Vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate ganache

This was breakfast. It was supposed to be dessert last night, but I was too stuffed so I delayed gratification.

This method is not hard and fast. There are very broad margins for variation. In the end, it's up to you, what you want, the type of ice-cream you want to end up with. Martha Stewart said she never uses eggs in ice cream because then you simply end up with custard. I say, that's what I want -- custard. So I suppose this is frozen custard, even though the recipe is for French vanilla ice cream. There's nothing particularly French about it that I can see. This recipe uses a lot of egg yolks and fresh vanilla beans, but it doesn't have to.  It's possible to make perfectly good ice cream without any eggs and by using vanilla extract. I'm feeling rather uppity right now, and since I'm troubling to make ice cream, I might as well go all the way. No milk for me, no Siree, I drink that stuff all the time anyway. 

* two sliced and scraped vanilla pods

* 1 pint heavy cream

* 1 pint Half & Half

* 1/2 cup sugar

* 5 egg yolks

* 1/8 teaspoon salt

I used 1/2 cup sugar because 3/4 cup or 1 cup sugar seemed too cloying. I used 5 egg yolks instead of 6 egg yolks because the eggs I have are huge. I tempered the eggs into the hot liquid, although in all honesty I do not see why that is necessary. It seems to me possible to whisk the eggs with the cream and bring all the ingredients together up to temperature. Nobody ever mentions that possibility. I like tempering eggs. It helps me pretend I know what I'm doing. It also seems to me that more time to infuse the vanilla  would lead to a deeper final product.  I did not do that, but next time I probably will. For instance, I think that orange zest or mint or vanilla, any natural flavor agent like that, would be improved by allowing to infuse for longer periods. 

The zest from two oranges that I added to the cream mixture could not be tasted so I added Grand Marnier to compensate. The result is disappointing. Instead of bright happy zing of oranges, it ended up with a flat metallic non-orangish thud.  That does it! This stuff is overrated. For now on, it's going to be long infusions for me. Other than that, I'm well pleased with this ice cream. 

Caramel is melted sugar with butter added along with cream. It's very easy to make but it does take just a bit of technique. The dry sugar can be stirred in a pot until it liquifies then stirring must end. At that point swirling is allowed. Sugar melts at a temperature much hotter than boiling water and for this reason it's dangerous. Don't let any little kids or pets around when you're making caramel, they simply do not appreciate the hazards they invite with their impish games and childish ways. The liquid sugar quickly burns and the taste of burnt sugar is dreadful. Have the butter and cream ready at hand. Adding butter  initiates the cooling of  the liquified sugar.  For 1/2 cup caramel sauce:

1/2 cup cane sugar

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup (or so) cream. 

Melt the sugar, stir when it's still granular, swirl when it begins to melt. Lift off the heat to check the steady upward heating and swirl to mix the melted portions with the unmelted portions evenly. Note the mixture darkening, at the point of desired darkness toss in the butter and remove from heat. The progressive heating is suddenly stopped, when the butter is melted, slowly add cream. The mixture bubbles madly and rises in the pot, keep drizzling and whisking until the desired thickness is attained.  Making caramel sauce  is easy, fun, and dramatic. If the first attempt fails, analyze where you went wrong and start over.  

Add a pinch of salt if unsalted butter was used.  

Ganache is even easier. 50% cream / 50% chocolate. Decide how much you want, and heat that amount of cream in the microwave. Thirty seconds should do, it tends to boil up very quickly. Add the same amount by weight of chocolate. You can use any commercial chocolate bar or even chocolate chips. I'm using single-source couverture chocolate because, hey, I'm an obnoxious snooty uppity chocolate snob. 

See what was done here? Real cream, real vanilla, real chocolate, and cane sugar.