Make Ahead
Frozen Peach Custard with Sea Salt
- Prep time 1 hour
- Cook time 30 minutes
- makes about 6 cups of ice cream
Author Notes
Some of the best recipes are only completed when they are changed by time. Part of the development of this ice cream has depended on me chasing a memory; striking a balance between matching the beautiful flavor I remember with the skills I’ve accumulated that allow me to make better ice cream than I used to. After much testing and research, I can finally say that, when using peaches at the peak of their season, this tastes exactly like that humid July evening years ago when this ice cream was first made after a perfect afternoon of picking peaches on Sauvie Island in Oregon with a good friend of mine.
Note: Try and buy high quality flaky salt for this. Instead of blindly dumping in two teaspoons of whatever salt you acquire, use it intuitively, tasting as you go. You’ll want to push it right to the edge of being savory; think of it like you’re making salted caramel.
Do not use kosher salt as a shortcut. Your ice cream will be unbearably salty as a result (yes, different kinds of salts are saltier than other salts) and you’ll also miss out on the nuanced flavors that high quality sea salt provides, which take this ice cream to the next level. —Jon Brian Kinney
Ingredients
-
3-4
achingly ripe large peaches, skinned and stones removed
-
2 cups
whipping cream
-
1 cup
whole milk
-
5
egg yolks
-
2/3 cup
sugar (135 grams)
-
1/3 cup
light corn syrup (110 grams)
-
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
-
2 teaspoons
high quality wide flake sea salt OR sea salt to taste
Directions
- In a blender, blend the peach flesh that you recently processed until it's completely smooth (no lumps!). Reserve 2 cups of the fresh peach puree and set aside.
- In a large bowl that’s big enough to hold all of your ingredients, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract together until everything becomes thick, light yellow, and ribbony when it falls off the whisk. Set aside.
- In a sauce pan, add the cream and milk and heat on the stove on medium heat until it gently simmers. Remove the pan from the heat, then pour about half a cup of the hot cream base into the egg and sugar mixture and whisk it all together quickly to temper it. Keep adding and mixing all the cream into the eggs, then pour all of the custard base back into the saucepan and return it to the stove.
- Cook the custard on medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula in an s-like movement until the base thickens and eventually reads as 180 degrees on a thermometer. Remove from the heat immediately once the custard reaches this temperature and add the custard base to a bowl (I use the one I mixed the eggs and sugar in) pouring it through a mesh strainer to catch any pieces of cooked egg that may be in the mixture.
- Add the 2 cups of fresh peach puree to the custard, then mix until totally integrated. Add salt and mix. Be sure to taste test for salt, and add more if you see fit, depending on what kind of salt you’re using. Store the peach ice cream base in an air-tight container and chill in the fridge until it is completely cold; I usually do overnight.
- To churn, follow your ice cream machine’s instructions and churn until the custard resembles soft serve ice cream. Remove your ice cream from your ice cream machine and store it in an airtight container with a layer of plastic wrap over the top of it, pressed directly onto entire surface the ice cream so that no air gets in. Freeze until ice cream totally sets (I let it freeze overnight again) before serving.
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