302 replies to this topic

[Eden]

The Nougat is not churned. The whipped cream is whipped stiff, folded with stiffly beaten meringue and other ingredients and frozen in a loaf pan. The end result is very soft and a little chewy. If you are interested in a recipe PM me, since this is a F&W recipe I cannot post it.

how about letting us know which issue of F&W? I'm also interested in this recipe, and trust my librarians to help me track down old magazine issues... (give them chocolate occasionally & they'll do anything for you )

[FoodMan]

The Nougat is not churned. The whipped cream is whipped stiff, folded with stiffly beaten meringue and other ingredients and frozen in a loaf pan. The end result is very soft and a little chewy. If you are interested in a recipe PM me, since this is a F&W recipe I cannot post it.

how about letting us know which issue of F&W? I'm also interested in this recipe, and trust my librarians to help me track down old magazine issues... (give them chocolate occasionally & they'll do anything for you )

Here is the link to the recipe, but I think you need to buy an issue or be a subscriber to get to it. It's from the December 2004 issue.

BTW, I had no Kirsch so I substituted a mixture of bourbon and white wine for it (about 2Tbsp. each).


Elie

[Eden]

Here is the link to the recipe, but I think you need to buy an issue or be a subscriber to get to it. It's from the December 2004 issue.

BTW, I had no Kirsch so I substituted a mixture of bourbon and white wine for it (about 2Tbsp. each).


Elie

Thank you kindly. I'm looking forward to trying it. the citrus sauce recipe looks like it has potential for other dishes as well.

[Marmish]

The Williams Sonoma Ice Cream book has some excellent recipes. We've been working our way through it. The Chocolate Raspberry Truffle is the best ice cream I've made. The only one I didn't like was the cherry. I plan on trying the caramel later this week. We've got a blueberry tart to finish off first.

[Moopheus]

How fussy are you all about ingredients? When I make ice cream, I have to have regular pasteurized cream with no stabilizers or thickeners, which is hard to find around here; I usually have to make a special trip to whole foods for it. The wife thinks I'm crazy but I think it gives the ice cream a pure creaminess that is spoiled by additives.

And of course, when there's good ripe fruit to be had at the farmer's market, there will soon be sorbet in the freezer.

[FoodMan]

I hurned the rested chocolate ice cream yesterday. From the first picture you can tell that it is pretty thick, a couple of notches down from a pudding! I also decided not to add the caramlized nuts since they were a little...err...'overtoasted' and I did not want them to overpower the chocolate. They are ok to eat out of hand though.




In the machine


After about 10 minutes of churning, smooth creamy and delicious.

BTW, this mix has no cream or eggs, only whole milk, powdered milk, sugar and chocolate.


Elie

[eje]

We made this recipe for mojito sorbet yesterday and it was just incredible. We used about 1/4 cup of rum but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. My husband served it with a little extra (liquid) mojito around it, which gave it a little fizz.

Thanks for the recipe, Erik!

No problem! I made it for the 4th and it turned out outstanding for me too.

I used washed raw sugar for the syrup and an amber rum, so mine was a little brown-ish. The only change I made was to use all lime juice and bump up the amount to 1/4 cup. I was worried, if I increased the liquor too much, that I would end up with a frozen drink instead of sorbet. I poured some chilled rum over the sorbet when I served it. I like the extra mojito garnish idea, too.

I did get a lello gelato jr. and it did an excellent job with the sorbet. It is a bit bigger than it looks in pictures and pretty heavy. However, it was nice and fast (~25 min) and it was great not to not have to futz around with making the granita in the freezer, and then run it through the blender. I'd gotten pretty proficient at the freezer procedure, so the end product was about the same. I'm looking forward to trying some true gelato, soon.

Edited by eje, 06 July 2005 - 10:47 AM.

[Smithy]

How fussy are you all about ingredients? When I make ice cream, I have to have regular pasteurized cream with no stabilizers or thickeners, which is hard to find around here; I usually have to make a special trip to whole foods for it. The wife thinks I'm crazy but I think it gives the ice cream a pure creaminess that is spoiled by additives.

And of course, when there's good ripe fruit to be had at the farmer's market, there will soon be sorbet in the freezer.

I've been reading this thread and marveling at just how fussy people are. I thought I was fussy, but really, I'm only fussy about the quality of the fruit. I've made one - count it, one - non-fruit-based ice cream at home in my life. Maybe that's where the fussiness has to come in. Our peach (nectarine, plum, whatever) ice cream has had, over the years, milk, half-and-half, full cream, eggs, no eggs. It's all been wonderful.

[little ms foodie]

Everybody is making ice cream!

Williams Sonoma Ice Cream Ideas

[bleachboy]

I make the French Vanilla ice cream from How To Cook Everything pretty frequently and I will testify that it's an excellent recipe. I stole a page from the recipe in The Cake Bible and always add two tablespoons of vodka to the mix, which keeps it from freezing too hard and making ice crystals. Often I'll add some "mix-ins", usually some sort of candy bar (the Symphony bar with almonds and toffee is awesome) and it always draws raves. Very rich and smooth with the perfect level of sweetness, and very creamy. I use half-and-half and whole cream. Made some this weekend as a "hostess gift" for a 4th of July party and it was a big hit. (I also made the Lemon Tart with Pine Nut Crust from the Bouchon cookbook... also very, very good)

As for me, I use a fairly inexpensive Cuisinart ice cream machine, the kind where you freeze the bucket thing, and it usually works great. The main concern is to make sure your custard is very cold before you put it in the machine, about 40 degrees F is ideal. I cool it off first in an ice bath then throw it in the fridge, preferably for at least an hour.

[Eden]

all this talk of ice-cream both online & around the house, has reminded me of my childhood favorite: butter-brickle.
Anyone have a good recipe?

[bleachboy]

all this talk of ice-cream both online & around the house, has reminded me of my childhood favorite: butter-brickle.

*ears perk up*

butter-what?!

Describe this, please, my interest is piqued!

[Eden]

butter-brickle=buttery ice cream with bits of toffee-like candy. I've no idea what specific candy qualifies as "brickle" (haven't had this in ages) but it's in the toffee family.

edited to add that "brickle" might be trying to sound like "brittle" as in "peanut brittle"
butter brickle was definatley not peanuty though.

Edited by Eden, 06 July 2005 - 06:32 PM.

[Susan in FL]

I asked if anybody has a tried & true butter almond or butter pecan recipe, or something similar... It looks like our taste buds are on the same track.

[artisan02]

butter-brickle=buttery ice cream with bits of toffee-like candy.  I've no idea what specific candy qualifies as "brickle" (haven't had this in ages) but it's in the toffee family.

edited to add that "brickle" might be trying to sound like "brittle" as in "peanut brittle" 
butter brickle was definatley not peanuty though.

This was always my favorite ice cream of all. when I was growing up. Anyone have a recipe for it?

[Eden]

I asked if anybody has a tried & true butter almond or butter pecan recipe, or something similar... It looks like our taste buds are on the same track. 

That's probably what put it in my head

Per 'Ice Cream! the Whole Scoop' Butter Pecan is made by adding either "butter crunch candy" plus pecans OR candied pecans, to a vanilla base made with brown sugar and a teensy bit of butter.
I wonder what the butter does to the mix in terms of texture etc since we work so hard to avoid "buttering" in making ice-cream.

from the same source "Butter Crunch Ice cream" (a generic name for Butter Brickle?) is made by mixing "butter crunch candy" into either a plain vanilla or caramel ice-cream base. I don't know - caramel seems like too intense a base & vanilla too plain. My taste memory says it was somewhere between them. More like the vanilla made with brown sugar & maybe even a bit of butter as above...

[Smithy]

It's been a while since I made it, but Cherry Garcia was a hit around our house. (Sorry, I wasn't doing photos at the time.) The only problem with it was that the children visiting kept competing over who got to add something next - ice, salt, ice, salt.... eventually the level of freezing stuff came up so high that it got into the canister. The ice cream was a touch salty, but still good.

[snowangel]

As I reported here, we made strawberry ice cream! Twice, in fact. Once immediately after picking the berries, and again on Sunday for a party.

I used a recipe from my great grandmother's recipe file. Cream, berries, not much sugar on the berries to which you take a potato masher, and two eggs. I use a Donvier, because it is what I have.

[Toliver]

Don't have a picture of it but I made Alton Brown's "Serious Vanilla Ice Cream" for the 4th of July. It was served with some "Texas Brownies" that my mom made and was a match made in heaven.
My brother was a little too impatient for the ice cream to be "done" and so we had soft serve ice cream with the brownies.

[Patrick S]

We made another fruit sorbet, watermelon this time. Very refreshing, perfect for a hot summer evening on the patio.

[Mallet]

In Complete Techniques, Jacques Pépin mentions that sorbets are best made in a food processor. Apparently, using a regular ice cream maker beats in too much air into the mixture and changes the color and taste of the fruit. He even goes so far as to say that melon sorbet is ruined if done in an ice machine.

That's good news for me, because all I own is a food processor ! I'm trying a melon sorbet right now but it took longer to freeze than I anticipated: I guess that means sorbet for breakfast.

[Pan]

We made another fruit sorbet, watermelon this time. Very refreshing, perfect for a hot summer evening on the patio.

That looks really nice, Patrick.

I'm wondering whether with a really sweet fruit like watermelon, you'd be sparing with the amount of sugar added. I could imagine simply freezing unsweetened watermelon juice and having a terrific cold dessert that way.

[Patrick S]

In Complete Techniques, Jacques Pépin mentions that sorbets are best made in a food processor. Apparently, using a regular ice cream maker beats in too much air into the mixture and changes the color and taste of the fruit. He even goes so far as to say that melon sorbet is ruined if done in an ice machine.

Pepin is entitled to his own opinion, of course, but I'd have to disagree. I made my sorbet in an ice cream machine, and the melon color and taste shine right through. They do not appear in any sense to have been ruined.

[Mallet]

We made another fruit sorbet, watermelon this time. Very refreshing, perfect for a hot summer evening on the patio.

That looks really nice, Patrick.

I'm wondering whether with a really sweet fruit like watermelon, you'd be sparing with the amount of sugar added. I could imagine simply freezing unsweetened watermelon juice and having a terrific cold dessert that way.

I tried a cantelope sorbet yesterday according to Pépin's recipe in Complete techniques, the basic proportions being:

flesh of one 3 lb melon
1/3 cup sugar (more or less depending on sweetness ripeness)
1/3 cup lime juice
2 tbsp honey

I used the initial proprtions (having never made sorbet and not wanting to frig around the first time ) and turned out pretty nice, but probably could have used even less sugar/lime juice.

I would think a minimum amount of sugar is necessary.. doesn't it help prevent crystallization or something?

[Susan in FL]

Smithy and anybody else interested, the recipe for white chocolate macadamia ice cream is now in RecipeGullet.

[Patrick S]

Strawberry and framboise granita. I pureed 18ozs strawberries with 2T each water and lemon juice, 1T each framboise liquer and vodka, and 1/2C sugar. The puree was poured in an 8x8 pan, placed in the freezer, and stirred every 30 minutes or so for about 4 hours. A teensy bit sweeter than I'd like, but still nice.

[Sandra Levine]

I made a good Philadelphia-style banana ice cream the other day. I whizzed a pint of very rich Butterworks heavy cream and one and one-half bananas, in chunks in the blender until the mixture was smooth, then added sugar to taste, about 1/4 - 1/3 cup and a splash of rum and stired until all was blended. Then, into the Donvier for 20 minutes, turning the paddle two or three times every 3 minutes or so.

Very simple and pure.

[bloviatrix]

I made blueberry-thyme sorbet yesterday. Next time I'll be a little less generous with the thyme used to infuse the sugar syrup, it's a little too strong. But, the color is lovely (I use ascorbic acid powder to keep it from getting muddy) and it has a great texture.

[a geek]

In the past week I've been inspired to make my first two batches (thanks, thread). One was a basic vanilla from the Greens Cookbook. I find it a bit eggy (4 yolks) but love the fresh vanilla taste. I think it also was two parts heavy cream to one part milk, and has frozen quite solid.

The second batch was an adaptation of Alton Brown's Banana Ice Cream at: http://www.foodnetwo...36_27213,00.htm
I used splenda and honey (50/50) in place of the corn syrup and maybe two parts whole milk to one part cream. Also added a crumbled up milk chocolate bar and lots of cruhed walnuts. Then, I kept tasting and adding milk until the sweetness was acceptable (think I went nuts on the honey). Turned out extremely well as the bananas I had were insanely ripe.

I'm loving the texture right out of the machine - all of these freeze so hard. Any way to moderate that? Also, any other folks experimenting with alternative sweeteners? I've got great strong honey from the local farmer's market which imparts a very warm taste.

[M. Lucia]

I haven't been able to participate in the cook off as my ice cream maker is in storage, but I have been following closely being the ice cream fiend that I am. And because I have this problem with homemade ice cream.

I love homemade ice cream the day it's churned, great flavor, creamy texture.

However, I stopped making ice cream except a few times a year. It's because after a day or more in the freezer it's rock hard and then melts immediately.
So a major crystallization problem, I guess. And when I say time in the freezer, I mean any time longer than the couple hours or so after it's intially churned (just what it take to get it to firm up).

Is it my ice cream maker (an inexpensive one)?
How does the recipe affect this, eggs/no eggs/ how many eggs?
Or is it simply a matter of preservatives?