Darienne
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Posts posted by Darienne
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There's nothing mysterious about it, just think of it in terms of varieties. If you grow Brandywine, San Marzano and Green Zebra tomatoes they're all tomatoes but each has it's own individual characteristics and will be best suited for a particular purpose. Sometimes combining a couple of varieties gives you the results you want, say a mix of Sungold and Black cherry tomatoes to get the sweet and tart thing happening.
The three carrageenan types produce different gel strengths and serve different purposes depending on application. Kappa is firm and brittle gelling, especially in the presence of potassium. Iota is soft and elastic gelling with it's strongest gel forming in the presence of calcium. They both require heat for proper hydration. Lambda is cold soluble but can be used in heated applications as well. It's very-soft/non gelling.
Thanks. That makes it clear.
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Although I'm sure we can find various definitions for New York style ice cream, I specifically recall reading in Cookwise, by Shirley Corriher, that Philadelphia style is also referred to as New York style.
On a quick search, allrecipes.com also says that
Ice cream is divided into two basic categories: custard-style (or French custard-style) and Philadelphia-style (also called "New York" or "American").which may very well be quoted from Cookwise.
Alternatively, if we can agree that custard style ice-creams are referred to as French ice cream, then that leaves NY style, Philadelphia style and American style as non custard based ice creams.
Someone will simply have to write Ms Damerow a note.
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Somehow this cold dessert, ice cream/gelato, has become a new obsession. I am very interested in making said with guar gum or xanthan or the like. I'll google for recipes, but would greatly appreciate any directions in finding useful recipes.
Michael Laiskonis's blog is a treasure trove. He knows more about ice cream than anyone else I've encountered.
The Alinea book also has some well-studied recipes and approaches. There's a French book that's supposed to be the holy grail of high end ice cream, but its price has so far put it out of my reach.
Unfortunately, most pastry chefs seem to buy pre-blended stabilizer mixes. Undoubtedly the blends include well tested mixes of gums and other colloids. But I don't like the approach. It's like buying curry powder instead of mixing your own spices. It puts you at the mercy of a company's whims (what if they change the formula?) and it cheats you out of any opportunity to learn about the individual ingredients.
I've been working it out on my own ... starting with basic home recipes like David Lebovitz's, and gradually tweaking them, with knowledge picked up here and there, to improve the flavor and texture.
So far I've gotten pretty comfortable manipulating cornstarch, xanthan, and gelatin. I hope to get my hands on some other potions eventually. I doubt anything out there will magically create textures that I like more than what i get now, but some may well do a better job preventing ice crystal growth, or graininess with brown butter flavors, etc. etc.
Thanks paulraphael for all the information. I'll look up Laiskonis's blog now.
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Darienne: Since you're in the mood to play...
guar = good stabilizer, better in combination with carrageenan or carrageenan + LBG
LBG = decent stabilizer alone, good in combination with carrageenan or carrageenan + guar
xanthan = good emulsifier/stabilizer for ice cream, excess can cause chewiness... best results used in combination with LBG and guar
carrageenan = kappa + iota for low fat bases, lambda for full fat bases
sodium alginate = good ice cream stabilizer
gelatin = good general-purpose stabilizer... not vegetarian like the others which may or may not be an issue
CMC = good stabilizer for low fat bases
agar = decent stabilizer for low fat bases... least ideal of those on this list
...and you can go into all kinds of experimenting with various combinations until you find the one that makes you happy. Xanthan : LBG : Guar at 1 : 1.25 : 1.25 is a good starting place for ice cream.
I don't think I am ready to play with the big kids yet. I found LBG =locust bean gum...I guess I could get that...and CMC = carboxymethycellulose...OMG I have no idea of what that is. Nor do I understand:
carrageenan = kappa + iota for low fat bases, lambda for full fat bases
I do have a BA in ancient Greek going back many years, but don't know what the Greek alphabet is doing in this equation.
Agar, gelatin, Xanthan, guar, carrageenan...I know these...and perhaps even sodium alginate, but the others are not in my sphere of knowledge at all. Aaarrgghh
But thanks for try...
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Lately, I've been experimenting a lot more with Philadelphia style ice creams. Philadelphia style ice cream is evidently also know as New York or American ice cream, which is news to me, but since I've read that in a couple of places, I believe it.
Philadelphia style ice cream contains no eggs and is therefore not custard based. I think I may like it more than many custard based ice creams; the mouth feel is a little lighter and the flavor of the fruit and/or other add-ins really stands out. It also doesn't involve custard, making it that much easier to produce.
This weekend, I made an apricot ice cream that was really great. I've recently made delicious vanilla and pistachio Philadelphia style ice creams as well. The only one I've seem to have trouble with is chocolate, which I intend to try again soon.
My base formula is 2 cups cream, 1 cup whole milk, 3/4 cup sugar. This will handle about a pound of fruit, and what I've been doing as of late is cooking the fruit to intensify it's flavor. I always scald the milk, along with a cup of the cream and the sugar. Then, I'll blend that well with the cooked fruit, and mix it with the additional cup of cream, a tsp. of vanilla extract (in the case of apricots, I also added a bit of of almond extract) a tablespoonful or so of liqueur, in this case Apry (it's good to have a well stock bar at times like this) and a pinch of salt. Into the fridge to mellow overnight before freezing in the Lello. Beats the heck out of anything I can buy in the store, that's for sure.
Any Philadelphia style ice cream aficianados out there? What are you freezing?
Hello Weinoo,
I am a Philadelphia style ice cream aficionado. My favorite vanilla ice cream recipe is that of Alton Brown, 'Serious Vanilla Ice Cream'. 2 cups half & half and one cup heavy cream. I then add whatever flavoring or inclusions to that mixture, my favorite so far being an adaptation of DL's Orange and Szechwan Pepper Ice cream. Other variations have included adding candied this or that.
One small point: although I can find no reference to New York style ice cream in DL, Gail Damerow in Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop, refers to New York ice cream as being a custard ice cream with eggs.
I have to admit that recently I have turned to making ice creams/ gelati with cornstarch. Lower concentration of fat.
You sound as if you are really barreling along with your ice cream making.
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I was in our local Dollarama today buying timers...I keep dropping them...the last one in the current ice cream makings...and saw a lady walking out with her purchases put into a wire basket. It was rather attractive, the shape of a flower pot. And they came in various colors.
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Somehow this cold dessert, ice cream/gelato, has become a new obsession. I am very interested in making said with guar gum or xanthan or the like. I'll google for recipes, but would greatly appreciate any directions in finding useful recipes. (This from a woman who scarcely ever ate ice cream since teenage years when my folks had a freezer plan complete with ice cream and I thought that ice cream was strictly from hunger.)
Perhaps I'll have to start another ice cream/gelato thread...
Thanks.
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You certainly learn something new everyday on this forum. Add yixing pot to the list. Thank you, Wikipedia. At least, that's always a good place to start.
Thanks for all the posts. DH is very happy about it. We just finished lunch, with a pot of Chinese Jasmine tea.
Thanks.
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What about baking soda?
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I think Kriss probably meant off the shelf pectin as I believe he uses ( named in his blog, I think) Cremoden stabilizer for ice cream, which contains pectin.
I should have mentioned Savuer (SIC?) mag way back in '01 ran an article on "authentic" gelato in Italy which uses cornstarch in the mix.
It had no eggs in it.
I experimented with it and thought it was kind of gritty and maybe the cornstarch need to be cooked out more. It froze like a rock, needed some kind of emulsifiers.
I thought that was what was Kriss Harveys point.
How do you cook out cornstarch ( at a boil, like a sauce)when eggs are present w/o the taste and mouth feel of it there?
I use half and half in recipes.
Phillipe Conticini's recipes always use it.
I am not very practiced at any of this but I have now made ice cream/gelato about five times with cornstarch, including the last one, a Fresh Cherry Gelato which I pretty much messed up and had to go back and reheat it and add more cornstarch to it, and so far (knock on wood
) all the results have had NO grittiness and have had incredible smoothness in fact. I can't really describe how I 'cook it out', just mix it first with cold milk/cream and then do the pudding mixing sort of thing. Sorry.
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We put ours in the dishwasher every so often. Then again, it's not 50 years old.
My abject apologies. The teapot in question is NOT fifty years old...that's my other teapot and it's probably older than 50 years if it belonged to one of our sets of parents.
The teapot we are using for Chinese tea is glazed, but it is one of those familiar Chinese designs with the translucent rice pattern in it which we bought about 35 years ago when driving to Toronto and into Chinatown was still a pleasure and not something to be done with gritted teeth and only when forced. The pot has a wrapped bamboo handle and I don't think it would withstand too many dishwasher trips.
Back to the drawing board?
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If your water is very hard, I suggest filtering it. Something simple like a Britta jug filter may do. Chek out the topic on Best Water for Brewing. The tea will taste better and you will not have to deal with mineral deposits. I rinse my pots with filtered water after using for the same reason.
Tell us more about what kind of tea pot you have (glass; ceramic - glazed, unglazed; metal?) and where and how bad the mineral deposits are. Are there tea stains in addition to mineral deposits?
My teapot is very humble. It's a glazed ceramic teapot that we have owned for about 50 years...can't remember which Mother gave it to me.
So far no mineral deposits in the teapot, just tea stains and my DH, somewhat of a cleanliness fanatic...although why he married me I can't imagine...doesn't think that a teapot with stains in it is clean. He'd take Comet to it if I would let him. Sorry for the shock.
Otherwise he is wonderful. 
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More macarons. These were made with an italian meringue and are filled with a white chocolate ganache flavored with powdered dehydrated strawberries.
Sad to say I have never tasted a macaron and indeed had never even heard of them until recently, but I have to say that you do make the most exquisite macarons. They are so perfect.
Someday, maybe... -
Welcome to the world of fine tea!
Cleaning is easy!
Each time you use it, you can just rinse it out with hot water, towel dry the exterior and let it air dry. Don't scrub or towel dry the interior. Don't use soap.
If it's an unglazed pot, I don't even towel dry the exterior.
If the pot has been sitting for a day...or a week while you have been away...just use boiling water after clearing out the old leaves.
But what about the stains?
I should note that our well water is very hard, with lime. All our taps are on softened water, except for the cold water in the kitchen. We do like our water, BTW.
We have to run vinegar through our coffeepot every couple of weeks.
Thanks.
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DH and I have just begun to drink tea for the first time...Chinese tea with our Chinese meals...and I have no idea of how exactly to clean a teapot nor how often.
All help gratefully received. Thanks.
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My husband's macaroni and cheese reheated on the second day. He always makes enough for two meals and it's even better the second time around. I love the crunchy bits.
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I'm not at all sure what your line of basketry is, whether gift baskets, formal or informal...what about plastic containers or even aluminum cooking containers that you can buy in the dollar stores. If you are filling them with dish towels and brownies, they might do the trick.
If your containers could be more expensive...again I have no clear sense of your purpose...what about real baking pans?
Just some ideas.
I suppose that dollarama basins might be too large...
Or what about the dollarama dishes...the bowls and such like...little trays. They are usually brightly colored.
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This Pastry Chef has some strong thoughts on cornstarch in ice cream or gelato...
Funny and informative reading is his blog!
A man of many strong opinions!
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Oddly enough, I have an Italian cookbook with a great number of gelato recipes and not one of them uses cornstarch. Is there any commercial ice cream or gelato out there made with cornstarch I wonder? I mean commercial as in a store...
Thanks all for all the help.
Maltodextrin is made from cornstarch. Hence, any ice cream that lists maltodextrin in it's ingredients has a form of cornstarch in it.
Theresa
Gotcha. Thanks.
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This is one of those 'why didn't I think of that in the first place?' posts.
I googled 'cornstarch gelato' and came up with more recipes than I could make in a year: cappuccino, Mexican chocolate, coffee, peanut butter, limoncello, ricotta, pistachio, etc, etc.
Oddly enough, I have an Italian cookbook with a great number of gelato recipes and not one of them uses cornstarch. Is there any commercial ice cream or gelato out there made with cornstarch I wonder? I mean commercial as in a store...
I know that many of you have the experience to just use this flavor or ingredient instead of that one...I can do that with spaghetti sauce, etc...but I am very unsure of myself in this new endeavor so I'll try the recipes once until I get it in my mind the theory behind making the different flavors.
One thing I have yet to try at all, is to cut down on the fat content of the gelato to say 2% milk and see what happens.
Today we make the Fresh Cherry Gelato in honor of the abundance of good cherries at the markets. And my DH loves cherries.
Thanks all for all the help.
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Adding a few tablespoons of cornstarch to an ice cream recipe instead of 5 or 6 egg yolks, while using mostly milk instead of heavy cream is of great interest to me. A number of obvious reasons spring to mind.
I have made DL's Fleur de Lait and loved it and now today I made a recipe on Epicurious for Chocolate Gelato. And just my luck, while searching to ascertain whether there was a past thread on cornstarch in ice cream, I found the Fat Guy's thread on Gelato vs Ice Cream. A post by Krazed Mom said she had made the Epicurious chocolate gelato and tweaked it with added cocoa and vanilla. And so I did. With wonderful results.
Has anyone else made any other cornstarch gelato or ice cream recipes which they would like to share?
Any disasters / tips which we should all know about?
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SUCCESS!
I used the above cornstarch recipe with a tweak or two (tweaking rules!!).
To the chocolate mixture I added about 2 tbsp cocoa and about a tsp of vanilla. I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker and let it go for about 30 minutes til it was really thick. It had a great deep chocolate taste and was very rich.
I think I am going to try a vanilla one next and then some deviations with fruit.
This post is two years old but I thought I'd try.
Thank you Krazed Mom for your tweaking. I just made the recipe myself and thought...hmmm
this is really lacking something, but I have so little experience that I am not comfortable tweaking some things.Then huzzah!
I found your post, went back, pulled the mixture out of the fridge, tweaked it up, and yumm! what a difference!Thank you, mille fois
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These are my favorites. They have the most intense chocolate flavor of any brownie I've ever had. The baking temperature is low, so you should be able to make them as thick as you want just by varying baking time ... but I haven't experimented with this.
I'm going to experiment with the recipe soon to add just a bit more crumb and structure to them. But that's just me being OCD.
I googled OCD and found that one, but can't find a useful explanation of Underbelly. That is the second recipe I have found for that title. Please, what is it? Thanks.
The brownies sound wonderful.
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Apparently, many of the same processed foods are sold with more salt in Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/07/2...ood-cereal.html
Canadians who like to start the day with a bowl of Kellogg's All-Bran cereal, for instance, are eating 233 per cent more salt than people having the same breakfast in the United States.All-Bran sold in Canada contains 2.15 grams of salt, or sodium chloride, per 100 grams, compared with just 0.65 of a gram south of the border.
I was already aware that processed foods contain a lot of salt, but I had no idea that there was such a strong geographical component, from products made by the same manufacturer!
I had not known about the salt component, but certainly foods in the USA often have more sugar in them, notably Grape Nuts.
I will never again . . . (Part 3)
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Well, hello Valerie, I didn't realize that this was your very first post until I read Kerry's reply. Welcome to the most amazing forum that I have ever come across!!