Eggs – Custard based ice cream vs eggless ice cream

There are a variety of frozen desserts which are all related. The main difference between ice cream and frozen custard is the amount of eggs used to thicken the base mix.

Philadelphia style ice cream is made from a base mix of milk and/or cream, sugar, and flavorings.

French (or simply plain) ice cream is made from a base mix which is essentially a very thin custard or creme anglaise: milk and/or cream, sugar, and flavorings thickened with egg yolks or whole egg. The base mix is cooked to thicken, and then chilled prior to churning.

Frozen custard is very similar to French style ice cream, but with a greater ratio of eggs or egg yolks to dairy or liquid in the mix.

With this information, you can adapt nearly any custard recipe to be freezable as ice cream or frozen custard.

My survey of frozen custard recipes indicates a ratio of eggs to dairy of about 5 egg yolks to three cups (700 mL) dairy, or 6 whole eggs to 4 cups (1 L) of dairy.

To adapt any custard recipe for freezing, then:

1. Adjust the ratio of egg yolks to dairy to no more than about 5 yolks per 3 cups dairy.

   You may also want to adjust the total yield to be based on no more than 3 cups dairy depending on the capacity of your ice cream maker. Many home ice cream makers have a 1 quart (close to 1 L) capacity, but you need to leave room for the air which will be incorporated as the mix is churned.

   I recommend not using whole eggs for frozen custards, as the yolks facilitate a better texture, and create the rich eggy custard flavor.

2. Frozen desserts are served colder than custards normally are, so the flavors will be more muted. You may need to compensate by increasing the ratio of flavoring ingredients.

   This will be hard to judge until you have made the frozen custard/ice cream at least once.

3. Cook the custard until it thickens on the stove top, per the normal custard method.

4. Chill it rapidly for safety, and then hold it for at least 4 hours (overnight is even better). While I cannot explain the science, empirically, allowing the mix to mature lets the flavors meld and produces a better frozen dessert.

5. Churn it into a frozen dessert according to the instructions of your particular ice cream maker.

Note that you can even convert a custard recipe into a Philadelphia style ice cream by eliminating the eggs completely, and simply creating a dairy/sugar/flavoring mix. These still benefit from overnight maturation before churning.

A number of factors come together to determine the smoothness of ice cream, which is almost exclusively a product of the size of ice crystal within the finished ice cream.

• How fast the mix is frozen--the faster it is frozen, the smaller the crystals
• Emulsifiers or stabilizers which interfere with ice crystal growth

The amount of milkfat is actually not that important; it contributes to richness on the tongue and mouthfeel, but does not really reduce the graininess.

The single best thing you can do to ensure a smooth product is to use an ice cream maker which freezes the mix as rapidly as possible, preferably within 20 minutes at the slowest. The slower the freeze, the larger the ice crystals grow, and when they are large enough, they will feel gritty or grainy on the tongue.

One of the best ways to help your mix freeze quickly is to chill it thoroughly in the refrigerator, over night if you can. This will have the side benefit of improving the flavor of your ice cream.

Adding so-called stabilizers or emulsifiers which interfere with crystal formation will also help. While some of these have scary names like xantham gum, guar gum, or agar, many come from natural sources. The most common emulsifier of all is common egg yolks.

Making a French style ice cream, whose base is a (very thin) egg custard or creme anglais will help you get a smoother, richer texture. Of course, it will also contribute a custardy, eggy flavor which may or may not be desirable depending on your preferences.