Alton Brown's burnt peach ice cream

Summer has finally arrived in typical humid manner. So muggy I haven't felt much like cooking. But making ice cream, that's a different thing entirely. With fresh, local peaches in season, it was high time to give Alton Brown's burnt peach ice cream a try.

I have made my own ice cream several times; however, the ice cream turned out to have big ice crystals and not like real ice cream. I think part of my problem rested in using 2% milk. The recipe used, in the past, called for milk and since 2% is all that's ever on hand, I used it. There may have been too much water in the milk to freeze correctly. I'm saying that was the issue, anyway!

This ice cream began the night before with making the base.

• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup peach preserves
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped -- I used a teaspoon of vanilla extract because I didn't have a vanilla bean on hand.
• Pinch kosher salt

Heat the mixture to 170 degrees F, then move to a bowl and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, while firing up the grill, I placed 4 halved peaches on the grill. Because I use charcoal, the peaches ended up with a smoky flavoring. The peaches can also be caramelized under the broiler. The charred peaches need to be chopped into pieces for adding into the ice cream later.


Now, I'd like to introduce my ice cream maker. I bought it many years ago at Goodwill for a $1. It was a major find because this was back when I first began watching Good Eats and acquiring better kitchen gear. It has a frozen core as Alton recommended, but is a hand crank model. Nevertheless, it fit my specs and price range for certain. It has been one fantastic little churn. I've made lots of sorbets and frozen yogurts with it, in addition to my huge ice crystal ice cream.

So the ice cream making began with churning the base... and churning... and churning. On thing about making ice cream outside in hot, humid weather, it takes a long, long time to get the cream mixture to "soft serve consistency." But once that magic happens, add the chopped peaches.

Unlike the problems with other ice cream recipes, this one turned out to be fantastic. No big ice crystals, instead it was smooth and creamy. I called it being very similar to peach yogurt with the cream and fruit combo, just not sour like yogurt. The peaches have a hint of charcoal smoke, I haven't decided if I like that enough to grill the peaches again. But I do know, I will make some more of this ice cream.