Black Sesame Ice Cream (黒ごまアイスクリーム, Kuro Goma Ice Cream)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Suribachi and surikogi, or a spice grinder
• •Heavy saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Ice cream maker
• •Chilled freezer container

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the sesame

   Put the black sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium-low heat and shake the pan often for 3 to 5 minutes. They are ready when they smell deeply nutty and a few seeds begin to pop softly. Do not wait for color as you would with pale sesame. Black seeds won't tell you much by sight, so trust the aroma.

   Toasting wakes the oil inside the seed. Skip it and the ice cream tastes dusty instead of fragrant.
2. 2

   Grind to paste

   While the seeds are still warm, grind them with 50g of the sugar in a suribachi and surikogi, the Japanese ridged mortar and pestle, until the mixture turns damp, dark, and paste-like. This takes patience by hand, about 8 to 10 minutes. A spice grinder or small food processor will do the same work in short pulses; stop before the paste overheats.

   The sugar is not only sweetness here. Its crystals help break the seeds, and the warmth lets the sesame oil loosen into a smooth paste.
3. 3

   Warm the dairy

   Combine the milk, cream, salt, and honey or mizuame if using in a saucepan. Warm over medium heat until the edges tremble and small bubbles gather, then take it off the heat. You want hot dairy, not boiling dairy, because boiling dulls the cream and makes the egg yolks harder to temper cleanly.

4. 4

   Temper the yolks

   Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 100g sugar until the mixture lightens slightly. Pour in a ladle of the hot milk mixture while whisking, then add another ladle. This gradual warming keeps the yolks smooth instead of shocking them into sweet scrambled egg, which is not the dessert we set out to make.

5. 5

   Cook the custard

   Return the yolk mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the custard lightly coats the back of the spatula, about 75 to 80 C. Draw a finger through the coating; the line should hold. Keep the heat gentle, because a slow custard gives a smooth ice cream and a rushed one turns grainy.

   If you don't use a thermometer, watch the texture. The custard should look slightly thicker and glossy, never boiling at the edges.
6. 6

   Add the sesame

   Take the custard off the heat and whisk in the black sesame paste until fully blended. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing gently with the spatula. Straining catches coarse seed hulls and any bits of egg, but don't force every last speck through or the texture turns sandy.

7. 7

   Chill the base

   Set the bowl over ice water and stir until cool, then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Cold base churns faster and forms smaller ice crystals, which is the plain reason it tastes creamier.

8. 8

   Churn and freeze

   Churn the chilled base in an ice cream maker until thick and softly set, usually 20 to 25 minutes. Pack it into a chilled container, press parchment directly on the surface, cover, and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. The parchment protects the surface from freezer dryness, a small courtesy the ice cream repays.

9. 9

   Serve restrained

   Let the ice cream stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before scooping. Serve one or two small scoops in chilled bowls with a few toasted sesame seeds on top. The flavor is rich and savory-sweet, so a modest portion reads better than a mountain.

Chef Tips

• •Buy black sesame seeds from a shop with turnover and smell them before you use them. They should be nutty and clean, not stale or oily. Nothing in this recipe hides old sesame.
• •If you have Japanese black sesame paste, kuro neri goma, you may use 80g in place of grinding the seeds. Choose one made only from sesame. Sweetened spreads and dessert sauces change the balance.
• •Mizuame, Japanese starch syrup, gives a slightly softer scoop. Honey is the easier stand-in, but use only a spoonful so it doesn't speak louder than the sesame.
• •No ice cream maker? Freeze the chilled base in a shallow metal pan, stirring hard with a fork every 30 minutes until thick, then pack it into a container. The texture will be denser, but the flavor remains honest.

Advance Preparation

• •Toast and grind the sesame up to 2 days ahead, then refrigerate the paste in a covered jar. Bring it close to room temperature before whisking it into the custard.
• •The custard base can be made 1 day ahead and kept refrigerated before churning. In fact, it improves with the rest.
• •Finished ice cream keeps best for 1 week with parchment pressed to the surface. After that, the flavor is still there, but the freezer begins to take its share.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)