Bi-Rite Creamery Salted Caramel Ice Cream

The weather has been unseasonably warm.  We had a lot of guests for dinner on Sunday and planned on eating outside.  What better dessert for a crowd than ice cream cones?  OOPS!... we had a cold front move in and now it's unseasonably cold.  Ate inside...in sweaters, because we discovered that our furnace won't light.  Ice cream anyone?

My all time favorite ice cream place is Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco.  They make the best ice cream and have written a book with all of the recipes.  Aren't they generous to share.  So of course I made my all-time favorite, Salted Caramel.  The chocolate in their book also was a big hit with our guests.  We still have a container of peach left.  Made from another recipe, it paled in comparison.   The Bi-Rite ice cream was incredibly creamy, and smooth.  I may never use another ice cream recipe book again.

The Bi-Rite folks generously gave me permission to share their recipes here, but you'll want to go out and buy the book based on the Salted Caramel alone.

So build a fire in the fireplace, put your feet up and enjoy.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream From Bi-Rite Creamery

1 ¾ cups of heavy cream, at room temperature

¾ cup of granulated sugar, divided into ½ cup and ¼ cup portions

¾ cup of 1% milk

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

5 large egg yolks

Make the caramel:

Put 2 Tablespoons of sugar in a heavy saucepan and put the pan over medium-high heat.  When the sugar starts to melt around the edges and starts to turn amber, stir gently and add another 2 Tablespoons of sugar.  Continue to add sugar 2 Tablespoons at a time as the previous additions melt.  Stop when you have added ½ cup of sugar.  When the caramel becomes a dark mahogany color, remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour the cream into the pan, slowly.  Be very careful at this stage.  Mixture will “spit”.  When the bubbling subsides, gently stir to blend.  If there are lumps of hardened caramel, heat over low heat until the caramel is melted.

Make the base:

Once the caramel is smooth, stir in the milk and salt and put the pan over medium-high heat.  When the mixture approaches a bare simmer, reduce the heat to medium.

In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks just to break them up, then whisk in the remaining ¼ cup of sugar.  Set aside.

Scoop ½ cup of the hot mixture and pour into the eggs, whisking briskly.  Repeat, adding another scoop.  Using a spatula, stir the remainder of the tempered eggs into the pan with the caramel mixture.  Cook it carefully over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is thickened and there is a trail that will not disappear across the spatula after running your finger across it.

Strain the ice cream base through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container.  Let the base cool, cover it and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Freeze the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions that come with an ice cream machine.

Transfer the ice cream into a container and freeze it for a few hours to firm up.

Keeps for 1 week in the freezer.

Makes about 1 quart.