Wes Roeder's Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

When I was a kid, the fourth of July often meant that we would have some sort of family picnic.  Usually it was with my Mom's side of the family.  Her brothers would man the grill.  There would be a couple of galvanized tubs that were filled with ice and water.  One had cold drinks in it and the other a watermelon.  The watermelon floating in the icy water would get so cold and crisp that when we cut it open it would pop and crack.  There was always a big crock of iced tea too.  I loved all of it, but the best part of any family picnic was that my Dad always made homemade ice cream.  When I was very young, we had the sort of ice cream freezer that you had to hand crank.  We would take turns and work for hours to turn out that delicious stuff.  Later, when I was a teenager we moved up to an electric ice cream freezer.  It wasn't as much work, but still produced a really great ice cream. 

In the old machines, there was an outer wooden bucket.  A metal container sat in the middle of the wooden bucket.  A Paddle fit into the center of the metal container.  The metal container was pre-cooled in the refrigerator.  It was then filled with the ice cream mixture and inserted into the wooden bucket.  The paddle was inserted into the metal container and the top sealed with a lid. The space between the wooden bucket and the metal container was filled with ice and rock salt. Through heat transfer, the ice melted and cooled the ice cream mixture. The crank, or the motor on newer machines, turned the metal bucket.  The paddle remained stationary.  This kept the hardening ice cream off of the outer walls of the metal container.  The turning motion aerated the ice cream and kept it from getting ice crystals in the mixture.  The first ice cream maker was patented in the United States in 1843, and the principles haven't changed much since.  In some modern machines, the hollow space between the ice cream container and the outer walls are filled with a liquid which is pre-frozen by putting the machine in the freezer.  This eliminates the need for the ice and salt, but the process is still very similar to the old fashioned method. 

I still have my Dad's recipe for ice cream and it seems to me to be the best I have ever had. Try the vanilla first and if you like it, don't be afraid to add some cut up fruit like peaches or raspberries on your next try. 

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
21/4 Cups Sugar
5 Cups Whole Milk
4 Cups Heavy Cream
41/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Salt

Preparation:

Beat eggs well and add sugar slowly, while continuing to beat the mixture.  Add the rest of the ingredients and pour into the cooled inner portion of your ice cream maker.  Proceed with the directions that come with your machine and enjoy when done.  (This recipe contains raw eggs, which can cause salmonella, but I never knew a single person who got sick from ice cream.)