The word Che'Sib'Ik corresponds to the name of vanilla in the Mayan language.
Discover Cribbiana vanilla, an incredibly fragrant vanilla used by the Mayans for over a thousand years.
Ice cream is the undisputed king of summer desserts. If, like me, you love good homemade ice cream, you'll always keep your ice cream maker in the freezer, ready to use, and a custard base in the fridge. (Custard can be kept for 4 or 5 days without any problems).
Even though custard contains just 5 ingredients, it's still pretty hard to master. So don't be surprised if it takes on an oatmeal texture the first time, but don't be discouraged: all is not lost. Your experience can be recuperated in a French toast dessert or a trifle of leftover cake... So don't worry about missing out, there's always a way to recycle it into something else. Once you've mastered it, it's well worth the experience!
The most important thing to control when making a smooth custard is the temperature: as soon as the cream reaches 83C for 2 minutes, remove it from the hot bain-marie and place it in a cold one. If you don't have one, a small cauldron in a large one works just fine (I've never had a bain-marie, and I'm fine anyway!).
- 500 ml 3.25% milk
- 500 ml 35% cream
- 10 egg yolks
- 150 g sugar
- 3 Che'Sib'Ik cribbiana vanilla pods
Some people add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to help control the thickening, or a teaspoon of guar gum, if your custard isn't thick enough after cooking... but there are also purists...
To prepare:
Split the pods and scrape the caviar into the milk, and add the split pods as there's still a lot of flavor in the pod. In a bain-marie, bring the milk and vanilla pod to the boil, then leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
Mix the sugar (and cornflour) with the egg yolks. Set aside.
Remove and twist the pod to extract the maximum flavor, and turn up the heat of the milk again to 83C for 3 minutes, then pour half the milk into the egg mixture while stirring. Then pour the egg-milk mixture back into the hot milk and continue heating until the cream thickens slightly. The cream will just coat the back of the spoon.
This is where it gets tricky: don't expect it to get too thick: it'll turn into porridge...
Remove from the bain-marie and plunge the pan into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking. Place a sheet of Saran wrap over the mixture to prevent a film forming on the surface of the cream, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before placing in the ice-cream maker. Process until the ice cream has set. Serve immediately or freeze. Note that natural ice cream needs to be tempered for a few minutes before removing from the freezer.
Enjoy!
Chantale