Russian vanilla ice cream

1. Split the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and put both pod and seeds in a medium-sized non-aluminium pan. Add the milk, cream and a pinch of fine sea salt. Heat gently, stirring often. Once the mixture is steaming hot, remove the pan from the heat. In a bowl, use a balloon whisk to mix the egg yolks and sugar for 1 minute until thoroughly combined.

2. Fill the sink with iced water. Ladle the hot cream over the yolk mixture a little at a time, whisking continuously to form a custard. Return the custard to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring all the time, until it reaches 82˚C on a sugar thermometer. Don’t let it boil. As soon as the thermometer reaches 82˚C, put the pan in the sink of iced water to cool. Speed up the cooling process by stirring the mixture every so often. Once the custard is at room temperature, add the vodka and pour the mixture into a clean container. Cover the surface with cling film and chill overnight.

3. The next day, use a small ladle to push the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a jug. Remove the vanilla pod (you can rinse and dry it, then use for vanilla sugar). Pour the custard into an ice-cream machine and churn for 25-45 minutes, until it reaches the texture of thick whipped cream (or if you don’t have a machine, see the tip on page 64). Transfer to a lidded container about 1 litre in capacity. Top with a piece of baking parchment, cover and freeze for at least 4 hours until ready to serve. It will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.