Sous Vide Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Creams (and crème anglaise and chocolate sauce)

I have always preferred making my own ice cream (and love a home-made crème anglaise), but aspects of the method I use are possibly a little unconventional, as I use a chamber vacuum packer and water bath. As I always have to work out quantities, temperatures and times, I thought it was useful, if for no-one other than me, to make a note of my method.

Equipment Required (beyond basic kitchenware)

• Liquidiser or blender
• Chamber vacuum packer
• Water bath
• Ice cream machine

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients (makes approximately 1 litre)

• 200ml double cream (straight from fridge)
• 200ml milk (straight from fridge)
• 150g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or 1 vanilla pod halved lengthways)
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Heat the water bath up to 82°C.
2. Blend all of the ingredients together in the blender. If using a vanilla pod, do not blend this, but put straight into the bag for the next step.
3. Pour the mixture into a vacuum bag and seal. (It is important the mixture is as cold as possible to get a better vacuum on the bag, i.e., the contents will not boil so quickly under pressure.)
4. Cook in the water bath for 20 minutes.
5. Chill the cooked crème anglaise in an ice bath, and agitate the contents of the bag while it is cooling.
6. Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions to freeze to ice cream.

This method also works to make a perfect crème anglaise which can be kept in the fridge for up to a week. The creme anglaise can either be used as a sauce during this time, or turned into ice cream.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients (makes approximately 1 litre)

• 200ml double cream (straight from fridge)
• 200ml milk (straight from fridge)
• 150g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 150g bitter chocolate (approximately 70% cocoa) broken into small pieces (callets work well)

Method

1. Heat the water bath up to 82°C.
2. Blend all of the ingredients, except the chocolate together in the blender.
3. Pour the mixture into a vacuum bag and seal. (It is important the mixture is as cold as possible to get a better vacuum on the bag, i.e., the contents will not boil so quickly under pressure.)
4. Cook in the water bath for 20 minutes.
5. Chill the cooked custard to approximately 38°C using an ice bath, and agitate the contents of the bag while it it chilling.
6. Put the chocolate in a large (metal) bowl, and pour the warm custard over it stirring constantly to melt the chocolate. If the custard is too cold, gently warm the chocolate/custard mixture in a bain marie. However, make sure it does not get too hot, otherwise the chocolate will have a very gritty texture.
7. Pour the chocolate sauce into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions to freeze to ice cream.

This method also works to make a perfect chocolate sauce which can be served cold, warmed up gently in a bain marie, or turned into ice cream. It will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

For me, the water bath method of cooking the custard (whether or not it ultimately becomes ice cream) proves to be a life-saver in terms of avoiding that horrible moment when you scramble the yolks when trying to make it in a pan. Not only is this method much less labour-intensive, it is much more reliable. The simplicity of the method also means my 5 year old daughter is able to help me make her own chocolate ice cream without risk of error. She just needs to learn to separate eggs now...