Salted caramel ice cream (caramel creme anglaise base)

Put 175 g sugar in the large saucepan with about a quarter cup of water poured around the sides.

In the smaller saucepan, combine the cream with the split, scraped vanilla bean seeds and pod; warm it to gentle bubbling to infuse, without boiling, and keep it warm.

Put the egg yolks in a bowl with a whisk ready.

Cook the sugar and water over about medium, stirring gently with a heatproof spatula until the sugar dissolves and it boils; wash down any sugar crystals on the sides with a wet pastry brush.

Once boiling and dissolved, stop stirring and swirl the pan instead; watch for bigger, slower bubbles as the caramel stage approaches, and turn the heat down when it starts to color.

At a deep amber, add the hot cream a little at a time, as it bubbles vigorously, and stir to dissolve the caramel into it.

Add the milk and bring back to a light simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve any hardened caramel.

Whisk 25 g sugar into the five yolks until thoroughly combined and slightly aerated.

Ladle about half a cup of the hot milk mixture into the yolks, then whisk it all back into the saucepan.

Cook over medium-ish heat, stirring, until the eggs thicken the custard, around 170 to 180F, without boiling; bubbles on the surface subside. It reached 190F and was taken off.

Check that it coats a spoon and holds a clean line drawn with a finger.

Add about half a teaspoon of salt, to taste, and let it dissolve.

Strain through a medium mesh strainer into a metal bowl, pressing on the solids, to remove the vanilla pod and any bits of cooked yolk.

Set the bowl in a larger bowl a third full of ice water and stir, scraping the sides, about five minutes until cold.

Churn in the ice cream machine, set for about 30 minutes, not filling it all the way as the volume increases; stop when it holds a dome and pulls away from the sides.

Add any mix-ins between churning and freezing; transfer to a container and freeze to firm up.