302 replies to this topic

[MelissaH]

I made some ice cream last week. I followed the recipe for caramel ice cream in the July issue of Gourmet magazine. You can also see the recipe on line here.

In short, you cook a cup of sugar with a pinch of salt to make a caramel. Then you add a cup of cream, then a cup of whole milk, and heat up to a boil so the caramel melts and the whole thing turns homogeneous.

In the meantime, you whisk 6 egg yolks with a couple teaspoons of corn syrup. You temper the yolks with some of the hot caramel-cream-milk, then add the yolks to the pot, and cook into a custard. The custard gets strained, chilled, and frozen in an ice cream maker. When it was frozen, I transferred it to a container, covered the top with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface and then the container lid, and sent it to the deep freeze for about 6 hours.

The flavor was terrific. I got the caramel just this side of burned, so it had the flavor of my MIL's peanut brittle. Then, to gild the lily, I candied some peanuts and served the ice cream with the candied peanuts and a sprinking of fleur de sel. Marvelous.

However, there were two issues with the ice cream. One issue is that this stuff was just too rich to eat much more than a tablespoonful. The fat just completely coated my mouth, and a very small serving was more than enough. Some of this, I can probably work around by altering the proportion of cream to milk. The more puzzling one to me, though: the ice cream did not feel very cold in my mouth. You know how you lick a popsicle and it definitely feels cold? Or store-bought ice cream makes the inside of your mouth cold? This stuff didn't. And it came out of a freezer cold enough that you don't dare reach inside with wet hands. I'm wondering if maybe the high fat content had something to do with the un-coolness of the ice cream. I'm sure that also added to its non-refreshingness.

Has anyone else had this experience with ice cream or another frozen dessert? Any suggestions? I liked the flavor, and the texture's stayed silky-smooth for 3 days now, but I'd like something that's a bit more refreshing and that it's possible to eat two whole spoonfuls of.

MelissaH

[ulterior epicure]

The more puzzling one to me, though: the ice cream did not feel very cold in my mouth. You know how you lick a popsicle and it definitely feels cold? Or store-bought ice cream makes the inside of your mouth cold? This stuff didn't. And it came out of a freezer cold enough that you don't dare reach inside with wet hands. I'm wondering if maybe the high fat content had something to do with the un-coolness of the ice cream. I'm sure that also added to its non-refreshingness.

Has anyone else had this experience with ice cream or another frozen dessert? Any suggestions? I liked the flavor, and the texture's stayed silky-smooth for 3 days now, but I'd like something that's a bit more refreshing and that it's possible to eat two whole spoonfuls of.

MelissaH

Ahhhh yes... this is a very familiar phenomenon to me. Unlike many, I actually prefer lighter - more crystallized ice creams - one having a higher proportion of milk. This is why I don't care for super premium ice creams (like Cold Stone Creamery) - they end up having the mouthfeel of frozen butter. I've played around a little with ice creams in my kitchen. By no means are my methods "exact science" - so proceed with caution.

Next time, try this: Keep the one cup of cream, but instead of six eggs, use three and sub in a 1 1/2 cup of regular milk. Or, you may want to dispense with the whole custard idea altogether and make a gelato-like ice cream by subbing in 2 or 3 cups of milk instead of the eggs. The only problem with this is that you're going to inevitably end up with a harder ice cream. It'll be less creamy and harder to scoop. But, it won't have that greasy mouthfeel.

Good luck!
u.e.

[s_sevilla]

I'll have to say, the most interesting flavor I've concocted was a red beet and white pepper flavor.

The pepper had a sharpness that came slowly on the finish, while the beet had a light earthy flavor....still needed a little work to balance the sweetness with the beets and reducing the musk from the beets (I think I just needed fresher beets), but it was fairly good.

When I was in japan I had a very good red wine ice-cream; I also saw some whale flavor and trout flavor ice cream. Interesting, but my morals were more likely to make me go and throw paint on the creators of that whale flavor than anything else.

[jbehmoaras]

Anyone have a recipe for good, smooth, and creamy, red bean ice cream ... I know to some of you it may soud weird but at my local restaurant they tricked me into tasting it not knowing it was made from beans and it is now one of my favorite ice creams.

Oh and if anyone has a recipe using salep, I'm going to attempt that this weekend to see if i can make a dense and chewy middle easter ice cream.

[s_sevilla]

red bean ice cream.....sounds almost like the filipino Halo Halo....that country's version of "ice cream", usually an assortment of different beans that have been sweetened and then jackfruit, palm fruit gelee, young coconut and some other stuff, topped with shaved ice and sometimes cream (taro ice cream on top is good) Really good stuff if you've never had it......as far as red bean ice cream, I would just take some creme anglaise base, and then add some red beans that have been pureed and pressed though a food mill and sieve a few times to refine the texture and get rid of the endosperm....might want to add a little extra sugar to the base first, but that should get you experimenting a little bit.

[alanamoana]

Anyone have a recipe for good, smooth, and creamy, red bean ice cream ... I know to some of you it may soud weird but at my local restaurant they tricked me into tasting it not knowing it was made from beans and it is now one of my favorite ice creams.

Oh and if anyone has a recipe using salep, I'm going to attempt that this weekend to see if i can make a dense and chewy middle easter ice cream.

at most asian markets they sell red bean paste...already sweetened and very smooth. you can also get cooked red beans in a can...also sweetened. it just depends on if you want any texture in your ice cream. of course you can use both to get deeper flavor.

so with the already prepared versions you can probably make a good vanilla ice cream base and add some red bean to it and spin. then you can taste it and adjust as necessary.

of course you can go through all the trouble of cooking dried red beans, etc. but i don't think you'll get the same flavor or consistency as the already processed versions.

[miladyinsanity]

Subbing a little coconut milk into your base will help the red bean flavor.

Or you can soak the dried red beans over night, then cook them in the milk/cream with sugar (sort of like red bean soup) and then temper in egg yolks etc. In theory, this should get you a very chunky red bean ice cream, unless you use an immersion blender or similar and sieve it a couple of times. I repeat, in theory.

[pounce]

Anyone have a recipe for good, smooth, and creamy, red bean ice cream

Do a quick search for "Azuki Ice Cream recipe" in your favorite search engine. I found a lot. I may just try one of these. I love red beans and shaved ice mmmmm.

[jbehmoaras]

Anyone have a recipe for good, smooth, and creamy, red bean ice cream ... I know to some of you it may soud weird but at my local restaurant they tricked me into tasting it not knowing it was made from beans and it is now one of my favorite ice creams.

Oh and if anyone has a recipe using salep, I'm going to attempt that this weekend to see if i can make a dense and chewy middle easter ice cream.

at most asian markets they sell red bean paste...already sweetened and very smooth. you can also get cooked red beans in a can...also sweetened. it just depends on if you want any texture in your ice cream. of course you can use both to get deeper flavor.

so with the already prepared versions you can probably make a good vanilla ice cream base and add some red bean to it and spin. then you can taste it and adjust as necessary.

of course you can go through all the trouble of cooking dried red beans, etc. but i don't think you'll get the same flavor or consistency as the already processed versions.

Anyone have any insight as to how the paste differs in flavor from the cooked red beans in a can.

[Kouign Aman]

Nothing exotic.
French Vanilla using a recipe from Joy of Cooking and extra vanilla.
Served 4th of July and very popular.

Made an interesting "sweet cream" and dark chocolate chip icecream last night. It tasted ok but .... it needed a little sugar. So then I rechurned it , this time adding the sugared milk which had been forgotten as it sat cooling in the fridge. [i]Sigh[/]. The grated belgian chocolate went very well in it. This recipe was a 'hurry up' one for prep time: 2 c milk, 3/4 c sugar, 2 T vanilla, 2 c heavy cream. Grated choc added near end of 1st churning. It held together ok for the second churning. (Bless electricity).

Strawberry icecream - doesnt store well but oh! it tastes good. 1 qt berries, washed, stemmed and smashed. ~ 3/4 c sugar (to taste) mixed with the berries. 2 c cream, churn. It comes out screaming neon frightening pink.

[cricklewood]

.And at risk of making this reply too long, have any of you others tried making fig gelato ... someone mentioned making it eariler on and also had the same problem I did, the gelato with figs comes out kind of bitter or has this dry fibrous fig aftertaste that isnt very pleasant. Can anyone recommend a solution, I was thinking of carmelizing the figs

I just got a euro-pro ice cream machine and have been busy all wekend, I brought some figs from work and made a fig-honey ice cream. I roasted the figs with honey for about 15 minutes and then buzzed it up with a hand blender i added a bit more honey and a touch of water, it basically looked like fig preserve of sorts, I then made a fairly standard creme anglaise base with 1/2 a vanilla bean and a mix of honey/sugar as the sweetener, turned out nice no bitterness. I believe the problem people have with figs is using them raw.

[jbehmoaras]

I just got a euro-pro ice cream machine and have been busy all wekend, I brought some figs from work and made a fig-honey ice cream. I roasted the figs with honey for about 15 minutes and then buzzed it up with a hand blender i added a bit more honey and a touch of water, it basically looked like fig preserve of sorts, I then made a fairly standard creme anglaise base with 1/2 a vanilla bean and a mix of honey/sugar as the sweetener, turned out nice no bitterness. I believe the problem people have with figs is using them raw.

I keep hearing raw figs as being the issue in this thread and others ... Hopefully I'll find some more fresh figs and retry making fig gelato.

[ulterior epicure]

jeremy.

pray tell - more details on how to roast figs with honey. thanks!

u.e.

[jbehmoaras]

well cricklewood would be the one to about roasting figs in honey but I wouldnt be surprised if it had to do with cooking the fings with some honey over low heat in a saucepan or roasted in the oven in a pyrex dish.

I was actually thinking of carmelizing them in a pan with a little butter and brown sugar and then after carmelizing the figs, deglasing the pan with a little cognac or something.

[ulterior epicure]

well cricklewood would be the one to about roasting figs in honey but I wouldnt be surprised if it had to do with cooking the fings with some honey over low heat in a saucepan or roasted in the oven in a pyrex dish.

I was actually thinking of carmelizing them in a pan with a little butter and brown sugar and then after carmelizing the figs, deglasing the pan with a little cognac or something.

oops - sorry jeremy. cricklewood, care to share the roasting technique? i'm just afraid my figs would dry out... either that or the honey would crust.

u.e.

[s_sevilla]

I was playing around with some taro root and I remember that when I grind it in my suribachi I get a very gummy paste, I have seen and eaten Taro ice cream many times, but it was always presented more as a traditional icecream that happened to have taro in it, and it usually tasted more like purple yam/sweet potato. Has anyone tried to use a gummy Taro Paste as an additive to an icecream base, like Salep?

[cricklewood]

was actually thinking of carmelizing them in a pan with a little butter and brown sugar and then after carmelizing the figs, deglasing the pan with a little cognac or something.

[/quote]
oops - sorry jeremy. cricklewood, care to share the roasting technique? i'm just afraid my figs would dry out... either that or the honey would crust.

u.e.

[/quote]
Sorry for taking so long to reply I abandonned my ice cream binge for a mission sourcing out some wagyu beef for my work. There is no special method for roasting the figs per se, I cut slits in the figs to make them pucker a bit and drizzled some honey over them and put them in a 375 oven, checked them after about 10min and then ended up putting them back in for another 5-7min, it depends, you don't want them to turn to mush or dry out, just check regularly till you get the caramelisation you want. then I pureed them with a bit of water and then added to my anglaise mix, it wasn't as sweet as I wanted so I mixed some agave nectar into the anglaise and chilled.

Edited by cricklewood, 30 July 2006 - 01:28 AM.

[Jason Perlow]

Over the last week or so I've been experimenting with making Italian Water Ice, or granita.

Essentially an Italian Ice is similar to a sorbet but its got a much higher water content. In the New York Metro area they are referred to as "Italian Ices" but they are very sweet, usually containing some form of corn syrup and I'm frequently disappointed with the tartness level, so I tried actually making some myself.

Basically the formula I have been successful with is:

1 Quart of Liquid

1 Cup of Sugar

To this, I add a LOT of citrus juice and a LOT of citrus zest. So for a regular Lemon Ice, I will use the zest and juice of say, 5 lemons, added to 1 Quart of water.



Above is a Watermelon/Lime Granita and a Lemon/Mint/Honey Granita.

For the Lemon/Mint/Honey one, I used two quarts of water, zest and juice of 10 lemons (half the zest reserved) with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of honey, and a bunch of mint leaves with the stalks, that I heated in a pot until boiling, stirred until sugar and honey was fully incorporated, and then allowed to cool down. I then poured it thru a strainer into a large plastic container, discarding the solid elements. I then put it thru my ice cream machine to freeze, along with the reserved zest.



After freezing in the ice cream machine, its poured into containers and then allowed to harden in the freezer further overnight. To serve, use a big spoon to scrape up the granita until you get like a layer snow, and then scoop up with a disher.

The watermelon one is slightly different.



What I've done here cut up approximately two quarts of watermelon, rind removed, and send it thru the blender (the trusty VitaMix) until pureed. Its okay to leave the seeds in but don't puree it so fine that the seeds get liquefied as well. After you do this, send it thru a strainer as above, until you just get watermelon juice left. You should get around a quart and an half of liquid, maybe a little bit more.

This you put in a pot, with 2 cups of sugar, and the juice of ten limes, with about half the zest as before. Cook until it comes to a boil, taste. If its too sweet, add some more lime juice and some more water. Allow to cool down, and then send thru the ice cream machine with the remaining zest to freeze. Pour into containers and allow to harden in the freezer.



By the way, you can make this without an ice cream machine, you just need large containers and the freezer space, where you can pour the cooled down mixture into. Every hour or so just give it a stir until you end up with like a slush, and then you allow it to harden. The texture will be a little different but it will still be very good.

Edited by Jason Perlow, 30 July 2006 - 02:57 PM.

[alanamoana]

i had some buttermilk sitting in the fridge waiting to go bad, so i mixed it with some orange zest, orange juice, sugar, corn syrup and a touch of labne (also called kefir cheese...like a cross between yogurt and sour cream) and spun it. a very refreshingly tart creamsicle flavor!

[s_sevilla]

After doing a little extra research, taro root can be used as a neutral base for icecream. Because of the fine texture of the starch granules and the gelation that occurs when taro is cooked and then finely pureed, it is possible to entrain enough air to create a properly textured gelato without stirring during the freezing process...essentially you can go from an ice-cream base directly to a hard freeze in storage. If I had a turkish style ice-cream freezer and a paddle, I'm sure it would be possible to create a turkish style salep ice-cream texture if more taro is used. I'm a little afraid to put a base containing a lot of taro into my ice-cream maker because the texture is thick enough that I'm sure I could burn out my churning motor.

[patticky]

Nothing exotic.
French Vanilla using a recipe from Joy of Cooking and extra vanilla.
Served 4th of July and very popular.

Made an interesting "sweet cream" and dark chocolate chip icecream last night. It tasted ok but .... it needed a little sugar.  So then I rechurned it , this time adding the sugared milk which had been forgotten as it sat cooling in the fridge.  [i]Sigh[/]. The grated belgian chocolate went very well in it.  This recipe was a 'hurry up' one for prep time: 2 c milk, 3/4 c sugar, 2 T vanilla, 2 c heavy cream. Grated choc added near end of 1st churning. It held together ok for the second churning. (Bless electricity).

Strawberry icecream - doesnt store well but oh! it tastes good. 1 qt berries, washed, stemmed and smashed. ~ 3/4 c sugar (to taste) mixed with the berries. 2 c cream, churn. It comes out screaming neon frightening pink.

I made your strawberry ice cream with some leftover sugared strawberries and a cup of cream for a quick dessert tonight. It was great. I took it right out of the churn and put it in the serving dishes; then added a sprinkling of blueberries. Since I made such a small amount, it wasn't in the ice cream maker that long and kept its white color; the strawberries didn't taste frozen. Of course, we ate it quickly before it melted too much. Thank you for the suggestion.

[NYC Mike]

Made some Plum and Aniseed Gelato on the Sicily thread.

here

[Jason Perlow]

Lets face it, I like my Ben and Jerry’s and Haagen Dazs, but the ice cream you generally buy in the supermarket doesn’t really give you that super premium taste you get from an old-school ice cream parlor that makes its stuff from scratch.

While it takes a good amount of effort (and some degree of experimentation with technique to get it right) I love to make ice cream. There’s something innately satisfying and mystical about doing this, kind of like you’re engaging in alchemy. Ice Cream is no simple feat, there are a lot of variables involved and things can go wrong. That’s why most restaurants leave this kind of thing to the pros.



The first recipe I made this week was a caramelized Banana Flambe’ frozen custard with St. Maarten vanilla rum and chocolate ribbon. I took a whole bunch of bananas that I let go to just on the verge of over-ripe, right at the point of optimum sweetness, sliced them up and sauteed them in butter, with about 2tbsp of sugar added to caramelize and cook down until they were golden brown, and a shot of a vanilla rum I picked up on St. Maarten a few years ago. I let this mixture cool off, after which I took a quart of half and half and heated it on medium heat in a large saucepan, added 2 cups of sugar and gently added 2 beaten egg yolks until it got incorporated, stirring constantly until the mixture stuck to a back of a wooden spoon and just about came to a boil, after which I removed it from the heat. I let the mixture cool down for about a half an hour, after which I combined it with the cooked banana saute into the trusty Vita Mix and blended it up, and then poured into quart plastic containers to chill in the fridge for a few hours.



Once the ice cream batter was chilled, I poured quart size portions into the ice cream machine and churned it until the point of becoming a very loose soft-serve. This was then spooned into pint-size plastic containers along with U-Bet chocolate syrup to create the ribbon, and allowed to freeze the rest of the way in the freezer. We also did versions with Cajeta (a type of Mexican goats’s milk Dulce De Leche caramel) as well as Peanut Butter.



The second Ice cream we did was blueberry ice cream. The batter was prepared identically to the Banana, except that the blueberries were cooked in the quart of half and half with the sugar, allowed to cool, blended in the Vita Mix, chilled in the fridge, and then frozen to soft-serve consistency and then portioned into containers and frozen in the freezer.

Edited by Jason Perlow, 18 August 2006 - 02:53 PM.

[Mallet]

I just hit on something today, which seemed too simple to not already have been thought of: why not just purée partially frozen fruit with sugar etc.. in a food processor? Instant sorbet!



Seemed to work just fine, of course there are alternative strategies

Edited by Mallet, 07 April 2007 - 03:43 PM.

[FoodMan]

I am so loving this latest ice cream I made tat I had to share it. It's the best ginger ice cream I made so far, "Triple Ginger Ice Cream". I made it to serve with Alton Brown's fruit cake, but it is fantastic on it's own with lots of flavor and that unique ginger spiciness.

Click Here for the recipe

[Shelby]

Bumping this wonderful topic. Anyone made any ice cream lately?

I made the vanilla ice cream out of The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz last weekend. It always turns out so creamy. Of course, it does use like 6 egg yolks .

[LizD518]

I made French Vanilla two weeks ago, which I mentioned in the "Perfect Scoop" thread. Last night I made the cinnamon ice cream. It came out okay - not as strong a cinnamon flavor as I thought it would have. But the recipe called for steeping 10 3" cinnamon sticks and I had 4 5" softstick sticks instead. I added a little ground cinnamon to the mix as well to bump up the flavor. I also did not let the custard develop quite as much as I should have and the cannister was just barely in the freezer for 24 hours before I churned it. Still good, just not transcendant!

[paulraphael]

I made the vanilla ice cream out of The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz last weekend.  It always turns out so creamy.  Of course, it does use  like 6 egg yolks    .

I've spent the summer working on vanilla ice cream. I wanted the creaminess and body of Lebovitz's ice cream, but without the strong egg flavor and the slightly greasy mouthfeel (which are common to all very high butterfat ice creams made with a custard base).

I finally nailed it, but it was a more complicated projectt than I'd imagined. For me, the best ice creams I've had haven't been from ice cream shops or people's homes, but from the pastry chefs at good restaurants. These guys have a lot of tricks ... some from the world of artisinal pastry, and some from the world of industrial ice cream.

I've cut back a bit on the fat, cut way back on the yolks, and substituted other incredients to adjust the body and make it stable. And to make it scoopable at the right temperature.

[tim]

I've spent the summer working on vanilla ice cream. I wanted the creaminess and body of Lebovitz's ice cream, but without the strong egg flavor and the slightly greasy mouthfeel (which are common to all very high butterfat ice creams made with a custard base).

I've cut back a bit on the fat, cut way back on the yolks, and substituted other ingredients to adjust the body and make it stable. And to make it scoopable at the right temperature.

Paul,

Help us out here. I'm guessing apricot preserves.

Tim

[Shelby]

I've spent the summer working on vanilla ice cream. I wanted the creaminess and body of Lebovitz's ice cream, but without the strong egg flavor and the slightly greasy mouthfeel (which are common to all very high butterfat ice creams made with a custard base).

I've cut back a bit on the fat, cut way back on the yolks, and substituted other ingredients to adjust the body and make it stable. And to make it scoopable at the right temperature.

Paul,

Help us out here. I'm guessing apricot preserves.

Tim

Yeah, I wanna know too