Vanilla Ice Cream for Lemon Curd-Pistachio Sundaes

Combine cream, milk, and salt in a saucepan. Add 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar. Add vanilla bean seeds and pod. Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring, about 4 minutes.

Whisk together egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar. Whisk half the hot milk mixture into yolks, 1 ladle at a time. Pour mixture into pan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes.

Pour custard through a fine sieve into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water; discard vanilla pod. Let cool, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate custard until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Chill a loaf pan in freezer. Freeze custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to pan. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until hardened, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. (If ice cream is in freezer longer than 2 hours, let soften at room temperature 10 minutes before scooping.)