Carl Taplin of Gott's Island, Maine, writes: "Every summer, I look forward to homemade vanilla ice cream. Do you have a favorite recipe for it?"
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
2 large eggs
Special equipment: an instant-read thermometer
Directions
Combine cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla beans with tip of a knife into cream mixture, then drop in pods. Heat cream mixture just to a boil.
Whisk eggs in a large bowl, then add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Pour mixture into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and registers 170°F on thermometer (do not let boil).
Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean metal bowl, then cool, stirring occasionally. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.
Freeze custard in an ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer.
