Split the vanilla bean and scrape down both halves with the dull side of a knife. Put one cup of the cream, the sugar, and the vanilla seeds and bean in a small saucepan. Heat just until there are a few bubbles at the edges. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved and leave to steep for an hour or so.

Strain the mixture in the pan into the other 2 cups of cream and chill completely. You can use 1/2 heavy cream & 1/2 milk, all half and half, or whatever combo of dairy you have on hand. [If you are in a real hurry, you can just stir the sugar into the cold dairy, until it is completely dissolved, add a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract and dump it all right into the ice cream machine.] I like to heat the cream to extract as much flavor as possible from the vanilla bean, so I mix the sugar into the hot cream. I’ve read that using cold cream to dissolve the sugar can result in a grainier final result. Philly Style ice cream is never cooked though. It’s going to be homemade ice cream either way, right?

Churn according to your ice cream machine’s directions. In my Cuisinart, it takes about 30 minutes.

Scrape the ice cream out of the churn bowl right away. Important if you use the same kind of ice cream maker I have, with the bowl that is frozen ahead of time. Leaving your ice cream in that canister could be a problem later when you want to get the ice cream back out – ask me how I know! I like to use a reusable plastic storage bowl for this – I’m not crazy about glass containers in my freezer.