Chai Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 star anise star
• 10 whole cloves
• 10 whole allspice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 10 whole white peppercorns
• 4 cardamom pods, opened to seeds
• 1/4 cup full-bodied black tea
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks

Directions

1. Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan, using the full 1 cup, and add 1 cup of the cream. Add the star anise, cloves, allspice, cinnamon sticks, white peppercorns, cardamom pods, and a pinch of salt. Warm everything until the pan is giving off steam and the liquid feels hot, without letting it boil. Drop the heat to warm, cover the pan, and let the spices sit in the dairy for 1 hour.
2. Bring the same mixture back up until it is steaming hot, still keeping it below a boil. Add the black tea leaves, take the pan off the heat, stir them in, and leave the tea to steep for 15 minutes. Strain the tea and spices through a fine-mesh strainer, catching the flavored milk and cream in a separate bowl.
3. Pour the strained milk and cream back into the heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the sugar and warm the mixture while stirring, just until the sugar has melted completely into the dairy.
4. While the tea is steeping, get the remaining 1 cup of cream ready over an ice bath. Pour the cream into a medium metal bowl, set that bowl inside a larger bowl of ice water with lots of ice, and rest a mesh strainer on top. Set it aside.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Drizzle in the hot milk-and-cream mixture slowly, whisking the whole time so the yolks warm up gently instead of cooking. Return the warmed yolk mixture to the saucepan, scraping the bowl well.
6. Put the saucepan back on the stove. Over medium heat, stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure you sweep along the bottom, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spoon; when you drag your finger through that coating, the line should stay put. Plan on about 10 minutes. If the custard is not coating the back of the spoon, it needs more time. As soon as it is ready, pull it from the heat right away.
7. Send the custard through the waiting strainer so it lands in the cream over the ice bath. Mix it into the cold cream to bring the cooking to a stop.
8. Once the ice bath has taken off the first heat, refrigerate the mixture until it is thoroughly chilled, a couple of hours at minimum.
9. Freeze the base in your ice cream maker, following the manufacturer's instructions.
10. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place it in your freezer for several hours before eating. Expect it to be quite soft when it leaves the ice cream maker, then it will firm up more in the freezer. If it has been there for more than a day, wait a few minutes before you scoop.