Toasted Coconut Ice Cream
Shown here with Gordon Ramsay’s brownies. Yo, Gordon, thanks for sending these. They were super good.
Some people do not like coconut. It’s one of the grim realities I have had to accept in this life. Those people are monsters, of course, and I will not associate with them.
For the rest of us, there is this toasted coconut ice cream.
When it comes to custard style ice cream, I am what you might call an enthusiast. Or you might call me an extremist. Or zealot. Sorbets just leave me unsatisfied and pissed off. Like, “Why the fuck did I just waste my time with that shit when I could have had fucking ice cream???” And even “Philadelphia” style ice creams made without eggs get a little thin and icy for my taste.
For that is the purpose of egg yolks in ice cream: along with butterfat and churn speed, they inhibit ice crystal formation, resulting in tiny crystals and therefore smooth, creamy, knee-trembling greatness. What about gelato, you say? Well, there are many types of gelato, and some of them use egg yolks. The ones that don’t use eggs typically use a stabilizer of some sort to inhibit crystal formation and keep the product smooth.
The main difference between gelato and ice cream is in the butterfat. Ice cream uses more, gelato less. Because butterfat makes incorporating air during churning easier, ice cream is less dense, gelato more dense. And modern gelato makers usually use commercial churners with paddles that minimize air incorporation, doubling down on the whole density factor. A swoopy versus scoopy dessert. For more on gelato, see this excellent article in Saveur.
What we have below is a custard-style ice cream. It’s milk and cream and egg yolks coming together in pure mouth-coating decadence…and that is the fucking point, is it not?
My first custard wasn’t a wild success. It was a little chunky and gross. But once I committed to 1. attentiveness and 2. patience, it went great. Go slow, keep stirring, watch the thickening process and/or temperature. Besides, if that shit goes pear-shaped on you, remember that you’re going to strain it later. That process will hide minor faults…like partially scrambled eggs.
And it’s not like this could possibly taste bad. Cream, sugar? Bitch, please.
Once you get the custard thing down, a whole world of flavor opens up to you. Steep whatever you want in that hot cream (like the coconut below) and make an infusion! Vanilla bean? Check. Earl Gray tea? Sure! Rosemary? Why the hell not?
Nuff said. Let’s do this.
I Googled “pornography” once. I expected to see photos like these, but there were people in the pictures. It was super weird.
Shit You Need
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
One 14 oz can coconut cream. This is not the coconut milk you use for curries. This is the stuff you find in the mixer section that you use for piña coladas. It gives this ice cream (almost) all the sugar it needs.
A well-coated spoon - note the coconut bits. Extra credit if you can spot a fern in the corner of my kitchen.
Keep Calm and justeffingcook
Gird your loins. You’re making custard.
Separate your eggs (save the whites for something else) and set aside the yolks in a medium-sized non-reactive bowl.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan (a saucier if you have one), add your milk, cream, sea salt, and 1/4 cup of the coconut. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
In the meantime, whisk your egg yolk, getting them ready for some hot cream action.
While whisking the egg yolks constantly, pour the hot cream in a thin, steady stream until you’ve added about a third of the cream mixture. Then reverse: slowly pour the egg yolk mixture back into the pan while whisking. Doing it this way helps prevent you scrambling those eggs and winding up with a semi-coagualted, chunky, gross mess.
Return the pan to the stove and heat on medium low. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon (not sure why it needs to be wooden, but I I fear fucking up custard so I always do it), until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (see handy photo). I like to check with a thermometer as well, aiming for a temp of 180 degrees F.
Strain into a bowl through a fine-mesh strainer. “Oh no, you’re straining out the coconut!” you say. Chill, we’re adding it back later. Now, literally chill…the custard in the refrigerator. At least 4 hours, but ideally overnight. Tap a little plastic wrap right down to the surface of the custard to prevent a weird jello-pudding film from forming.
The next day (or later that day if you are so goddamned impatient), Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Toast the remaining 1 cup of the shredded coconut until golden brown and set aside to cool.
Churn the chilled custard in your ice cream machine per the manufacturer’s directions. About ten minutes from the end of churn time, add in the toasted shredded coconut. Chill in the freezer for a full set, or stick your face right in the machine for instant gratification. Pro-tip: turn the machine off first.
This was about five seconds after the first photo in the post.
