring. But, somehow, the flavor is supposed to be transformed into something vaguely familiar, but not peppery. We had to test this form of alchemy.
Now, to be honest, we were a little hesitant, so we made a small batch of ice cream, about a single quart. We figured, heck, we can eat a single quart of nearly any flavor of ice cream. We also couldn’t remember whether she made a custard-based ice cream, or one without eggs (we made just a short note to steep cracked black pepper in the mix for 30 minutes, then make ice cream as usual), so we went with egg-based custard. Naturally, if you want to try this, you’ll need an ice cream churn.
Black Pepper Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 300 g half and half (1 1/4 cups)
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 100 g granulated sugar, divided (1/2 cup)
- 3 egg yolks
- 300 g heavy cream (1 1/4 cup)
Instructions
- Crack peppercorns into large pieces with the back of a heavy spoon.
- In a medium saucepan, combine cracked peppercorns, half and half, and half of the sugar (50 g or 1/4 cup). Stirring, bring to a simmer (160-170°F) over medium heat. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep 30 minutes.
- Bring mixture back to a simmer (160-170°F) over medium heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining sugar and egg yolks,
- While whisking the egg yolk mixture continuously, slowly add the hot half and half mixture.
- When whisked in, return custard to the saucepan, and, stirring continuously, bring back to a simmer (165-170°F), or until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Strain hot custard into a medium bowl and discard the cracked peppercorns.
- Add heavy cream, cover, and refrigerate until very cold, preferably overnight.
- Assemble an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's directions.
- Transfer ice cream to a air-tight container and store in the freezer.
Ingredient discussion:
If possible, try to use dairy that’s organic. You’ll find that the heavy cream is just cream, and the half and half is just half and half. For the black peppercorns, don’t even think about substituting ground pepper, and here’s why. Years ago, we switched to using freshly ground pepper and the flavor is so different than the dust that’s pre-ground. It’s true; we had a box of pre-ground pepper for years (years!) before we finally finished it, and it was only a small box, perhaps 1-2 ounces. We just didn’t use it, as it added nothing. Then we got a pepper grinder and peppercorns — we went through 8 ounces in a year. We used it on everything; it was a revelation into why, at one time, black pepper sold for more than gold. It was that different, it was that good. Finally, get those egg yolks from eggs that came from happy, healthy chickens. The difference between eggs from well-cared for hens, and eggs from industrial hens, is like the difference between pre-ground pepper, and fresh pepper.
Procedure in detail:
Crack peppercorns. You want nice big pieces of the pepper here, the kind you can strain out of the custard later. You might be able to adjust your pepper mill appropriately, but we simply placed about a teaspoon of black peppercorns on our cutting board, grabbed a heavy spoon, and pressed the back of the spoon into the peppercorns until they broke open. Nothing fancy, it got the job done, and only a few pieces flew off the cutting board. Whatever works best for you will be fine.
Steep. In a medium saucepan, combine those peppercorn pieces, the half and half, and half the sugar (50 g or 1/4 cup). Place over medium heat, and, while stirring, bring to a simmer. If you have a thermometer, the temperature should be about 170°F. You probably don’t want to go much hotter, as you might scorch the half and half. Once simmering, remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes or so.
Reheat half and half. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring back to a simmer, stirring all the while. To be honest, I’ve never understood the reasoning behind this step, but that’s what’s listed in just about every ice cream or custard recipe: reheat the dairy before tempering the eggs. I don’t know why, but I do it.
Mix egg yolks and sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth and the sugar is mostly dissolved. At first the mixture will be thick, but it’ll thin out as you whisk, and, if you don’t do a great job now, it’ll be okay, because you have more whisking ahead.
Temper eggs. This is the trickiest part, but don’t let that scare you. What we need to do is mix the hot half and half into the eggs without cooking them. The first couple of times you do this, it’s a bit unnerving, but, after you’ve done it three or four times, you’ll be a pro. Start whisking the egg yolk mixture, and, while whisking, slowly add some hot liquid, about 1-2 tablespoons. Whisk it in completely, then add a bit more, this time maybe a 1/4 cup, and whisk that in. Keep whisking and adding, adding and whisking, each time adding more liquid that the last, and soon all of the hot liquid will be mixed into the egg mixture.
Cook custard. Return everything to the saucepan and bring back to a simmer, stirring all the time and scraping the bottom of the pan as you work. Now that you have the egg yolks in the mix, the temperature is a bit more critical, so, if you have a thermometer, we suggest using it. Heat the custard until it’s simmering (165-170°F), and try to hold it at that temperature for a bit to allow the proteins in the egg yolks to cook, thickening the custard. If you don’t have a thermometer, just heat the custard until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
Strain. Well, those peppercorn pieces are still in the mix and it’s time to get them out, so strain your custard into a clean bowl. After straining, discard the peppercorn pieces, as they’ve given their all in the name of homemade ice cream.
Add cream and chill. Add the heavy cream to the custard and stir to mix. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold (it’ll churn faster), preferably overnight.
Churn. Set up your ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s direction. In our case, we have a freezer bowl that attaches to a stand mixer. It takes about 6-10 minutes to churn the ice cream.
Pack and freeze. You can try some of the ice cream right now; it’ll be like soft serve ice cream — delicious, I know — or, you can pack it into an airtight container and freeze for later. In a few hours it’ll be stiffer and easier to scoop.
So, what’s black pepper ice cream like? Does it taste like black pepper? No, it doesn’t; it doesn’t taste like black pepper, at least not the pieces that you normally crack over food. Instead, it’s a mild, somewhat familiar flavor that we can’t really identify. We figure that the spicy flavors in black pepper aren’t fat or water soluble, so, you don’t get the spiciness. Instead, you get some of the savoriness of pepper and it’s quite a good match for cold ice cream. Of course, being ice cream, we think almost any flavor would work. A cool five stars for keeping us cool.
