One of the most dramatic flavours I encountered on our Tokyo trip was black sesame ice cream. It has a nutty, roasted flavour and it tastes like no ice cream I’ve tried before. Of course, black sesame is used quite a bit in Asian cooking, but it seems very well suited to ice cream. This is not a flavour for everyone, but there are people who have tasted it in our shops over the last week who have simply raved. If you want to try it, here’s a recipe:
Murphys Black Sesame Ice Cream
Ingredients:
125g sugar- 5 egg yolks
- 230 ml cream
- 200 ml milk
- 40 g black sesame seeds
What to do:
- Put the sesame seeds in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir until they start popping and you can smell the flavour.
- Remove from the heat and cool.
- Transfer to a blender and blend it until fairly smooth.
- Beat sugar and egg yolks together until pale yellow.
- Bring the milk to a simmer.
- Beat the milk into the egg and sugar mixture in a slow stream. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. Stir until the custard thickens (around 65C).
- Allow the custard to cool.
- Whip the cream and fold into the mix.
- Stir in the sesame.
Freeze the ice cream using a domestic ice cream machine.- Otherwise, cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.
6 Servings.
Notes:
1. If you have trouble finding black sesame, check your local Asian food market.
2. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.
Black sesame is quite popular as a flavour in high end dining.
You might be interested in michael laiskonis’ blogs
Doing the Math: http://mlaiskonis.typepad.com/workbook/2009/01/doing-the-math.html
Thanks for the link, Cathal. Looks a very good post and interesting for those who are interested in the chemistry side of ice cream.
I had some sesame ice cream when I was in Japan last year and it was fantastic. Thanks for bringing back some good memories. The Chinese also do a nice pastry which is a fried puff of dough dipped in sesame seeds. Makes we wonder what it might be like to take a toffee and/or butterscotch ice cream and sprinkle it with sesame seeds…
oh my gosh – i am so glad i found your blog through foodgawker. i recently received an ice cream maker attachment and have been trying to think of creative ice cream recipes! i made a honey vanilla with peanuts and my family loved it, but i would now like to try something a little bit different. thanks for such a great recipe! do you mind if i add you to my blogroll?
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM!!! YUM!!!.
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
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THIS IS A GREAT RECIPE. I’VE MADE IT MULTIPLE TIMES. YUMMMM. THANKS!
Happy to hear it! I love it as well. 🙂