Quatre glaces au lait or Four Milk Ice Cream

Using a vegetable peeler, zest the lemon by removing 1-inch strips of the yellow rind leaving behind the white pith. Juice the lemon and set aside.

In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan combine lemon zest, milk, cream, crème fraîche, salt, vanilla bean including seeds, honey, and 1/4 cup sugar; stirring to dissolve the honey and 1/4 cup sugar. Bring just to a simmer (any hotter and you risk separating the milk into curds and whey). Turn off heat and allow the mixture to steep for at least 1/2 hour or up to an hour.

When ready to proceed have ready a bowl of ice water along with a sieve placed over a medium heat-proof bowl.

In another medium bowl add the egg yolks and whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. If the milk mixture is still hot temper the eggs by pouring about a cup of the hot milk/cream into the eggs, whisking constantly. Then, pour the egg mixture back into the remaining milk/cream mixture. Otherwise, if the milk/cream is cool to the touch simply whisk the egg mixture back into it.

Return the pan to a medium-low heat and whisking constantly cook the mixture until an instant read thermometer ready 170 – 180 degrees F. Remove from heat and stir in the buttermilk. Pour the mixture through the sieve into the clean bowl.

Retrieve the vanilla bean from the sieve and add it back to what is now called crème anglaise. Set the bowl in the prepared ice bath and stir until the crème anglaise is cold. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day retrieve the vanilla bean from the crème anglaise, stir in the lemon juice and churn it in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer to a lidded container and freeze until ready to serve.