Vanilla ice cream

Vanilla is really expensive at the moment but there’s no question that no extract matches up to the genuine article. If you can’t afford to purchase such a whacking amount of vanilla (that will be 5 pods for double the amount, not too much if you have a family of ice cream lovers), use the very best, natural bean paste.

I don’t quite know where the derogatory use of the word as an adjective comes from – ‘vanilla’ meaning insipid, bland and ordinary. Vanilla after all is the second most expensive spice in the world in the close company of saffron – and perhaps gold leaf.

If you can get hold of ice cream stabiliser, add half a teaspoon to the sugar used in the recipe; it will make the ice cream smoother and the churning process quicker. This is a fool proof recipe I found absolute ages ago in a magazine or a weekend supplement. Fuss free and so good – perhaps no wonder as its author is Heston Blumenthal.