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Required equipment: ice cream maker
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For Caramel:
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Heat 2 cups sugar in a dry 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt. Then stop stirring and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is amber in color. Be careful, sugar can easily burn!
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Add 2 1/2 cups of heavy cream (mixture will bubble violently!), but hold tight! Caramel will clump up as though you made a terrible mistake. Continue to cook until all of the caramel dissolves. Take the pot off the heat carefully and stir in sea salt and vanilla. Cool to room temperature.
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For Custard:
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Meanwhile, bring 2 cups milk, 2 cups cream, and 1/2 cup sugar to a point of steaming in a heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally.
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Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then in small increments add a ladle-ful of hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Do this until egg mixture is somewhat warm. Then pour egg mixture back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats thinly on back of spoon and registers 170u00b0F on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in the cooled caramel.
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Chill custard mixture, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours. Following your ice cream maker's instruction, freeze custard in ice cream maker (it will still be quite soft), then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.
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Note: This is best when it is made the day before for a firm freeze.
