Better Ice Cream

We've been experimenting with ice cream at our house. It all started in an attempt to use up more of the fresh cream we get from our raw milk (yum). We started making ice cream on Sundays. It worked so well, that the kids haven't let us quit--although we don't make ice cream every Sunday. It's a good family tradition to carry on :-).
I've discovered a few things in our experimentation that I thought I'd share. First, you should not invite someone else over for your first batch of ice cream (unless it's someone who loves you very much, or the elders--they eat anything). We made our first batch with raw milk and raw cream, and not quite enough sugar--and our guests were very polite, but the ice cream quality was poor enough that it stayed leftover in the freezer for three weeks. After that attempt, I started looking around for a good recipe book, and Maggie borrowed this one from my parent's house for us. I've been really happy with the information and the variety of recipes--and they're pretty wonderful, in general. We modify them a little of course. It's genetic (that is to say, the need to modify them, not the means of modification). So here are some other tidbits I've learned.

• Get a good ice cream maker. Our hand-crank-converted-to-a-motor one died, and I picked up this CuisenArt model on KSL (with some help from a brother and SIL). I thought it would be a problem, because it only holds 1 1/2 quarts, but I've found that actually, that amount of ice cream is just right! (for now anyway :-) The bowl goes in the freezer, and there is no ice or salt to mess with--it's wonderful!
  
• Don't cut all the sugar. Sugar is actually an important part of the ice cream product. I accidentally cut out the sugar one time, and I ended up with ice crystals and a broken blade. (thanks for the replacement, Mike!)
  
• As near as I can tell, the quality of your finished product is dependent on the time you invest. Now here's where I'd love some feedback if you've found otherwise. I have found that the raw milk/raw cream flavor is not my favorite for ice cream. So we started cooking it first. When I cook the milk/cream/egg mixture over the stove, then chill it (like the recipe says--who knew?) it tastes better, but the texture is a little too custardy. But when I cook the mixture in a metal bowl sitting over a pan of boiling water, stirring constantly, to 182 degrees, then chill it as quickly as possible in a bowl of ice, stirring constantly, and then put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before freezing in your ice cream machine (like the recipe really says to do, I was fudging before), the taste and the texture are perfect. It's amazing ice cream, but it seems like there should be an easier way. At least I wish there were. Do you know one?
  
• Freezing/Curing the ice cream in the freezer for several hours before you eat it really does make for a better texture.
• Following the directions--REALLY following them and not just some of them--makes better ice cream (again, help me out here if you know otherwise :-)
• This blog has amazing food-but this recipe for ice cream was the bomb. Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream. I was so enthralled with the result, that I even made her ice cream sandwich cookies to go with it. It was good. Ask my family.
  
• Don't eat it all right before you go to bed. 'Nuff said. Now go eat some ice cream.