Simple Frozen Dessert

A plain cooked custard ice cream of the sort that filled hand-crank freezers on summer afternoons. The instructions assume you know what to do with the finished custard; here is what they leave out.

• Chill the custard firstThe recipe goes straight from "cook and stir till it thickens" to "freeze," but a warm custard churns badly and makes coarse ice. Strain it and refrigerate several hours or overnight before it goes into the machine.
• What "the finer the ice" meansMost likely advice for a bucket freezer: the ice packed around the canister should be crushed small so it beds tightly against the metal and melts into a brine quickly, since coarse chunks leave air gaps and the cream freezes slowly and grainily. The line could equally be read as praise for fine crystals in the finished cream. With a modern machine the equivalent instruction is to freeze the bowl solid, usually 12 to 24 hours.
• Quantities in cupsOne pint of milk is 2 cups, half a pint of cream is 1 cup. Use whole milk and heavy cream; the fat is the only thing standing between this and an icy result.
• The flourOne tablespoon of flour in a quart of custard is a stabilizer, not a thickener you should taste. Whisk it into the sugar and eggs before adding hot milk, and cook it long enough to lose the raw flour taste; a double boiler is slow, so give it 10 to 15 minutes of steady stirring.
• TemperingThe original says only to put everything in the double boiler. Safer practice is to heat the milk, then pour it slowly into the beaten eggs, sugar and flour while whisking, and return the mixture to the boiler. It thickens when it coats a spoon, around 175-180F.
• Salt and flavouringNo vanilla, no pinch of salt. Add a teaspoon of vanilla off the heat and a good pinch of salt unless you want the flat, milky sweetness the bare recipe gives.
• YieldAbout a quart. It is lean in fat by modern standards, though the full cup of sugar works against a rock-hard set; if it does freeze firm, let it stand about 10 minutes before scooping.