Orange Chocolate Ice Cream With Raw Milk
I created this ice cream out of homesickness for my favorite flavor of a long-gone hometown ice cream company called SLO Maid. When I was in high school, downtown Paso Robles was still homey and sweet. A pharmacy across from the old Carnegie Library had a soda fountain that my friends and I loved.
Paso is mostly pricey boutiques and winery shops now. But this ice cream takes me back in time to the good old days, when a cone was $1.50 and our towns were made for us, and not for tourists.
This is absolutely delicious - especially when it's mixed from the fresh raw milk of our mini Jersey-White Park cow, eggs from our ducks and chickens, my grandfather Ray Lochhead's premier vanilla extract, and orange rind from our ranch citrus trees. Once chilled, the six-inch cream top in our jugs is more than enough to make this ice cream as rich as you could want. Hat tip to Serious Eats, where I learned to cut corners and keep ice cream making simple.
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup raw sugar
2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups milk
R.R. Lochhead vanilla extract to taste
pinch of salt
grated rind from 1 orange
1/4 cup high quality chocolate melted with a teaspoon or so of coconut or olive oil
On a cold stove top, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and cocoa until well combined. Slowly add the cream and the milk, whisking all the time. Gradually heat the custard to 170 degrees (use a thermometer if you have one; if you don't, dip a wooden spoon into the custard until it coats the back and swipe with your finger. If the line comes out clean, it's done).
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the vanilla and salt. Mix well, and sieve into your chilling container. Then add the orange rind to steep in the custard.
Remove the container to the refrigerator until it's well-chilled. DO NOT SKIMP ON THE CHILLING. If the custard isn't thoroughly cold before you begin to churn, the ice cream texture will be ruined. I usually chill for at least four or five hours.
Once it's ready, start your ice cream churn (I use my Kitchen Aid's ice cream freezer bowl and attachments), and slowly add the custard. While it's churning, melt the chocolate and oil together in the microwave or over the stove. If it's too thick, add more oil until it's a thin pouring consistency. When the ice cream is ready to go - after 15-20 minutes of churning, typically - slowly add the melted chocolate (with the churn still running) until it's flaked into the ice cream. Freeze at least three hours and enjoy!