The Best Strawberry Ice Cream

The Best Strawberry Ice Cream
Makes about 1.5 Liters
Adapted from the Vanilla Ice Cream recipe in the The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks

In a small bowl combine the chopped strawberries, the tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of sugar. Mix together, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight. The sugar will draw out the juice from the strawberries making them sweet, soft and juicy. This process is called maceration.

After waiting at least an hour for the strawberries to macerate, take out a medium saucepan and into it place the whole milk, the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup of the heavy cream, salt and vanilla bean. Warm the mixture over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover it and let the vanilla bean steep for about 30 minutes.

While the vanilla beans steeps, take out a medium bowl add the remaining 1 cup of cream and the macerated strawberries. Place a fine mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

In another medium bowl whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks while constantly whisking. This slow addition of warm liquid to an egg mixture is called tempering.

Return the warm egg milk mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly until it thickens and coats the back of a spatula, or it reaches 77°C (170.6°F). If the mixture overcooks the eggs with cook and get lumpy, so stir, stir and stir some more! Once the custard thickens, or reaches 77°C, quickly remove the saucepan from the stove top and pour through the fine mesh strainer into the bowl with the cream and strawberries.

Cover and place mixture the into the refrigerator until it is completely cooled. I usually leave it overnight. Once the custard is cooled place it into your ice cream machine as per the manufacturer’s instructions. While the ice cream is churning place a container in the freezer to pre-chill it. Scoop the finished ice cream into the pre-chilled container and let the ice cream harden in the freezer until it reaches the desired consistency. Keep in mind that home made ice cream is best eaten within a few days which is never an issue around here. Enjoy!