Historical recipe: vanilla ice cream

Beat the egg yolks until they are thick and a pale yellow colour. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Add the vanilla and allow to cool.

Freezing using ice and salt: You’ll need a plastic tub with a lid for the ice cream, and a larger container (a small bucket is ideal) for the crushed ice and salt (three parts ice to one part salt). Put the ice cream tub into the ice and salt mixture and shake every hour or so to stop ice crystals forming. The ice and salt should react, drawing heat away and freezing the ice cream more quickly.

Freezing using a freezer: Put the tub of ice cream mix in the freezer and after around an hour give it a really good mix to get rid of any ice crystals. Continue to whisk every hour or so until the ice cream has set.