How to Make Ice Cream

Hello, this is Chef John and today I’m going to show you my recipe for homemade vanilla ice cream, Philadelphia style (also known as American style), not French style which has eggs. This doesn’t contain any egg custard, this is just sugar, cream and some milk. Now you can do combinations of cream and milk, like just milk or just cream, but this is my favorite blend.

All the amounts are on the web site as you well know. We are going to take the sugar, the cream and the milk and we are going to simply heat it up to melt and dissolve the sugar. We are not really cooking anything here, we are using low heat. We are going to stir it and when you see little foamy bubbles forming around the edge and little wisps of steam that’s when you know it’s done.

How to Make Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Video

You don’t want this to boil, just simmer. As soon as it’s hot and all that sugar has dissolved, just turn it off and transfer into a pourable glass container or some kind of pitcher. We are going to stir in two teaspoons of vanilla. We are going to chill that for at least two hours or until it’s really cold. Overnight is even better.

It really helps the texture of this ice cream mixture. The Cuisinart ice cream mixer is simple to use. It consist of the base, the motor and the bucket which you keep in your freezer. It contains a liquid which is stays super cold.

We are going to put in the paddle and then the guard or the cover. Then we are going to flip it on and make ice cream. What you are going to do is pour in your cold ice cream mixture. It has to be cold. Pour that in and it’s going to churn for about twenty to twenty five minutes.

You’ll see, that it will actually change pitch. It’s one of the great meditations of making homemade ice cream. As it gets thicker the sound changes. You’ll see the paddle scraping the edge. It basically scrapes the partially frozen ice cream and mixes it back in. So you don’t get any crystallization, which is what makes bad ice cream. This makes a really nice smooth creamy ice cream.

There you go, it’s getting thick. So once it’s done and has the texture and consistency, almost like a soft serve or frozen yogurt type consistency, your going to take your spatula and clean off your paddle. Then you can serve it like this as a soft serve or what I like to do is put a piece of plastic over it. Make sure it’s tapped down so there are no air pockets. Just put it in the freezer for a few hours and it will firm up.

Look at that, how beautiful is that? Get one of those Cuisinart ice cream makers. They are not expensive. I’m not done, I’m going to go with two scoops and some delicious homemade caramel sauce. That’s just wonderful, so delicious. Homemade ice cream, nothing beats it. You’ve heard that before and it’s so true. Give that a try. The ingredient are key. As always, enjoy.