Recipe: Coolhaus’ Fried Chicken and Waffles Ice Cream

Photography by Brian Leatart. Copyright 2014.

This week on the show, we talk with the Coolhaus ladies, Natasha Case and Freya Estreller, about their ice cream business. They sell some wild flavors – like Fried Chicken and Waffles Ice Cream, which comes with a cayenne-spiced caramel syrup.

Find the recipe below, and start cranking that scoop. If you find yourself needing some help, check out their tutorial here.

Fried Chicken & Waffle Ice Cream

(Reprinted with permission from the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, from the Coolhaus Ice Cream Book by Natasha Case, Freya Estreller with Kathleen Squires.)

Makes about: 1 1⁄2 quarts | Active time: 2 to 21⁄2 hours

We started to wonder, What would be our next sensation, the equivalent of our Brown Butter Candied Bacon Ice Cream? That’s when we came up with this down-home, salty, sweet, Southern, fingerlickin’-great concoction. The brown butter base is enhanced with an herbaceous, slightly spiced Fried Chicken Caramel dotted with crispy skin—definitely one of Coolhaus’s unique triumphs. In fact, the caramel, which is sold in our signature Coolhaus jars, is one of our best sellers. Make it on its own and serve it over anything.

Ingredients

1 cup Fried Chicken Caramel(see below)

4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter

Plain Custard Base (see below)

1 cup smashed waffle cookies (Pirouette cookies, Breton fan cookies, or organic waffle cones)

1 Refrigerate the caramel for 30 minutes. Mix with an immersion blender or a hand mixer to emulsify.

2 In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and cook until medium-brown/caramel in color, about 4 minutes. Be careful not to burn. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. Let cool.

3 Add brown butter to base. Stir to combine.

4 Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. During last minute of churning, swirl in caramel.

5 Transfer to a bowl and fold in smashed waffle cookies.

6 Scrape into an airtight storage container. Freeze for a minimum of 2 hours before serving.

Fried Chicken Caramel

Makes about: 21⁄2 cups | Active time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

3 ounces chicken skin, chopped (about 1⁄3 cup)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1⁄4 teaspoon dried sage

2 pinches cayenne pepper

1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed

1 cup chicken stock

1⁄2 cube chicken bouillon

2 cups store-bought caramel sauce (we like Trader Joe’s Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce or Hershey’s

Caramel Syrup

1 Warm a large heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add chicken skin to dry pan. Add 1⁄2 teaspoon salt, a pinch of sage, a pinch of cayenne, and the black pepper and brown skin until deep golden, stirring and turning as needed, about 10 minutes.

2 Deglaze pan with chicken broth, scraping bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits.

3 Add remaining sage and bouillon cube and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard chicken skin with a slotted spoon, leaving smaller bits in for flavor.

4 Add caramel, and simmer on low, stirring, for 30 minutes to infuse flavors. Add remaining 1⁄2 teaspoon salt, remaining pinch cayenne, and pepper to taste.

5 Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Let cool and mix with immersion blender or hand mixer to emulsify. Caramel can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 1 month or frozen for up to 3 months.

Plain Custard Base

Makes about: 11⁄2 quarts | Active time: 10 to 15 minutes

Use the freshest eggs available for best results. If possible, refrigerate the base for a full 24 hours—the longer, the better. We like to chill our bases in plastic or stainless-steel pitchers with airtight lids for easy pouring into the ice cream maker after chilling.

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

11⁄4 cups granulated sugar

8 large egg yolks

1 In a 4-quart saucepan, combine milk, cream, and half of sugar. Set over high heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil, about 5 minutes.

2 Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk yolks and remaining sugar until smooth, heavy, and pale yellow, about 30 seconds.

3 When cream mixture just comes to a boil, whisk, remove from heat, and, in a slow stream, pour half of cream mixture over yolk/sugar mixture, whisking constantly until blended.

4 Return pan to stovetop over low heat. Whisking constantly, stream yolk-cream mixture back into pan.

5 With a wooden spoon, continue stirring until mixture registers 165 to 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes. Do not heat above 180 degrees, or eggs in base will scramble. Mixture should be slightly thickened and coat back of spoon, with steam rising, but not boiling. (If you blow on the back of the spoon and the mixture ripples, you’ve got the right consistency.)

6 Pour base into a clean airtight container and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours before using.

7 Use base within 3 to 5 days.