Blue Chicken Eggs & The Best Vanilla Ice Cream

A little while ago, I bought the cookbook Frozen Desserts by Francisco Migoya. I had received Migoya's other book, The Elements of Dessert for my birthday this year and loved the way the books are written pretty exclusively for pastry professionals. I have an extensive cookbook collection, and I am frequently frustrated how a lot of recipes are beyond basic and often don't even work. Migoya's cookbooks are the real deal: ingredients in metric weights, precise instructions, complex techniques, and beautiful pictures. I can't believe it took me so long to discover these books.

Baby Araucana Chick. I need one!!

I also can't believe it took me so long to discover there are chickens that lay pastel blue and green eggs. In Frozen Desserts, there is a sidebar dedicated to Araucana chickens. These chickens lay blue eggs (which is awesome in and of itself) as well as brown eggs, and apparently the eggs produced by these chickens have a superior taste. I became obsessed with finding these chickens, and found myself talking about them quite frequently. One day at work, I was talking with a server and he mentioned he and his wife own chickens. It turns out that the chickens he has are the same ones I've been searching for. I must have come off as very enthused because the next day he brought in a dozen eggs for me from his chickens, including several blue eggs which are more rare than the brown. It probably didn't hurt that I promised him homemade ice cream...

My assortment of eggs

I wanted to make an ice cream with them that would really let the egg yolk flavor shine and decided to go with vanilla. Let me take this opportunity to protest that there is nothing boring about vanilla. Vanilla is one of the world's most exotic spices, with a flavor that can be incredibly complex depending on the quality of beans you have. I've never been much of a chocolate fiend, preferring vanilla in almost every circumstance.

Finished product

I love all ice cream, but the quality of this one was amazing. It was so silky and rich. I gave a quart of it to my parents, and my dad declared it the best ice cream he ever tasted. In exchange for the eggs, I gave Jeremy, the server with the Araucanas, a pint, which he dug into halfway through his drive home.

I'd really love to get some of these chickens for myself, but alas, I live in an apartment and I don't think my landlord would appreciate it.