How to make ice cream

Well, it seems that the Ice Cream Sunday revolution has inspired no less than three people I know to give the gift of an ice cream maker to their friends/loved ones this christmas. I'm absolutely speechless! I had no idea I wielded such influence over people... However, such power comes with great responsibility, so here, especially for you newbies, is a brief summary of The Mitch's ice cream production process. There might be better ways of doing it, and if you find such a way, then please let me know. In an case, listen carefully, cos I'm only gonna say this once...

To make ice cream, you gotta start by making custard. Because this involves heating things up, and ice cream, by definition, is served cold, you will need to do this at least a couple of hours before your preferred serving time. Custard consists of three things: eggs, milk and sugar. The proportions of each can be varied depending on your recipe, but I always do this step the same way:

1. Heat up the milk in a small saucepan. It doesn't have to be super-hot, and certainly should not be allowed to boil.
2. Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl with a fork or whisk. Some folk advocate separating the eggs and just using the yolks, which will give a richer, more custardy ice cream, though you may need to use more eggs to compensate for the reduced volume. Putting in the egg whites certainly works fine, though seems to lead to a slightly fluffier ice cream - something the purists would disagree with, but i'm a new-school kind of guy...
3. Take your hot milk and pour it slowly into the eggs/sugar mix, stirring the whole time. Doing this slowly whilst stirring ensures the eggs can slowly adjust to the heat of the milk, and won't instantly cook.
4. Transfer this mix back into the saucepan. Keep it on a medium heat and stir continuously until it starts to thicken. It doesn't have to be mega-thick, just enough so it coats the back of your stirring spoon. It is mighty important not to let the custard get too hot! At some point between 74 and 90 degrees Celsius, the egg protein gets all screwed up and separates itself from the rest of the custard, leaving you with scrambled eggs floating in sweet milk. Not cool. I keep the hot-plate at a temperature mid-way up the dial and it seems to work OK. Just keep stirring and watch carefully. Once it thickens, take it off the heat and keep stirring for another minute or two. If it starts to boil, you're screwed...
5. If you're adding any spices to the ice cream, it's best to add them during this heating stage so the flavours get released through the custard. Also, any ingredients that would benefit from being dissolved (fancy sugars, syrups etc) should be added during this part of the process.

So, once you've got your custard made, set it aside to cool down. Go out and kick the footy or read a book or go visit your parents. Then do this:

1. Once the custard has cooled down to room temperature, add in your cream, if using it. Any additional liquid flavours should be also be added now.
2. If you've got some time left before you wanna serve the ice cream, stick the mixture in the fridge to cool down further.
3. Plug in and turn on the ice cream machine (see your manual for details). Pour the mixture into the machine and watch the magic happen. If it doesn't freeze properly, you may have too much sugar, or simply too much liquid in the machine.
   
4. If you have solid ingredients (nuts, chocolate bits etc), wait until the mixture is partially frozen and then just drop them into the machine as it turns.

And that's about it. There's a few things to consider, but it's actually pretty simple to do, and pretty hard to stuff up. So get to it, dudes!