Durian ice cream recipe from Danang, Vietnam

This durian ice cream recipe is a huge seller at the resort.
Durian is known in Asia as the King of Fruits.
It's a bit of a misleading title, as Durian is a pretty acquired taste.

Ripe durian is a heavy, spiky, well-armoured ball with a tough, thick skin that protects the soft ripe flesh inside.

The skin is almost impossible to cut through and the durian lies in thick ropy logs held in internal compartments, like plump yellow fruit intestines.
In Asia durian can be bought whole, or already removed from the shell.
It's very soft and pulpy like a cross between banana and mango.

It's difficult to be polite about the 'aroma' – better described as 'a smell' to the uninitiated.
Durian is a highly prized luxury food in Asia, but for the newbie it's a horrifyingly confronting stench.
So much so that most hotels in Asia ban durians from being brought in.
Many public buildng and and hotels have little durian stickers in lifts and lobbies with a red circle and red bar through them."NO DURIAN"

For those that love durian, there's no comparison for it's intense taste, smell and texture.
It's a popular belief in Thailand that eating durian and drinking alcohol can be dangerous, so consumption of the two together is very rare.
Durian is so popular, and so expensive that crops of durian in Southeast Asia are often watched over by machine gun-wielding guards.

Amongst Southeast Asian guests, durian ice cream is an incredibly popular flavour. Durian is also commonly sold as durian crisps, durian biscuits, fillings for pastries, candy and long-life durian pastes.

Here's the durian ice cream recipe that we make at the guests table.
It's very easy to master and the taste is incredible if you have nice ripe yellow durian or a good quality durian pulp.

If you're coming to Danang, come in to the resort and say Hi and I'll make it for you myself if I'm in town. We're called Lifestyle Resort Da Nang located on Truong Sa Rd, Bac My An beach, better known as Danang Beach.

We make ours using liquid nitrogen because it makes the smoothest ice cream possible in only 2-3 minutes, and uses only natural ingredients.
The taste  and texture is incomparable.

If you haven't tried it, then see my post 11 compelling reasons to try liquid nitrogen ice cream, and here's a video of us making toasted coconut liquid nitrogen icecream.

You can also make this durian ice cream recipe in the classic style with an ice cream machine, or by whisking in dry ice, which is easier to buy and transport than liquid nitrogen.

Durian ice cream recipe

100ml whipping cream
100ml Anglaise custard ice cream base
100g   ripe durian pulp
50g     sugar, finely ground
500ml liquid nitrogen

LN2 Liquid nitrogen method

1. Add cream and Anglaise custard ice cream base to a steel bowl
2. Add sugar and whisk in to dissolve
3. Add soft fresh durian pulp (or frozen) and whisk in, mashing and pureeing with the whisk
4. Check taste and adjust sugar if necessary
5. Whisk while slowly pouring in liquid nitrogen unto,the ice cream is thick, rich and creamy with an ice cream texture. The thick smoky plumes of nitrogen vapour will billow out of the bowl – keep that happening, but not outrageously. It's good to see what you are doing.
6. Remove ice cream from the whisk and change to a large metal spoon
7. Stir in more liquid nitrogen whilst turning and mixing the ice cream to perfect consistency.

Ice cream machine classic method

1. Puree most of the durian, roughly chop the remainder
2. You'll need some sugar syrup – sugar boiled for 1-2 minutes with a little water and then cooled
3. Anglaise custard ice cream base must be chilled, under 4 degrees C.
4. Set up cleaned, sanitised ice cream machine with paddle
5. Add custard ice cream base, durian and sugar syrup to taste
6. Start the chill and churn process
7. As the ice cream is churning, LIGHTLY whip the cream with a whisk until softly whipped.
8. When the ice cream based has churned and frozen to the same consistency as the soft whipped cream, add soft whipped cream into the ice cream machine.
9. Churn until fully frozen to ice cream consistency and transfer quickly to a clean, freezing cold storage container and put in freezer. 
   Keeps up to one week without preservatives and emulsifiers. If keeping for linger, consider using ice cream stabiliser.

Here's some photos below of the process from a liquid nitrogen ice cream coffee break that we did for an Accor workshop at Lifestyle Resort Da Nang.

Some other links you may be interested in:

We also make liquid nitrogen cocktails. We were the first in Vietnam to offer liquid nitrogen cocktails. Now they're one of our fastest moving drinks in the bar. They walk out the door, and never fail to impress.

Here's our full liquid nitrogen ice cream menu with all of the flavours that we make tableside at the resort.
Any suggestions for some alternative flavours?