Directions

1Place the milk in a small pot over high heat and burn it intentionally. Yep, you heard that right. You want the milk solids at the bottom to burn and give it a nice charred flavor. You should end up with about 3 3/4 cups (898 ml) of burnt milk from evaporation during boiling. Steep the milk in the burned milk solids for 15 minutes.

2Prepare a large bowl of ice for an ice bath and set it aside. Add the 3 3/4 cups (898 ml) of burnt milk, heavy cream, vanilla paste, salt and 1/2 cup (100 g) of the sugar to the pot. Bring the mixture just to a boil. While the mixture is heating, whisk the eggs and remaining 3/4 cup (150 g) of sugar in a medium-size bowl until well combined. Be sure to whisk them together quickly. Sugar, if left sitting in the eggs, can crystalize and seize up, making it impossible to mix together.

3Just as the milk/cream mixture barely begins to boil, remove the pot from the heat and begin tempering your eggs. Add the hot cream mixture to the eggs one ladle at a time and whisk vigorously to raise the temperature of the eggs without curdling them. Repeat this until you’ve incorporated half the cream mixture into the eggs. Add the egg mixture back to the pot and turn the heat down to medium-low. Cook while whisking until it reaches 170 degrees F (77 degrees C) on a candy thermometer. Once it reaches 170 degrees F (77 degrees C), it will be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Test it by dipping a wide wooden spoon and dragging your finger through the middle. It should leave a solid trail.

4Remove the custard from the heat and strain it through a sieve into a large bowl set over the ice bath to cool. Once it is cool, place it in a covered container in the refrigerator for 12 hours (but no more than 24 hours). The custard should cool to 40 degrees F (4 degrees C) before spinning it in an ice cream maker.

5Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and spin it. Spin times will vary from machine to machine. Your ice cream is done spinning when it holds its shape when scooped with a spoon, but still falls a little. It should resemble soft serve at this point. Transfer the ice cream to a container with a lid and freeze it until it hardens, 2 to 3 hours.