Eggs or no eggs, that is the question.

Before I started this journey, I had little to no knowledge of how to make ice cream.  I had an idea that it was something along the lines of this: milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and perhaps some other miscellaneous flavor components.  Most, if not all, of the recipes I read prior to my first batch of homemade goodness included these components, except one.  This one particular recipe came from the instructional booklet included with  my gelato machine, and referenced its traditional Sicilian roots for the omission of eggs.

In this recipe, the egg yolks were substituted with cornstarch in order to preserve the vibrant and rich flavor of the chocolate.  The idea behind cornstarch, if I've read correctly, is to enhance the texture of the ice cream and add viscosity without the additional flavor eggs bring to the party.  Being the inquisitive soul that I am, I pondered which textural enhancer worked more efficiently, eggs or cornstarch, and if flavor interference was the only reason to use one over the other. With some money burning a hole in my pocket and a few hours to kill, I was determined to find out.

STEP ONE: find a recipe to test.  STEP TWO: decide vanilla is the obvious choice.  STEP THREE: make two batches of ice cream, one with egg yolks, the other with cornstarch.  Done, done and done.  And the results....drum roll please....not all that exciting.  Annoyingly enough, they both tasted pretty similar.  The one with eggs had a slightly richer custard-like flavor, the one with cornstarch tasted sweeter and more like true vanilla.  So which one was better?

I was determined, and still am, to find the best of both worlds.  That means finding a happy medium between the two.  A hybrid if you will, part egg and part cornstarch.  After about a million test batches of vanilla, the perfect balance was achieved.  (Or so I thought...but that's for another blog...)  The two original recipes I tested against each other required either 6 egg yolks, or 2 Tbsp of cornstarch.  The modified recipe for my "perfect" vanilla uses 2 egg yolks and 1 tbsp of cornstarch, a conglomerate of eggy richness and bright vanilla flavor working together in perfect harmony.  Here is what I came up with:

2 c. heavy cream
1 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 pinch salt


So to answer my question, eggs or no eggs, I guess the only appropriate answer is eggs.  Or no eggs.  Or maybe something in-between.  Wait, can you repeat the question?