Ingredients

For the strawberry purée

• 1 ½ pints strawberries (3 cups), preferably organic, hulled and halved or quartered
• 4  Tbs. sugar
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• ½ to ¾ cup Bonne Maman Strawberry preserves

For the ice cream base

• Glucose syrup (5%) 50g | ¼ cup
• Brown Sugar (15%) 150g | ¾ cup
• Cream (30%) 300g | 1 ½ cups
• Milk (40%) 400g | 2 cups
• Egg yolks (10%) 100g | about 5 large yolks
• Cornstarch 10g | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, mixed with 40g | 4 tablespoons of cold milk
• Creme Fraîche 100 g
• Vanilla paste 1 Tbsp

Instructions

For the strawberry purée

1. Combine the berries with the sugar and 2 tsp. vinegar in a large nonreactive skillet. Put the skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the strawberries are soft and the liquid they release has reduced somewhat, 6 to 8 minutes.  The liquid should have thickened a bit.  Taste and make sure you have a deep flavor or else the ice cream will have no taste.
2. Let cool slightly, then transfer the berries and their juice to a blender or food processor. Purée until smooth and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the ice cream base

1. Prepare an ice bath. Fill a large bowl two-thirds of the way with very icy ice water and place it in the refrigerator.
2. Boil the dairy and sugars. Put the cream, milk, glucose, and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, and place it over medium-high heat. Cook, whisking occasionally to discourage the milk from scorching, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Whisk into the simmering dairy the cornstarch mixture and then cook for 1 minute.  Then remove the pot from heat.
3. Temper the yolks and cook the custard. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks. Add ½ cup of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks while whisking so the hot milk doesn’t scramble the yolks. Pour the tempered yolks back into the pot of hot milk while whisking. Place the pot over medium-low heat and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot constantly with a rubber spatula to avoid curdling.
4. Chill. When you notice the custard thickening, or the temperature reaches 180°F on a kitchen thermometer, immediately pour the custard into a shallow metal or glass bowl. Nest the hot bowl into the ice bath, stirring occasionally until it cools down.
5. Whisk into the base the strawberry purée. When the custard is cool to the touch (50°F or below) whisk one half of the strawberry purée and ½ cup of the preserves into the chilled ice cream base.  Taste the mixture to make sure the strawberry flavor is strong enough.  If not, add more preserves as necessary.  This is an important step, because if there is not enough flavor in the custard, your finished product  will have little to no strawberry flavor.
6. Strain. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any bits of egg yolk. Then add the creme fraîche and the vanilla paste. Mix the custard with the inversion mixture until completely mixed.
7. Cure. Transfer the cooled base to the refrigerator to cure for 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
8. Churn. Place the base into the bow] of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream is ready when it thickens into the texture of soft-serve ice cream and holds its shape, typically 20 to 30 minutes.
9. 9.Harden. To freeze your custard ice cream in the American hard-pack style, immediately transfer it to a container with an airtight lid. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming, cover, and store it in your freezer until it hardens completely, between 4 and 12 hours. Or, feel free to enjoy your ice cream immediately; the texture will be similar to soft-serve.