Miso Caramel Ice Cream
Miso is made from fermented soy beans and salt and it may sound like it has no place in a dessert bowl. But this recipe for miso ice cream is definitely worth a try. It’s a mix of punchy savoury and sweetness in the same bowl.
How to choose the right miso
Miso paste is sold in most supermarkets and Asian specialty stores. The options are usually white or red, but I recommend white. It is milder and slightly sweeter that the red version.
Always strain the ice cream base before freezing to ensure there are no grains of miso.
I recommend making an extra batch of caramel to pour over your ice cream when serving.
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar Plus 2 tbsp extra
- 1 cup full cream milk
- 1 1/2 cup thickened cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp white miso
- 3 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Whisk yolks and 2 tbsp sugar until pale in colour. Set aside.
- Add milk and cream to a saucepan and heat while stirring until simmering. Remove from heat.
- Pour 1/2 cup of the heated milk mixture slowly into the yolks, all the while whisking.
- Pour the yolks back into the milk mixture along with the miso and whisk until combined. Continue heating on a low-med heat (don't allow to boil) until the liquid coats the back of a spoon. This will usually only take a few minutes.
- Add vanilla and stir until combined. Set aside.
- Add 3/4 cup sugar and water to a medium saucepan and heat on high until it starts to melt. Shake the pot occasionally to ensure even heating. As the sugar turns light brown, remove from heat and continue to shake the sugar until it turns a dark brown. If the sugar doesn't reach this dark brown/amber shade then continue heating for a little longer.
- Once the sugar has darkened it will now be caramel. Whisk the milk mixture into the caramel and then add to an airtight container. Chill in the fridge overnight to allow miso flavour to infuse.
- Once chilled, pour the ice cream base through a strainer into a bowl. Then add to ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
- Add to a container and freeze for at least 2 hours or until desired hardness is achieved.
Hello Nate!
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your lovely recipes!
I started making home ice cream only two weeks ago. I wanted to make Miso ice cream but had no idea about the proportion. I googled it and yours looked the best and simplest. I made it yesterday and I can happily say that it was a huge success among my tasters (4 Japanese ladies)! We live in North London (UK) and have to travel to the centre for half an hour just to get decent Matcha ice cream, so you really made our day!
As I aimed for a bit like salted caramel taste, I mixed brown sugar and muscovado sugar and added 2 tbsp of soy sauce in the caramel. When churning I also added a dash of sake (to make it colder). I did not expect this but these additional ingredients made the ice cream taste like caramel Mitarashi Dango (ever tried it?) with caramel.
My next trials will be black sesame (healthy and hugely popular in Japan) and your chocolate sorbet. I find bought chocolate ice cream normally too sweet and too rich for me. I get so much inspiration from your website and your articles (in Resources) are also very useful for a novice like me!
All the best,
Yuko
Hi Yuko,
Firstly, let me say Doumo arigatou for your kind words. I really appreciate you taking the time to say hi.
That is excellent to hear your Miso ice cream turned out well. I haven’t tried Mitarashi Dango but I’m going to now 🙂 I just googled it and it looks like my sort of food.
I haven’t made Miso ice cream for a while so I might give it another go using the extra ingredients you suggest. If you managed to take any pics of your ice cream feel free to post it to my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/creamishicecream.
Keep on churning out that ice cream Yuko!
Cheers
Nate.