Cooking with Wine

MAKE THE BROWN BUTTER

Cut the butter into 4-8 pieces. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a stainless saucepan.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally to keep the milk solids from sticking hard to the bottom. Keep an eye on the color – once the milk solids turn light brown and the smell is nutty, take it off the heat.

Pour into a bowl and let it cool some while you work on the caramel.

MAKE THE CARAMEL SAUCE

Heat the sugar and water in a skillet over medium-low heat. Stir the sugar often as it melts with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Stir and cook until the sugar is not lumpy and it is an amber color. This may take 15-20 minutes and you may need to turn your heat to low if excessive clumping occurs until the sugar melts completely. Eventually it will all melt and become a medium amber color.

Turn heat to low and whisk in the brown butter and thoroughly combine. This will take a couple of minutes.

Slowly (and carefully) add the cream whisking as you pour. This will bubble significantly, so pour slowly to try to keep it in the pan and not on your stovetop to clean up later!

Once whisked in completely, add the bourbon, vanilla extract, and salt and continue to whisk until completely combined for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let it cool. Once cooled, pour into an airtight container and store in the fridge; the caramel will thicken as it cools.

MAKE THE GELATO

Combine cream, milk, ¼ cup (50g) sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the pulp into the milk mixture then add the pod in as well. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs and ¾ cup (150g) sugar and whisk until light and fluffy. Pour about ½ cup of the milk mixture into the egg yolk and sugar mixture and whisk until incorporated. Then add the remaining contents of the milk mixture and stir to incorporate completely. Whisk in 3 Tbsp of the caramel sauce into this gelato base. It doesn’t have to dissolve completely.

Place the contents into your ice cream or gelato machine and mix per your machine’s instructions until thickened and creamy. Our gelato machine takes about 30 minutes to churn this flavor.

Once your gelato is done, remove to a cold bowl and quickly, but gently, pour and stir in about 1/3-2/3 cup of the refrigerated caramel sauce. Stir gently and then transfer to a freezer safe container. The quicker you work the better the texture will be when finished. Freeze overnight for best results.