Underground Creamery’s Kind of Whatever The Fuck You Want Custard Recipe
By Josh Deleon
Contents
Equipment
Ingredients
Recipe
Procedure
Notes
Tips
Sources
Equipment
Ice Cream Machine
This is a fucking obvious one as you can’t really make good ice cream without the proper machine. If you’re using a machine that requires a Freezer Bowl such as a Kitchenaid Attachment or the good ol’ Cuisinart ICE-21 make sure it’s clean and frozen for 24 Hours. I can not stress this step enough as you want your bowl to be really really cold. If it’s not rock solid, you pretty much just wasted a churn!
Kitchen Scale
It’s 2020. We literally live in the future. Science and Technology are advanced. Use scales when you make ice cream and bake as you get more consistent and precise results. You want to make more than 1 Quart of ice cream? No Problem as you can scale this recipe much easier by using percentages. Most importantly: LESS FUCKING DISHES TO WASH
Cooking Vessels (2 Quart Saucepan Preferred)
I like using saucepans as they are usually made with good conducting materials. Any pot would work but if you use something like a dutch oven or anything similar, the residual heat might cook your base further than desired. Also, they’re great with induction cooktops as your base heats up significantly quicker leading to a better workflow.
Whisk and Rubber Spatula
Whisk to mix, spatula to agitate and prevent your dairy from scorching.
Candy Thermometer or Pen Thermometer
Keeping an eye on temperature makes it much easier. Since This is a custard recipe, it’s a good thing to have when it’s time to temper the egg yolks. If you don’t have one, get one! But if it’s really really a stretch for you to get one, Procedure [A]4 is roughly at 120 F when your mix starts steaming. Procedure A[6-7] can be determined by doing a nape test. Take a spoon, dip it in your mixture and swipe your finger across the back of your spoon. If the mixture is not running down, your mix is ready.
Fine Mesh Strain
Yolks are going to be cooked in your base. It’s always a great idea to strain your base to get rid of remnants such as eggs that might have scrambled while cooking.
Bowls For Ice Bath
Large and Medium Sized Bowls. Large is filled with ice for an ice bath while the medium bowls goes on top for base to cool off
Immersion Blender (Optional but highly advised)
This is the easiest and best way to incorporate stuff in your base. It saves you the hassle of whisking vigorously! Though this is only a sweet cream recipe, it’s also nice to give it a buzz before straining. Clumps of milk powder, sugar, etc will be incorporated throughout the whole mix!
Ingredients
Dairy
WHOLE Milk and Heavy Cream are going to be the main liquids you will use in your base. Milk has significantly more water content than cream, while cream’s fat content is immensely higher than milk. Both are used in ice cream in order to have the perfect ratio of water and fat. Too much cream leads to buttering giving a very unpleasant texture when you eat your ice cream (Speaking from experience. It’s Gross).
Choosing your dairy
This one is completely up to you. If you’re making barebones flavors, use the best quality dairy you can find!
Cream Notes
Lots of Supermarket cream are labeled “Heavy Whipping Cream” which has whipping agents. Look at the ingredient label and it will typically have Gellan Gum, Carrageenan, or both. Try to find one with one or the other but not both as you can have more control with stabilizing agents (if you use them).
Sugar
Arguably the main ingredient that makes ice cream so delicious. While it provides sweetness, it’s very crucial that you don’t try to cut this out of your recipes as it gives your ice cream body and acts as anti-freeze. Sugar is the one component and the reason why your base isn’t an ice block.
I personally use Organic Cane Sugar for all my bases as it is less sweet than your regular table sugar and it’s more nuanced.
Corn Syrup
Dark Horse ingredient as it’s been demonized by the Karens out there. This isn’t high Fructose Corn Syrup. In fact, I love using it as it has antifreeze properties and gives your base such a good texture! A lot of the pros use Glucose or Tapioca Syrup but you won’t be able to find those unless you buy a 50 lbs bucket. Lot’s of sciency words I don’t fucking understand through my readings but tested through trial and error, I can’t go back to not using it. It’s also under the sugar umbrella and it’s a lot less sweet than sugar.
Egg Yolks
One of the greatest emulsifiers ever, but the price to pay is an eggy flavor! Yolks are very protein packed and it binds with the fat and water making a thick ass base. A lot of recipes call a lot of yolks but in order to kind mitigate the egginess, we use:
Dry Milk Powder
Nonfat dry milk powder is another emulsifier made of proteins from Milk Solids. Like yolks, this also binds with the base making it thick and bodied.
Stabilizers (Optional)
Another ingredient demonized by some folks out there. This is completely optional if you’re weird about it, but a little goes a long way and it’s pretty much negligible. If you’re invested in making ice cream like I am, it’s a good idea since they truly help with texture and help keep your ice cream in shape if you eat little by little. If you’re not sharing your batch you’re most likely going to have your ice cream in and out of your freezer, freezing and thawing until it tastes and feels “expired”. Icy Surfaces, amalgamated variegates, soggy and yucky mixins.
Easy to find at Super Markets:
Xanthan Gum
Guar Gum
The Good Good:
Cremodan-30 is a commercial Stabilizer but can be used for home recipes. It’s formulated well and very reliable but it’s expensive! I’ve used a bit of it when I started, but have my own proprietary blend these days.
Salt (Optional. Kind of)
Like with any food, it’s always a good idea to season. A pinch of salt goes a long way and I truly believe is underutilized in ice cream. I salt a lot of my bases so it’s completely up to you whether the flavor you’re developing needs it or not!
Recommended salt to use for every day: Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 5ever
ReCiPe
Shout out to the peeps that stuck it through this far as I’ve gotten some Unfollows when they found out my Instagram account isn’t a recipe account. Too bad for those motherfuckers I’m giving out some of the sauce.
400g (40%) Whole Milk
300g(30%) Heavy Cream
150g (15%) Organic Cane Sugar
60g(6%) Corn Syrup
30g(3%) Dry Milk Powder
60g(6%) Egg Yolks (Around 4 Large Eggs)
.05g Stabilizer (Optional) ⅛ tsp if your scale isn’t precise
Pinch Kosher Salt (Optional)
*Pinches of salt vary. I have massive gorilla hands and it typically measures 2g. It’s up to your taste and how you want it! A good time to add salt is when your mix is homogenized and still hot. It dissolves quite well, and this is a good time to taste your base!
Procedure
[A]Cooking Your Base
1. Prepare your ice bath. Fill a large bowl with ice and and fill with water halfway and place a medium sized bowl on top of the ice bath.
2. Prepare your egg yolks in another bowl and place it somewhere where you can temper it easily. (Room temperature might be beneficial since the temperature difference won’t be as big)
3. In a 2 Quart Saucepan or pot, dump all your ingredients in except for the yolks and stabilizers if you’re using them. Clip a thermometer in and turn the heat on to medium while whisking everything until homogenized.
4. Once Mixture is homogenized, use your rubber spatula to constantly scrape the bottom of the pan and agitate your mixture until it reaches 120 F (When it starts steaming). Once it reaches the desired temperature, take the saucepan out of the heat and prepare yolks to be tempered.
5. Slowly whisk your yolks and ladle some of your mixture into the egg yolks simultaneously. Start whisking vigorously and ladle a few more times of your mix until the yolks are homogenized. Dump the yolky mixture back to the rest of your mix in the saucepan.
6. Once returned to saucepan, turn the heat back on to medium and keep scraping the bottom of the saucepan with rubber spatula until mixture reaches 165 F- 170F (do Nape Test if you don’t have thermometer)
7. Once mixture reaches 165 F-170F, run mixture into a fine mesh sieve to get rid of unwanted remnants into the ice bath for mixture to chill out brah. (add salt while it’s hot if you want!)
8. Let the mix vibe out and stir occasionally. (Good time to add some flavor or whatever)
[B]Churning
1. Take the very cold freezer bowl out of the freezer, set up the machine, turn it on and churn. It is crucial that your mix is cold in order to churn properly! (Optional step if you’re using stabilizers: Sprinkle it on your base and use your immersion blender before churning!)
2. Keep the machine going until it has a thick soft-serve consistency. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for 6 Hours. Congratulations, you’ve made ice cream!
*Aging your base: Cooling your base overnight instead just the ice bath allows your mix to develop more flavor. Something something about proteins properly binding or whateva. I personally don’t skip this and it's extremely beneficial when you’re steeping something.
Notes:
-This is a barebones sweet cream recipe. It’s very forgiving if you want to add more flavor such as Vanilla Extract, Steep Some Coffee, or even blend Cocoa Powder to make chocolate ice cream! Sky's kind of the limit and you can add your own inclusions and swirls as well.
-There are plenty of other techniques and information out there. I don’t give a fuck if I’m “doing it wrong” or have “holes in my knowledge” as I’ve made more fire products than what’s been release in the market. I TRULY TRULY believe this as an avid consumer with over 300 Pints under my bel(lly)t. I don’t know everything nor am I a food scientist so ask any technical questions I probably won’t be able to give you a good answer. The more you make, the more you adjust to your preferences. I’m not trying to be a nerd here. I haven’t really caught up with the science and shit as the mission is to make delicious things. Having cliff-note knowledge has gotten me this far and I’m closing in on 200 Original Flavors! I’ll gain more knowledge, refine my technique and really just figure it out as I go just like you should.
- Different flavoring techniques are kind of more involved, so get good at the basics and you’ll kinda figure it out! Did I also mention there’s an ass ton of books and recipes online where those techniques are shared?!
-As far as ingredient substitutions, this I believe is what you need to make something decent. It’s what I’ve worked hard to develop as a homemaker and reluctant to share for a while. I’d at least try it verbatim and go from there!
-Why is it kind called “Kind of whatever the fuck you want”? It’s a custard recipe. I’ve continuously preached that egg yolks impart an eggy flavor even though it’s been mitigated here with dry milk powder. This recipe calls for 3-4 yolks but I guarantee any book you look at will call for 5-8 yolks without using Dry Milk Powder. (Except Ample Hills. They use 3 yolks with more milk powder than mine). Even though you’ll get such fantastic texture and your flavor preference isn’t the classics such as strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate you’ll have a tough time. Floral along with delicate flavor profiles isn’t really ideal custard material for me at least. This recipe kind of meets you in the middle and makes it more forgiving as far as versatility goes.
What I think good ice cream is and what helps to make it:
Good Ingredients: I can not stress this enough, and I’ve gotten quite particular with what I use. Call me an ingredient slut as you will, and I will stand by this. It’s not many ingredients to use for homemade ice cream, so splurge a little to make a mighty fine product! Example: Use mediocre chocolate, you’ll end up with mediocre chocolate ice cream. Use good chocolate, and you’ll end up with a good chocolate ice cream! This is the reason I always name drop chocolates, coffee, or vanilla products. It’s not to be a douchebag and flex that I use good ingredients, but these types of ingredients are purveyed with lots of care, hence the price points. They deserve to be shouted out so other people would buy and use their products. Same goes for locally sourced produce. I can buy eggs at the Supermarket, but if I go to the local farmer’s market and use Dustin’s eggs, you’re goddamn right I will say they’re made with Dustin’s eggs. If I used Blackberries from so-and-so farms you’re GODDAMN RIGHT I will say my compotes are made with Blackberries from so-and-so farms!
Technique: There are plenty of ways and explanations on why others do what they do. The Dump and Pump method has worked wonders for me and really all I did was emulate a VAT pasteurizer. A vessel being heated while the mix is being agitated the whole time until homogenized and reached a certain temperature. Fancier techniques may lead to a better result, but I’ve stayed in my lane and progressed only because I’ve found something that works and is reliable for me. If you’re starting out, don’t sweat the sciency details. Find something that works well and falls in line with your preferences, then hammer the studies on the ins and outs. It’s a nice science project, but always remember that someone is going to eat this so make something good!
Creativity: As you can see, it’s not that hard to make ice cream. The possibilities are endless and a lot of small batch companies showcase this. Why I prefer buying from the smaller guys (which has not happened in a while) and would drop $120 on shipments just to try their craft. While the store pints are cheaper and still good, it just hasn’t done it for me in a long time as you see the same shit over and over again (I’m looking at you Ben and Jerry’s).
Execution: This is where it gets kind of grey. If you know me, I typically design flavors with inclusions and swirls. Some say it’s not even ice cream anymore, but this is what makes it fun for me. I can buy good vanilla ice cream. I can make good vanilla ice cream. But when you take a good vanilla ice cream and add a fudge swirl and throw some peanut brittle in, the experience from “this is good ice cream” to “I just fucking came, daddy”, is worth the $10-$15 you drop on the pint. This is where the craft aspect comes in. A lot of people have great ideas, but the overall experience becomes lackluster because the mixins don’t always hold up well, the swirls get icy, and the designs are one-sided meaning some mixins become irrelevant because one component is overpowering or the other is just missing in flavor. I’m here not just to make good ice cream, I’m here to make some of the best and funnest desserts ever. Which leads us to:
Crafting: Every component you toss in your ice cream has to be full proof that it holds up well when frozen. I’ve made a mistake of just tossing stuff in without thinking about repercussions. So, I’ve spent hours baking, candy making, cooking trying to figure out what works great when frozen. That being said, everything that goes in my pints are made from scratch. Except oreos. We don’t fuck with perfection. If you’re a topping kinda guy you should have probably stopped reading as I personally don’t find any finesse in this at all. The most challenging part for me is presenting a pint with harmonious components giving out of this world experiences. Sundaes are cool, but tend to get very busy and it all seems pointless to me. Just a very strong opinion as I stay in my lane and do what I do!
Flavoring: What kind of asshole just gives a base recipe? Me, motherfucker. I won’t beat a dead horse saying I worked hard on my flavors because I truly have. I want you to learn how to think critically and have your own craft. Not just blindly follow recipes. If you’re a casual gtfo, cuz this is serious business. Don’t completely rely on one source to be your solution manual rather than testing everything in sight that peek’s your interest. Continuously doing so will tailor some sort of groove and help develop your own blends. You will run into problems. You gotta learn how to fix them! That being said, subjectivity plays a huge role:
A good example for flavor development: Let’s say I want to make the most fire Vanilla Ice Cream with the 1 Quart batch of base. (Problem)
Instead of just tossing a splash of vanilla extract, think about the kind of vanilla extract you’re using. Do I like Mexican over Madagascar? Tahitian? How much do I put? A good good way to test is to try everyone of them and stir in smaller increments, taste, writing it down, until you get the desired taste that you want. Not saying do it all at once at the same time, but trying different products when you’re done with one is a good way to figure things out! Also applies to anything that gets incorporated! (Solution)
Having Fun: I’ve embedded ice cream making as a hobby as another form of de-stressing from your day to day life. Much like the gym, I LOVE every single moment of it. Hours of baking, going all over the City of Houston to hunt for different ingredients, and base making until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. It allows me to be creative in many different ways, solve problems, and overcome challenges. Listen to music that you vibe out to since I truly believe anything you cook comes out better when you’re in a better mood. My instagram stories are rarely absent of music while I do my thing. Whatever it takes to make it enjoyable for you!
THANK YOU
I am no blogger or influencer, but this rant/manifesto is a gift for my followers that want to tackle ice cream making at home and people who buy my extra batches. Without the funding from people offering to buy my batches I wouldn’t have gotten this far with R&D. So this is an official thank you for following and supporting @eatsgonewild shenanigans!
Also, sharing this during this bullshit pandemic might have people do something new or productive instead of going through pages of Pornhub. Give the genitals a rest and make some damn good ice cream! Also, in case Corona rids me of this world, you’ll have something to remember me by.
-Josh, the author of this.
(If you liked this paper, do me a favor and buy shit from your local restaurants and farmers markets while they’re still in business. The hospitality industry is part of the reason I’m extremely passionate about Ice Cream as I learn a bunch of combos from these local restaurants. I will also put my Venmo Josh-deleon-1 ahhh haha so you can buy me food… Joking… But for real though. Help the local restaurants and businesses out!)
If you made something cool with this recipe, tag ya boy on Instagram @eatsgonewild
Sources and Reading Material
Bitterman, Mark. Salted. Ten Speed, 2010
Britton-Bauer, Jeni. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. Artisan, 2011.
Britton-Bauer, Jeni. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts. Artisan, 2014.
Cree, Dana. Hello, My Name is Ice Cream. Clarkson Potter, 2017.
Erika, Kwee. “Home.” The Pancake Princess, 27 Mar. 2020, www.thepancakeprincess.com/.
Lebovitz, David. The Perfect Scoop Revised and Updated. Ten Speed Press, 2018.
Lopez-Alt, J. Kenji. The Food Lab. Norton 2015.
Malek, Tyler. Salt and Straw Ice Cream Cookbook. Clarkson Potter, 2019.
Page, Karen, and Dornenburg, Andrew. The Flavor Bible. Little, Brown, and Company 2008
Parks, Stella. Bravetart. Norton 2017
Smith, Brian, and Cuscuna, Jackie. Ample Hills Creamery: Secrets and Stories from Brooklyn’s Favorite Ice Cream Shop. Abrams, 2014
O’Neill, Laura, Van Leeuwen, Ben, and Van Leeuwen, Pete. Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream. Harpercollins 2015
Ruben. “Ice Cream Science -.” Ice Cream Science, icecreamscience.com/.
Tosi, Christina. Momofuku Milk Bar. Clarkson Potter 2011
Of course there are many more, but I tend to come back to these a lot. Google helps. This is a good starting recipe, but keep at it and keep experimenting and you’ll reap the rewards!