HONEY, GINGER, STAR ANISE AND SAFFRON iCE CREAM

This ice cream is a little spicy, with a perfect texture, and works brilliantly with the poached pear. The pears could be hot or cold. I served them cold with a single vanilla tuille, but if I was going to serve them hot, I might add a little bit of hot crumble topping to give a bit of crunch.

29 july 2025 AO

for the ice cream

1kg quality pouring cream [1]
80g p/w grated ginger
210g quality honey ….Leatherwood is good, not too sweet
6g star anise
2 + 2 pinches of saffron
10 room temperature extra-large egg yolks

digital thermometer

Weigh everything to the line into a microwave-safe bowl about twice the volume of the contents. Add two pinches of saffron. Microwave on high until the cream is boiling, give it a good whisk to ensure the honey is dissolved and set to one side for thirty minutes to fully infuse the cream.

Put the egg yolks into a bowl. Bring the cream back to the boil and immediately whisk into the yolks.

WITHOUT DELAY
If you have used room temperature eggs, it should be 80°C but check. If not, return to the microwave on a very low temp.

Strain off, pressing hard against the ginger. Immediately add the remaining two pinches of saffron and whisk in. Chill and churn.

[1] We like Jersey Fresh, Tweedvale and Fleurieu cream, all local, all quality

ACCOMPANIMENTS

Beurre Bosch pears, peeled, halved, core removed with a melon baller, internal stem removed with a v-cut made with a turning knife

WHY THE MICROWAVE

why the microwave

Why the microwave, well, if you’ve ever boiled the cream over the stove, wasted precious time cleaning up and starting again you’ll understand. Why the microwave, well, if you’ve ever watched the apprentice boil the cream over the stove, scorch the cream and still gone ahead and made the ice cream, not just a mess to clean up and an ice cream that has to be binned, well you will understand.

When Mistress Augustine’s opened in nineteen eighty-one, we had a basically, domestic kitchen and to make things work I had to learn to do a lot of things in a microwave. I always felt a little ashamed and tried to keep my quite extensive use a secret, until that I did estage at Les Crayeres, then a Michelin three-starred restaurant in Reims, then under the loving and super talented directorship of executive chef, Gerard Boyer.

Bizarrely Boyer’s kitchen had learned many of the same things….anglaise [basically an ice cream base], melting chocolate while keeping it in temper, little vegetables kept crunchy and colourful cooked in water with butter and seasoning. Softening a tuille batter without melting it.

I’m willing to try almost anything in the kitchen that eliminates the risk of failure and waste. The microwave method for making ice cream is pretty much foolproof unless someone is stupid enough to scramble the eggs getting the ice cream base to 80°C. WITHOUT DELAY is important.

AO COOK’S NOTE

poaching the pears

Pears poached in a saffron and honey syrup

Beurre Bosch pears, peeled, halved, core removed with a melon baller, internal stem removed with a v-cut made with a turning knife.

FOR THE POACHING SYRUP

225g caster sugar
500g water
100g quality honey
4 strips of lemon peel
strained juice of ½ a big lemon [about 50g]
2 pinches of saffron

200ml Tweedvale pure cream

Select a heavy-based pan with a lid that will accommodate your pears in a single layer. Weigh the syrup ingredients into the pan, and stirring constantly, dissolve the honey. Turn the heat down very low, add the pears, cut side up, and spoon syrup into the cored part. Add sufficient water to cover the pears, and then contact cover with a cartouche.

Cooking time depends on how ripe your pears are, but about 30 minutes on very low heat should do it. Check by inserting a sharp knife. Carefully remove the pears from the syrup and reduce the syrup to a light sauce consistency. Pour over the pears and chill.

Serve with 50ml of the syrup, a little quenelle of pure cream, a vanilla tuille if you have the skill and a generously sized ball of ice cream.

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