Needless to say, I love to cook. Nonetheless, there are some things that I’ve always believed (or, really, just assumed) were better left to the professionals. Yeasted bread, for instance, is my white whale. Ketchup I refuse to make on principle. Etc.

Ice cream also used to be on the list. With the proliferation of artisanal ice creams available in the grocery store (or the siren call of Bi-Rite when I’m back in the Bay Area), I really didn’t think there was any reason to make my own.

It is now apparent to me that I was entirely, totally wrong.

 

Here’s how it happened: when my friend and I were cooking our way straight through David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen (read a bit more about that here), we came upon a recipe for buttermilk ice cream. It sounded weird. It sounded like a lot of work. But we’d committed to the whole book, so off we went, buying buttermilk and borrowing an ice cream maker.

It was not weird—it was some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had, with salty and savory from the olive oil and sea salt layering nicely over the tangy, creamy, sweet base of the buttermilk and cream. Think of it like tart frozen yogurt, made creamier and also way more interesting, and you’ll be headed in the right direction. Nor was it, in fact, a lot of work—it was very simple to prep, and then the ice cream maker did the rest.

Still not sold? One friend–a die-hard chocolate fan who furrowed her brow upon hearing the words “buttermilk” and “ice cream” next to each other, was totally won over. Another, usually reserved, put down his spoon after the first bite and said, “Well, now I can die happy.”

 

No ice cream maker? That’s okay. A massive craving struck when my ice-cream-maker-owning friend was out of town, but I was able to make this according to David Lebovitz’s instructions here. (A bit more labor intensive, but a craving is a craving, so who am I to stand in the way?)

After this experience, I’m wondering what other wondrous homemade ice cream recipes are out there. I need to make up for lost time!

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Buttermilk ice cream with olive oil and sea salt

Makes 1 quart (1L)
Adapted only slightly from David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (430ml) heavy cream
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (60g) light corn syrup (see notes, below)
1 1/4 cups (310ml) buttermilk
Fruity, extra virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt, preferably fleur du sel if you have it

Instructions

Place the sugar, corn syrup, and cream in a small saucepan. Place the saucepan over low heat and warm, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Chill the mixture thoroughly—I did mine in a stainless steel bowl, nested inside a larger bowl that I had filled with ice, and then placed the whole contraption in the fridge (see photo, above). It chilled in about 30 minutes.

Stir the buttermilk into the chilled cream mixture and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Or, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, follow Lebovitz’s technique, described here (I have followed his instructions, using electric beaters, beating every 20 minutes or so, and the results were great).

If you used an ice cream maker, you will likely have to transfer to a container and freeze for a couple more hours until firm enough to scoop. If you did the elbow grease method, it will probably be ready to scoop by the time you’re done beating, since it has been freezing in the freezer the whole time. Either way, expect your ice cream to be ready in 2-3.5 hours.

To serve, scoop ice cream into individual bowls. Drizzle with olive oil and top with sea salt. Enjoy!

Notes

Why corn syrup? Buttermilk has less fat than straight cream, so it would get quite hard in the freezer. The addition of corn syrup helps keep it scoopable. Lebovitz instructs that if you’d rather leave the corn syrup out, you can either substitute mild honey or replace it with an additional 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar. If you do this, he says, you should also remove it from the freezer ten minutes before serving to allow it to soften. I have only made this recipe with corn syrup, so I can’t verify his instructions (though he is my culinary North Star, so I can’t imagine he would be leading you astray here).