Glace — French Ice Cream (Custard-Based)

French-style glace is distinguished from American ice cream by its egg-yolk-enriched custard base, known as crème anglaise, which yields a denser, silkier texture. The standard formulation calls for 500 ml whole milk, 250 ml heavy cream (35% fat), 5-6 egg yolks, and 150 g sugar. The custard is cooked to 82-84°C—the nappe stage at which the mixture coats a spatula and a finger drawn through it holds a clean line. Exceeding 85°C causes irreversible protein coagulation and a granular texture. After straining through a fine chinois, the base is immediately chilled over an ice bath to pass through the 40-10°C danger zone within 90 minutes, then aged at 4°C for a minimum of 4 hours, ideally overnight. Ageing allows fat globules to partially crystallise and proteins to hydrate fully, improving body and reducing iciness. The base is churned in a batch freezer or domestic machine until it reaches -6 to -8°C, at which point approximately 50% of the water is frozen and the mixture has gained 40-60% overrun (air incorporation). Overrun must be controlled: too little yields a dense, icy mass; too much produces a foamy, insubstantial texture. The role of sugar extends beyond sweetness—it depresses the freezing point, and substituting 10-15% of sucrose with atomised glucose or invert sugar (trimoline) lowers the freezing point further, yielding a scoopable consistency at -18°C service temperature. Stabilisers such as locust bean gum (2 g per litre) may be incorporated to retard ice crystal growth during storage. Once churned, the glace is transferred to pre-chilled containers and hardened at -35°C in a blast freezer for rapid crystallisation, producing the finest possible ice crystal structure.

• Italian gelato (higher milk-to-cream ratio, lower overrun, served warmer at -10°C)
• Indian kulfi (condensed-milk base, no churning, set in moulds for a dense frozen texture)
• Turkish dondurma (mastic and salep-thickened ice cream with elastic, stretchy body)