by Wynn Eisman

Created on: January 11, 2009   Last Updated: January 28, 2009

Making your own ice-cream is a simple and rewarding job. Exactly how you go about doing so depends on things like how much ice-cream you will be making, and how much time and money you would like to invest in your equipment.

The art of making ice-cream lies in freezing the ingredients without causing a rock-hard lump or a mass of coarse ice crystals

Probably the easiest and cheapest way of preparing ice-cream is simply to use the coldest part of your freezer. Stirring your mixture every hour while it freezes is enough to break up large ice crystals as they form to give a somewhat granular texture to the finished product.

Next up the chain is what's known as a non-refrigerated freezer, which sounds like a complete contradiction, but is actually two tubs, one inside the other. Crushed ice and rock salt are packed between the layers. Salt lowers the melting point of ice to around -20 C. This is how cold it needs to be to freeze ice-cream. This is similar to the old-fashioned hand-cranked churns. These are still made today but are expensive considering that they're, essentially, two bowls.

Then we have the Big Kahoona of ice-cream makers; the mechanically operated freezers. These come in various sizes, from one litre, up to huge commercial machines. The cost varies but you should be able to find a good, one litre machine for around $100.00.

Whatever equipment you decide to use, it is vital that all its parts are kept scrupulously clean. The ingredients in ice-cream are brought just to the boil. The egg yolk is cooked even cooler than that and these ingredients are later eaten without re-heating. Remember: freezing only suspends the activity of bacteria, it does not kill them! This can make ice-cream the perfect host for bacteria if correct food hygiene procedures are not followed. For safety's sake, follow these general rules: Wash and rinse your equipment in hot water (77c or more). Try to avoid scouring as this causes tiny scratches which give the bacteria a place to hide. Dry your equipment thoroughly before storing. Make sure that your hands are clean. Keep ingredients refrigerated until you are ready to use them. Store ice-cream in a clean container, not the one it was made in.

Ice-cream should be stored at minus 20C or colder but served at minus 2 to minus 6C. This is why ice-cream is rested on the bench for a moment before serving. Just get the ice-cream out before the bowls, etc. That's plenty of resting time and your ice-cream will stay safe.

Below is the traditional recipe for ice-cream. Also included are a couple of variations which will show you how to make any flavour you desire.

Vanilla Ice-cream

Yield 1-1.25 litres.

Ingredients:

500ml milk

vanilla essence

150gm castor sugar

4 egg yolks

50ml cream

Method

Place milk and vanilla into a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat.

Place egg yolks and sugar into a stainless bowl and whisk together. Add the milk, whisking continuously. Put the mixture on a water-bath of gently simmering water and cook carefully until the mixture thinly coats the back of a spoon. Do not overheat the mixture.

Pass the mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl to cool, stirring occasionally.

Add the cream to the cold mixture and mix thoroughly. Freeze using your chosen method.

Variations.

Chocolate: As above but add 65gm of grated chocolate when heating the milk.

Fruit: blend 250gm of chosen fruit and add with cream.

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