salted caramel ice-cream

I have not had time to play in my kitchen lately and tinker with my new ice-cream maker attachment. Today, I finally had a chance to recreate one of my(many) ice-cream flavor favorites, salted caramel ice-cream. It sounds like a weird combination, but for the nay sayers all I have to say is don't knock it till you try it. I used some authentic fleur de sel from the Camargue region in France to make this an even more luxurious treat.

First, I combed the internet for salted caramel ice-cream recipes and since I had pored over

David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop, I had an idea of what to look for in a recipe. I decided on epicurious' version, from Gourmet magazine's August 2009 issue, it seemed pretty straight

forward.

Since I am an ice-cream novice and have never made caramel before, I will share photos and

attempt to offer an impromptu tutorial in hopes that my experiences demystify the process for other newbies or better yet save you a batch of ingredients. Here goes.....

I melted the sugar in a saute pan, stirring with a fork until dissolved and turned into an amber color. Cream is then added. The mixture is will froth up, just like picture don't be alarmed, just keep stirring until all the caramel is dissolved. The caramel is then cooled in a bowl to room temperature.

While the caramel is cooling, whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and bring just to a boil the remaining milk, cream, and sugar. Watch for the tiny little bubbles on the milk instead of bring it to a full boil. Take about a cup of hot milk and carefully pour it into the eggs in a steady stream while whisking. The first time I made custard for ice-cream I overzealously whipped the egg/milk mixture resulting in a mountain of foam. No need to go into a whipping frenzy, just incorporate the hot milk in to temper the eggs. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan with the milk and stir constantly until it thickens and coats the wooden spoon or 170F. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL!

If like me your eggs weren't tempered properly and there is some semblance of scrambled eggs in your custard, don't fret, strain the custard into a bowl. By some miracle(or more likely practice) my custard came out beautifully this time around. Pour cooled caramel into custard and let cool to room temperature. Cover and put batter in fridge for 3-6 hours. Ta-da! Home made ice-cream to rival high falutin' creameries and restaurants are now just hours away. Yummy! Pictures of final product to follow later tonight.