Bacon ice cream

Bacon ice cream is what was missing from my life.
— Bbq Dude (@IndirectHeat) September 16, 2010

I really can't introduce this post any better than how I twittled it when I first tried this ice cream.  Bacon ice cream filled a hole in my life.  You need bacon ice cream.  Just close your eyes, and say to yourself, "Bacon.  Ice.  Cream."  It just makes sense.

I modified David Lebovitz' recipe.  He suggested maple flavour would be delicious, so I substituted some of the brown sugar with maple sugar.  And I make my own bacon, so, you know.  Homemade bacon.

Hell, I started with a fresh batch of homemade, mesquite-smoked bacon.



We slice off:

5 strips homemade bacon

And sprinkle on:

10 tsp maple sugar

2 tsp on each strip.



Bake at 400°F for 6-7 minutes, until the sugar has melted, then flip, and bake for another 6-7 minutes.

MMMMmmmm... candied bacon.



Look at that!  Okay, chop up the bacon into chunks you'd be happy to encounter frozen in ice cream (i.e., pretty small).



Toss the chopped bacon into the fridge, you want it to be cold later when you add it to the ice cream (otherwise it'll melt the ice cream).  Meanwhile, make the custard:

3 tbsp unsalted butter
¾ cup brown sugar
1¾ cup cream
1 cup milk
5 large egg yolks
2 tsp dark rum
¼ tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

Put half of the milk and half of the cream in a bowl with a sieve over it.  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the brown sugar and the rest of the cream and milk and the pinch of salt.  Warm over medium heat. Not crazy hot, just warm.



Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks into a foamy mess.



Slowly add the hot cream-sugar-butter mixture to the egg yolks to temper the yolks.

Transfer back into your saucepan. Heat to 175°F. Never stop stirring. At 175°F, the custard should have thickened nicely, shouldn't have curdled, and will be ready for the next step. Pour the custard over the sieve into the cold cream and milk. Add the rum and the vanilla, and put in the fridge for at least 24 hours (you want the custard to be good and cold before you add it to your ice cream maker).



Run the custard through your ice cream maker using the instructions for your machine. I use the KitchenAid ice cream attachment. Right at the end, mix in the cold, candied bacon.



Look at that sloppy, bacony mess. Yum. Okay. Now cure for 24 hours in the freezer, to harden the ice cream. Serve.



So, the frozen custard is delicious. The brown sugar/rum/vanilla flavour of this creamy custard is quite good. But when you get the maply/smoky/salt blasts in the little chunks of bacon, it takes this ice cream to a whole other level. Best. Ice cream. Ever.  Amazing.