For a long time, we’ve gone to a local Japanese restaurant, where Romain fell for their black sesame ice cream. Unfortunately, for him, the last few times we’ve gone, they’ve been out of stock. (How do you run out of ice cream? It freezes beautifully…) But rather than ask about those things, I now just accept them.
Another thing I recently accepted was a copy of La Glace de Nos Rêves, a new book of ice cream recipes by Henri Guittet. Henri credited my book, The Perfect Scoop, for launching his ice cream business, Glazed, in Paris, which I learned when we eventually met, and since then, we’ve become friends, as well as ice cream buddies.
When I arrived in France, I tried to find a French publisher to publish my ice cream book in French, but the editors told me no one in France made their own ice cream. (I didn’t say, “Well…maybe if they had a book of recipes, they would?”) But it’s never up to authors which books of theirs get translated. It’s up to foreign publishers. So that’s another thing I’ve had to accept.
Henri was educated as an architect in France, but his passion for ice cream took over, and now Glazed has several shops in Paris, a vintage food truck, and even an ice cream club that offers special-edition ice cream to members.
An education is referred to as a formation in France, and you’re “formed” into what you want to be by the system. But one thing that has changed over the years in France is people changing careers. In France, you take a test when you’re a teenager called the baccalaureate, and the results determine where you can go to college, and what you can study—and basically, your future.
I never opened my ice cream shop in Paris, so Henri is living my dream (minus the paperwork), with his own boutiques, and I’m glad to see he’s published his second book, La Glace de Nos Rêves, The Ice Cream of Our Dreams, where he shares his favorite recipes, including black sesame. So I decided to churn up a batch.
I read up on black sesame paste and learned that some contain white sesame seeds (such as this French brand that’s sold in natural food stores, which is 50% white sesame seeds), which tempers the strong flavor of black sesame seeds. I didn’t want to temper the black sesame flavor, so I headed over to Kioko, a Japanese food store in Paris, to pick up a packet.
I was glad I did because the flavor was pretty delicious, although it’s important to mix up the package before using. Sesame seeds have a lot of natural oils, and those tend to rise to the top. So a good stir, or squeeze (if you buy it in a packet like I did), is in order, before using.
Henri’s recipe also calls for low-fat powdered milk, which he says reduces the need to add too much cream to the ice cream. I didn’t know about that, but at this point, Henri'’s made more ice cream than I have, so I followed his instructions, and the ice cream did scoop beautifully. Which also might have something to do with the oil in the sesame seeds, but now that I have a box of powdered milk, I might start adding it to other ice cream bases. As the box says, it’s Génial en cuisine!, which translates to, “Brilliant in the kitchen!”…and who doesn’t want to be more brilliant in the kitchen?
Since it’s summer, I’ve been loading up on strawberries while they’re in season. Right now there are a lot of them, which is génial, because they pair especially well with this black sesame ice cream. This black sesame ice cream is quite dynamic in flavor, thanks to the quality, and quantity, of black sesame paste that I used. Romain was happy to have black sesame ice cream at home. And if he’s happy, I’m happy.
Black Sesame Ice Cream
Makes about 1 quart (1L)
Adapted from La Glace de Nos Rêves by Henri Guittet (Amazon FR/Librarie Gourmande/Librarie Gourmande Canada)
It’s worth seeking out good-quality black sesame paste for this ice cream since that’s what gives the ice cream its great flavor. There’s a recipe here for making your own, although I’ve not made it, and you’d really need to have a good food processor or blender to get it the right consistency. I recommend buying a good-quality Japanese brand, one that’s 100% black sesame seeds.
Henri’s recipe said to use low-fat powdered milk, but I used whole-milk powdered milk, and my ice cream came out fine. So you could use whichever you want. If you can’t find powdered milk, you can make the ice cream without it without any adjustments. My recipe has an additional egg yolk, and the black sesame paste is rich enough to keep the ice cream scoopable.
1/3 cup (70g) black sesame paste, well mixed
2 cups (500ml) whole milk
5 tablespoons (25g) powdered milk (any type)
2/3 cup (130g) sugar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup (150g) heavy cream
A few drops of lemon juice
Optional: 2 tablespoons (18g) black sesame seeds
Put the black sesame paste in a medium bowl. Have a mesh strainer handy as well as a larger bowl partially filled with ice and a little water for an ice bath to cool the finished custard. Set aside.
Warm the milk, powdered milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over moderate heat. Whisk together the egg yolks in a small bowl. When the milk is warm, gradually add some to the yolks while whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed eggs into the saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a flexible heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom of the pan with the spatula, until the custard starts to thicken. If using an instant-read thermometer, the temperature should read 185ºF (85ºC).
Immediately strain the custard into the black sesame paste, then use a whisk to stir the mixture until the sesame paste is incorporated, then whisk in the cream. Set the bowl of custard in the bowl of ice and stir with a spatula until cool.
Refrigerate the custard overnight, add a few drops of lemon juice, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once churned, fold in black sesame seeds, if desired.
Have you tried black sesame lattes? It’s my current obsession 😍
David -- the recipe calls for 3/4 cup heavy cream, but then doesn't refer to it again -- is that added with the milk etc. to make the custard? Thanks!