Nathan Kurz

First, the recipe you have should come out pretty good. Crystallization is generally a problem only after you store the ice cream for a while. Stabilizers will change the texture when it comes out of the machine, but not necessarily for the better. The best thing you can probably do is to age the mix overnight after you pasteurize. If storage is your concern, the main thing to do is to add some sugars of other sizes so that the sucrose (table sugar) can't form crystals as easily. Subbing glucose (dextrose or syrup) for about 1/3 your sugar would probably help. The isomalt and maltodextrin would probably work too, but I haven't played with them. The lecithin is an emulsifier, and might help make things smoother, but the amount of egg yolks you have added should create the same effect. Carageenan could certainly produce a good result, but there are many different types and I don't know the differences. Agar (and gellan) probably has potential, but I've mainly used them with sorbets. But if you were to play with some additives, a pinch of xanthan (maybe 1/4 tsp for your recipe) should make the ice cream feel a bit smoother in the mouth as well as increasing the amount of air that gets whipped in. Added to the amount of cream you have, this might be cloying, though. (I'm not so sure that the pectin wouldn't have an effect. The milk is acidic, and the stuff I have seems to dissolve pretty well at 180F if you hit it with an immersion blender. Are you sure, Sethro? But I've never tried it with anything dairy.) Tell us how it goes!

I think it stands for Nitrogen and Hydrogen - used to change the properties of the pectin. ← Thanks! That makes more sense now. Ammonia is NH3, and amidated pectins are de-esterified with ammonia: http://www.cpkelco.com/pectin/product_information.html I was trying unsuccessfully to coerce it into some abbreviation in French or Spanish, since that those were the cookbooks I was seeing it appear in. This means that Pomona Pectin, which is widely available at Health Food stores in the US should substitute for Pectin NH, seeing as it is also an amidated low-methoxyl pectin: http://www.pomonapectin.com/ My experiences using Pomona Pectin as a sorbet stabilizer haven't been great though, as it had a distinctly soapy flavor when I tried it. It's likely this may have come from the monocalcium phosphate activator rather than the pectin itself, though.

Hey Dean --- So that's what European recipe books mean when the call for 'yellow' pectin. I hadn't caught on that it referred to citrus pectin. I'd presumed it was some particular brand that happened to come in yellow packaging. Thanks! Do you happen to know what the NH in the phrase "Pectin NH" stands for?

Ditto. Like dougal says, it's probably going to come out great whether brine, cure, or do nothing, but it's the nitric oxide (from the nitrates or nitrites) that gives the pink color. It also contributes to the distinctive 'ham' taste. But it's still going to come out tasty either way. No, a week is just about enough --- see the linked post. It probably would have been perfect if I'd started with a thawed ham. Realize that even if you are going to brine it with just salt, you'll probably want about this long too. With #1 cure, the time taken is not for the reaction with the meat, but just for the brine to penetrate all the way through the ham. Tell us how it goes!

I don't have experience with boiling, but I posted a while ago about preparing a whole fresh ham: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1498945 While I'm sure there are other great ways to cook one, I've got one more in the freezer and am planning to do it just the way I did the first: delicious! If you are planning to brine and the ham is purely raw and has not yet been brined, you'll need to brine it much longer than overnight. Probably around a week, unless you inject or otherwise speed up the process. Which is to say if you are aiming for Christmas, you may need to speed it up somehow. The curing salts aren't necessary, but give the ham that distinctive 'ham' flavor and pink color. If you are not planning to use them, I'd definitely want some other seasoning or rub. Our ham ended up with the inner portion uncured, and while that was tasty, the strong group preference was for the outer cured part. Good luck! (typo)

Hey Bryan --- Looks tasty. The powdery could be caused by being too cold, but most likely is caused by low dissolved solids (most commonly sugars). For potato, this is probably just the way it is. Nathan Myrvold has an old thread here where he talks about non-sweet 'sugars' you could add to try to avoid this. I'm planning to play with polydextrose for this purpose, but haven't yet. The whipped texture of the olive oil is closer to the symptoms of excess overrun. Overrun is a desired thing to some extent, and what constitutes excess is just a matter of taste. Using the blue button pretty much kills the overrun, though, so if you did it with the button down it's probably not that high on overrun. Often while testing I do single portions with the button up and down to compare before spinning the whole cylinder. My impression is that in the absence of stabilizers you aren't going benefit too much from holding down the button except for fruits that are naturally very high in pectin and mixes that are very high in fat. The straight juices are worth trying, but probably would benefit from some added sugar. It's hard to say exactly how much without measuring with a refractometer, but something around 200g of sugar per L for the orange juice would be about right (50g per cup). You'll want less sugar added for the carrot, since the juice is higher Brix and less acidic. Carrot by itself is a bit plain, but we thought Carrot Ginger was pretty tasty. If you have excess cashews left over from the garnish and have some maple syrup, Maple Cashew comes out pretty nice. It's a very good vegan base. Something like 1 cup whole cashews, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and 1 cup of water is about right. The Pacojet homogenizes the nuts so well that it comes out so superbly creamy that it's hard to believe it's non-dairy. (spelling)

Glad it's working for you Bryan! I'm the lender of the Pacojet. I'm starting a small business selling sorbets and ice creams at farmers markets around the San Francisco Bay. We plan to use in-season local, organic fruits and vegetables to make the best possible frozen desserts, no holds barred. We had an extra Pacojet we wouldn't be using for a few weeks, and thought Bryan might be able to put it to good use. He hasn't been told about the mandatory summer internship program yet. The company is "Scream Sorbet", and we are hoping to start small in February, expanding throughout the summer. Currently, we are scrambling for commercial kitchen space and trying to perfect a small number of flavors for our launch. We've been running pretty silent until now, but hope to have a web site with more information up in the next couple weeks. I'll post a thread when that happens, but until then, I can be contacted privately for more information. Some stray responses to things brought up in this thread, with deference to those who have more Pacojet experience than I do: Corn syrup is a form of glucose syrup, and can be used in its place. Depending on brand, you may have to adjust for the sweetness. Karo has a higher dextrose-equivalent than most glucose syrups. Glucose syrup (as defined by pastry chefs) is not a solution of dextrose in water, but made from partially hydrolyzed starch, and hence also has many larger sugars. Dextrose (which is called glucose by chemists but not by pastry chefs) can be purchased at most health food stores. Agar and pure fruit pectins can also be purchased here. The agar with added sugar works fine, but avoid the grocery store pectins with added acids. Invert sugar (sold branded as Trimoline) can be made on the stovetop by boiling a simple syrup with some added lemon juice or citric acid. Honey has the same properties, if the taste isn't a problem. Stabilizers are 'necessary' for a Pacojet in the same way that they are for any other ice cream. You can often work around this need if you can get away with a higher level of dissolved solids (Brix), or consume the result immediately. Gelatin is a fine stabilizer, if you aren't worried about its animal origins. Agar creates a great sorbet texture, although the brands I've tried have a slightly cloying iodine taste. Citrus pectin works great for citrus fruits. Apple pectin has a distinct (but good) apple taste. Selective use of the Blue Button during processing makes a big difference. Some things benefit from extra overrun (incorporated air), others don't. Experiment. But as a rule, things with apple pectin seem to do better with the Blue Button depressed. A couple questions for the experimenters out there: has anyone played with using rennet or chymosin with dairy bases? Or with freeze concentration for milk or juices? --nate

I've been using straight dry pectin as a stabilizer for sorbets, and I think I can tell you that there is not going to be a set ratio for substituting. There are lots of different kinds of pectins, and depending on what you buy the amount you'll need will change drastically. For example, I'm finding the FNX Citrus pectin to gel much more strongly than the FNX Apple. Also, realize that realize that the grocery store pectins some sugar(s) and lots of (bad tasting) citric acid, whereas the commercial types are pure pectin. So you'll need to modify around that as well. High-methoxy pectins (the 'normal' kind) require low pH and high sugar to gel. The low-methoxy's gel based on ionic reactions, often with Calcium, and will gel without regard to sweetness. Obviously, which one of these you have will affect how you substitute. And as alanamoana says, you'll probably want to mix the pectin powder with some quantity of sugar before trying to blend it in with the cold liquid. Alternatively, I've read that you can disperse it in a very high sugar solution, and then add that solution to the cold liquid. In both cases, hitting it with a high speed mixer is going to help. CP Kelco has some good background information on their site: http://www.cpkelco.com/pectin/index.html And Le Sanctuaire has started carrying their stabilizers: http://cookingbuddies.com/osc/index.php?cPath=34_37_48 Apologies if this wasn't the direction you were looking!

I recently posted my wet curing experience to the thread that dougal linked: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1498945 There's lots of other info in that thread as well, if you have the time to sift through it.

I'm working on a business selling ice cream and sorbets made with Pacojets, and I've been reading through a bunch of ice cream theory and recipe books. Here's some of the highlights: Ice Cream by Marshall et al. is probably the standard reference. It's geared toward large-scale commercial production, but the beginning chapters are a solid foundation on ice cream theory. I've got it checked out from the library, but I'll probably by a copy when I find it used. The Science of Ice Cream by Clarke is a fun read with chapters on interesting topics. More for (dense) reading than for reference. The Perfect Scoop by Lebovitz is the best of the recent recipe oriented books I've found. The emphasis is on flavors rather than technique, but there is some useful amount of background. Frozen Desserts by Liddell and Weir is a good older ice cream recipe book. Slightly more technical than Lebovitz, lots of recipes with more emphasis on inclusiveness than 'only the best'. Gelato by Johns is a very short book focussed on Italian ice creams and sorbets. Better than I thought it would be considering its brevity. A combination of history and recipes. A Passion for Ice Cream by Luchetti is a pretty book, but more focussed on desserts made with ice cream than the ice creams themselves. Good for flavor combinations, but not for technical considerations. Dessert Cuisine by Oriol Balaguer is excellent. It's very pricey ($150; I found a library with a reference copy) but I would recommend it highly for both theory and recipes. Seemingly excellent English translation. Probably not a beginners book, but close to what I was looking for. Paco Torreblanca: The Book by Torreblanca has some excellent tips and recipes, is more Pacojet specific, but is put together more sloppily than the Balaguer book. It's even more pricey ($240; also a library copy), and if I'd choose the Balaguer if I was buying one. Side by side English/Spanish. There are a several books I haven't yet got my hands on that I'd love to hear more opinions of: Los Secretos del Helado by Corvitto seems like it would be excellent for my purposes. Spanish only, and really expensive (150 Euros, with the dollar currently worth approximately 0 Euros). It doesn't seem to exist in the OCLC library system. I'd love to borrow a copy if anyone has one available, otherwise I'll probably break down and buy it someday. Video preview here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4214983533343729549 The Art of Ice Cream and Sorbets (l'Art de la Glace et des Sorbets ) by Ryon and Bellouet is highly recommended by others. Also quite pricey. I haven't seen it yet, although I just ordered the companion English translation by itself for $25 from Chef Connection. The Gelato of Angelo Grasso seems like it might be a good book, but I've not seen anything about it except the web page linked. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has read it. Gelato & Gourmet Frozen Desserts by Ferrari seems like it should be good. He is (mong other things) a consultant for Carpigiani. A short document (and quite good) document of his is available here: http://www.konditorforum.dk/fundanemt/file...o%20Ferrari.pdf La Tecnología De Los Helados Y Sorbetes by Davenat seems like it might be appropriate. I don't know anything about it other than the title, though. I've seen some of recipes listed elsewhere, though, and they seem well crafted. Online, I found the a surprising amount of useful information in the catalog Michael Greenwald publishes for his Thailand based gelato franchise business Dream Cones: http://www.dreamcones.com/eng/MAIN%20CATALOGUE%2030JUL07.pdf His business is based around pre-made mixes which I've never tried, but I greatly appreciated the detail he offered when explaining his ingredients and process. Douglas Goff's site is an excellent repository of knowledge. Goff is one of the co-authors of the standard text primarily authored by Marshall. There are obviously many other online resources, but that's enough for now. I hope this helps someone. I'd love to hear from others about books I've missed.

No one? ← Sure, I'll bite. No, you can't combine multiple certificates. You also can't use more than one certificate at an establishment per month. Read the fine print, and read it carefully. I've used restaurant.com several times. They are (at least at this point) an honest business with an interesting business model. The certificates are real, and I've had not problem using the 8 or so that I've purchased. If you search around for coupons, you'll find that you can always get a 30-70% discount on the purchase price, such that a $25 off certificate costs $3-$7. Over the course of a month, the discounts get larger as the selection gets smaller. At the beginning of the month things reset. It's worth understanding the their business model, both for its ingeniousness and to understand how you will be received as a customer. The establishment signs up with restaurant.com, who builds a mini web site on their behalf and advertises the establishment on their own web site. In return, restaurant.com is given the right to sell a certain number of gift certificates per month. The money from these certificates --- however much they sell for --- stays with restaurant.com and is never seen by the establishment. The servers are generally happy, because printed on the top of certificate is a reminder to tip on the full amount of the bill. Generally, I'm guessing that certificate users tip pretty well, since they feel they are getting a bargain on the meal. The customer is happy because they are getting a bargain. But the restaurant management has mixed feelings, particularly if it's clear that you are there merely for a only single visit to take the most advantage of the certificate as possible. They are hoping to turn you into a repeat full-paying customer. Hope this helps.

I haven't got the book, but we just finished wet-curing a whole wild boar ham, and this seemed like the right place to post results in case they help someone else. We loosely followed the 'York-style Ham' recipe in Aidell's Pork book. We started with a whole ham, bone-in, skin-off. Not sure about the exact weight, but from a 200lb field dressed pig; guessing the ham is a little over 20 lbs. Ham was frozen for several months before brining, but still in excellent condition. Brine: 5 cups Mortons kosher salt (~750 g) 1.5 cups brown sugar (~350 g) 5 Tbsp #1 curing salts (~50 g) 1.5 gallons water (~6 L) Frozen ham was placed a Ziplock XL utility bag (25 gallon size), which worked very well (although be careful not to pierce bag with any protruding cut bones). Brine added, bag loosely wrapped with duct tape to get it to mostly cover the ham. An oven bag (Glad) was tried first, but ripped immediately --- not recommended for brining. Bag containing ham and brine put in a cooler. Ice added on second day after ham had mostly thawed. Brine and bag changed (replaced with same recipe) after 4 days. Probably not necessary, but I had a lot of leakage out of the bag due to leakage (user error). Ham considered done after 8 days [see below]. The combination of frozen ham and a 20 lb bag of ice in a decent cooler kept everything nicely cold for the first seven days, but we added an extra 3 lb bag of ice the last night since almost everything had melted by then. Ham was cooked in an Glad oven bag at 325F (160C) for about 4.5 hours. Bag probably not necessary, but used it since we had one left over after trying to use one for brining. Glazed at the end with honey and orange juice. Didn't take a final temperature, but estimated 165F, then rested for 30 minutes. Ham came out delicious --- quite salty on the outside and shank, perfect for most of the interior. Outer ham was a pretty ham-colored pink from the curing salts, innermost 1.5" was dark from since it hadn't been penetrated yet by the brine. Very clear line of distinction between cured and uncured. Uncured interior was fine, but taste, texture and appearance of the pink cured part was definitely preferable. Second ham is still in the freezer, and we'll probably do it for Christmas. Not sure if we should just brine it longer to get full penetration of brine, or to try some other way getting the brine to the interior. Probably will make a deep slit on the bottom of ham (to the bone) and see if that is enough. Could bone it, but the appearance of the whole ham on the bone is great. Comfortably feeds 20 with lots of leftovers, probably fine for 30.

Doing other research, I came across a list of other corn syrup substitutes. It's a list of non-genetically-modified syrups, which considering that corn is the main GMO used for syrups, essentially means corn syrup substitutes: http://www.non-gmoreport.com/high_fructose_corn_syrup.php Several of the options listed are available here: http://www.barryfarm.com/sugars.htm I'm planning to try the white rice syrup and tapioca syrups to see if they work for me.

Everyone else probably knows this (including GTO), but until recently I was confused that the numbers given for these percentages didn't seem to add up. Then I learned that the percentages reported include the cocoa butter, not just the cocoa. Sometimes this is just the cocoa butter already occurring in the bean, and sometimes extra is added. There's a linguistic confusion, at least in English, between the whole bean 'cacao' and the dry bitter powder 'cocoa'. In this case, the manufacturers are using 'cocoa' to refer to any product of the cacao bean including cocoa butter. For the Noir Infini (which I haven't had yet) it's the combined quantity of cocoa butter plus cocoa powder which totals 99%. One site selling the Cluizel Noir Infini lists the cocoa butter percentage as 52% and cocoa solids at 47%. So while it certainly isn't a sweet bar, it doesn't necessarily have any more bitterness to it than some other brands 85% with less cocoa butter. Hope this helps someone, Nathan Kurz nate@verse.com

I'm not a baker, but I've been researching similar things for making sorbets. Essentially, crystals are formed when all the pieces (molecules) are the same size. You just need to figure out something you can add that is a different size that doesn't taste bad! Corn syrup (aka 'glucose' in Europe, to the despair of chemists everywhere who think that dextrose and glucose should mean the same thing, and realizing that not all corn syrups have the same concentrations) is a composed of fructose, dextrose, maltose, and larger saccharides. Different types of corn syrups contain different proportions of these sugars based on the process used to hydrolyze the starch. In theory, 'glucose syrup' can be made from any starch, but given your allergy, in the US at least you'd be safest presuming that all of it is made from corn. But it's possible you can find one clearly made from wheat or rice, and that would just be a straight substitute. Otherwise, you could try adding any of those other sugars. Proceed cautiously, since it's possible these are made from corn starch. For a safer, more sure-to-be-corn-free alternative, you could try using invert sugar, which is table sugar (sucrose) that has been split into its constituent parts (dextrose and fructose). You can buy this from a baking supply company as Trimoline, or you can try making your own by boiling sugar with a small amount of lemon juice. I haven't done the side-by-side comparisons to have real evidence, but I doubt you would see much of a difference. The differences between them are at the level of trace elements, and it's the bulk properties that should make a difference with regard to crystallization. That said, if you are going to track something down, you might want to see if cane syrup makes a difference. I can't find out whether it contains enough different sugars to make a difference, but it's sure a tasty substitute for corn syrup in pecan pie. ps. You mentioned 'the pre-corn syrup days'. You might be interested in this 1913 New York Times article I wandered across on whether corn syrup could be labelled as such. I hadn't realized corn syrup was around that long!

I've been trying to figure out the California requirements as well. From what I can tell, all the programs you mention are equivalent, and meet the state requirements. This PDF might be helpful: http://www.csupomona.edu/~ehs/ftp/cfhlac.pdf One of the things I've found confusing is that what California calls a "Food Handler" seems to be equivalent to what other states call a "Food Manager". So when looking at online courses, you want the more extensive course that includes that word 'manager', not the simpler 'handler' course that some states require of all employees in a food establishment.

I've been making very similar sauces as a custard base for ice cream, and I've got a few (likely misguided) technique questions I've been wondering about. 1) Is tempering the eggs necessary if one is not scalding the milk first? I've been tempering at about 70C (160F) then bringing the mix up to 85C (185F), but I've seen some recipes that just bring the egg/milk/cream/sugar smoothly up to full temperature. 2) Do dried egg yolks work well? I'm tempted by the time savings of not separating the eggs, the ease of not worrying about pasteurization, and the lack of guilt when I can't figure out what to do with all the egg whites. 3) I've seen some recipes that keep the cream unheated, make the custard with milk/eggs/sugar, and then add it to the cream to start the cooling. Is this a good idea? 4) Similarly, could one make the custard with only part of the milk and use the rest to cool? I feel silly buying high quality milk and then re-pasteurizing it such a long time. 5) Does anyone have experience making these in a steam kettle? It seems like it would be a very controlled way to make a large quantity, but I've never used one. I've currently been making small (1-2 gallon) batches on the stove top, but would like to be able to do 10 gallon batches. Thanks!

Hi Begpie --- That's sort of the point of this thread: there is no standard definition. ← Actually, The USDA requires ice cream to have at least a 10% butterfat content. That eliminates sorbet, sherbert, ice milk, frozen yogurt, good gelatos, and low fat "ice cream". Tim ← Good clarification. What I was trying to say is that in America "there is no standard definition [of sorbet]". If you want to call your ice cream a sorbet, you are legally entitled to do so, since sorbet does not have a legal definition here. But as you say, calling your sorbet an ice cream and then shipping it across state lines is illegal, unless your sorbet happens to meet the USDA requirements for ice cream. For example, here's Oriol Balaguer's recipe titled "Cream Cheese Sorbet": 300 g mineral water 250 g cream cheese, 40% fat 75 g sugar 50 g invert sugar 2 g stabilizer I haven't checked the numbers carefully, but I think it meets the USDA requirements for ice cream. He (or his translator) chose to call it a sorbet. How do you define sorbet?

I recently bought a Misco Palm Abbe from Coolant Consultants. It's a digital model that goes from 0-56 Brix, and costs a little less than $300. I've been using it for adapting sorbet and ice cream recipes to the Pacojet. Generally, it's been great. It's dead simple to use, and seems quite accurate (or at least consistent). There have been a couple times when when I've maxed out the scale trying to measure very thick syrups, but it's been fine for all finished products. The only potential weakness (other than cost) has been temperature stability. While it does do automatic temperature compensation, if you are starting with a frozen substance you often have to wait 60-90 seconds for it to melt completely. I don't have much experience with the manual meters, but my impression is that if you need something that can be read by an employee with minimal training, digital is the way to go.

Hi Begpie --- That's sort of the point of this thread: there is no standard definition. If you read through the posts, you'll find that many people have different interpretations. I'd say that current American usage suggests that a sorbet is non-dairy, and that once you add milk or cream you have some kind of ice cream. Translated European cookbooks seem to have a broader definition of sorbet, one that means something like "without (much) cream or eggs". Etymologically, sorbet and sherbet are the same word. In the US, sherbet is defined as containing dairy, while sorbet lacks a legal definition. Technically, a sweetened frozen fruit juice dessert is classified by the government as a 'water ice'. I presume that the many things are called sorbets because 'water ice' sounds clunky and unappealing in most parts of America. Personally, I'm all for expanding the definition of sorbet to include all smooth frozen desserts, whether they have dairy or not. We don't have a good single word to do that in English. Take some lemon juice, sugar, and buttermilk and freeze it --- what should it be called? Calling it ice cream seems silly due to the lack of cream, and doing so commercially would be illegal. Sorbet is the best word I've found, and as it is legally unregulated one can call it that commercially without fear.

I haven't been straining anything, as the Pacojet does a pretty good job of homogenizing any small chunks. I haven't actually tried it, but I think you could probably freeze leftover scrambled eggs, cream, and sugar and it would process to a decent consistency. That's essentially my plan for tomorrow. The bitterness (at least in oranges) is apparently caused by a flavorless compound in the juice (LARL) being enzymatically converted into bitter limonin when the sorbet is pacotized. Using only the juice avoids this (as best as I can tell) because the enzyme is only present in the peel and seeds. I'm thinking of juicing the fruit, going through the first few steps of candying the peel, and then recombining the two to see if it still turns bitter. Alternatively, I might strip off the zest and then try extracting the pectin from the pith. I'll also try throwing in some citrus marmalade, adding apple pectin, and adding dry citrus pectin. Has anyone been down this road before? Nathan Kurz nate@verse.com

I am not very experienced in ice cream making, but I can speak to one of your questions (#2 above). The egg yolks are tempered because you want to prevent getting little bits of scrambled eggs in your custard. You accomplish this by adding a bit of the hot cream to the yolks, whisking all the while, and then adding that back to the remaining hot cream. ← Thanks for getting things going! I'm with you as to why one is told to temper eggs, but this still doesn't explain why the professionals are skipping this step and just adding the eggs yolks to the warm milk. For example, here are (approximately, from notes) Torreblanca's basic steps: Weigh ingredients Mix stabilizer with 10 times its weight in sugar Mix milk with powdered milk at 4C Add in sugars at 25C Add in cream and melted butter at 35C Add in aromas at 37C. Add in egg yolks at 40C. Add in stabilizer mixed with sugar at 45C. Pasteurize at 85C for 2 minutes. Homogenize if possible. Cool down to 4C. Mature at 4C for at least 4 hours, 48 at most. Process. Store in freezer at -25C. In this version, the eggs are added to the lukewarm milk and cream as the temperature rises. Interestingly, the restaurant based European books seem to be even more concerted about this than the American home guides. Torreblanca suggests holding at 85C (185F) for two minutes, whereas Luchetti only says to cook until it reaches 175F (79.5C). I don't have his book in front of me, but for some of the recipes on his blog Lebovitz suggests only 160-170 F (71-77 C). My guess is that that tempering at a high temperature (rather than adding the eggs at a lower temperature and slowly bringing the temperature up) is a vestige of scalding the milk. If you are going to scald the milk, you can't add the eggs at the beginning, and adding them to the almost boiling milk would cause them to scramble. Tempering is thus the fastest way to get the eggs in if the milk is already too hot. For what it's worth, I've currently been tempering then heating to 185F. Tempering does have the advantage of insuring that the eggs are very well mixed in. Nathan Kurz

I'm trying to figure out how to make the best possible ice creams and sorbets using a Pacojet. My plan is to eventually sell these at farmers' markets, but right now I'm just working in a home kitchen. I've been experimenting furiously for the month that I've had the machine, and some things have been generally coming out pretty tasty. But I'm sure they could be much better. Here's a few questions to start things off: 1) Sorbet recipes often call for adding different sugars to improve the texture and reduce crystallization. I understand that increasing the number of dissolved solids lowers them melting point. I've been using dextrose crystals in sorbet, and have been satisfied with the result. Since dextrose is the same compound as glucose, is there any reason to try other forms like glucose syrup? Does atomized glucose act any differently? 2) Most of the consumer level ice cream books I've seen (Liddell and Weir, Luchetti, Lebovitz) suggest tempering the eggs when making custard. Some of the more restaurant oriented books (Balaguer, Torreblanca) skip this step and just add the egg yolks to the warm milk as part of heating it to the proper thickness. Why do the popular books suggest tempering the eggs? 3) I'm having problems with some citrus varieties turning badly bitter when pacotized. Navel oranges go bitter, Valencias are fine. Research says this is delayed bittering due to LARL. All the grapefruits I've tried have been affected. Using only the juice solves the bitterness, but doesn't have the 'creamy' texture of the whole fruit version. How do I make a perfect grapefruit sorbet? Answers of any level appreciated, as well as general advice on technique. Or if you have questions of your own, add them to the list. I probably won't know the answer, but maybe we'll catch the eye of someone who does. Thanks! Nathan Kurz