Use plenty of rock salt. The faster the ice cream freezes, the smaller the ice crystals will be and the smoother the ice cream. If the ice cream hasn't frozen within 25 minutes of cranking, you haven't put in enough salt.

Use only the best ingredients. Pure, high-grade vanilla, fresh or fresh-frozen fruits, pure cane sugar; no substitutes.

If you are going to eat the ice cream the day you make it, use 3 pints of half & half to 1 pint of whole cream. If you are going to eat it the next day, reverse the proportions. Once it has been frozen 24 hours, it will become hard and icy unless it has a high cream content.

Use fruit that is in season; the flavor will be so much more prominent. When you're using tat fruits such as blackberries, add about 1/4 cup more sugar.

When the ice cream has peaked and you remove the lid from the ice cream freezer, don't let the rock salt spill into the ice cream.