Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 Tahitian vanilla bean
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp malt powder
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Fill a large bowl or pan with ice and water. Place a large, clean bowl in the ice bath and fit the bowl with a fine-mesh strainer.
2. In a large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until hot but not boiling.
3. Meanwhile, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Using the tip of a small, sharp knife, scrape out the insides into a medium bowl. Add the sugar and malt powder and rub it all together with your fingers to incorporate and evenly distribute the vanilla seeds. Get all the last bits from the bean (save the pod). Your hands will smell nice. Whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.
4. Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Slowly pour about half of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer the yolk mixture back to the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and return it to medium heat. Cook stirring constantly with a rubber spatula and being sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan so it doesn’t scorch, until the liquid begins to steam and you can feel the spatula scrape against the bottom of the pan, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Remove the custard from the heat and immediately pour it through the strainer into the clean bowl you set up in the ice bath. Tuck the vanilla bean pod back into the custard. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally.
6. When the custard has totally cooled, cover the bowl and let steep and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight. When you are ready to freeze the custard, remove the vanilla bean, transfer the custard to an ice cream maker, and spin according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Eat immediately or transfer to an airtight container, cover, and freeze for up to 1 week.

Source: Godby, Jake; Vahey, Sean (2012-04-13). Humphrey Slocombe Ice Cream Book (Kindle Locations 639-646). Chronicle Books LLC. Kindle Edition.

Note: Don’t throw out  the used vanilla bean. They’re expensive! Put it in our sugar jar and infuse the sugar with the subtle vanilla flavor and aroma.