"The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz on ice cream

[John DePaula]

I just got my copy of David Lebovitz’ The Perfect Scoop and I’m very excited. Time to have a break from making truffles and take this book out for a spin. Anyone else want to play?

There are some wonderful ideas here and the recipes look great. There are some cutting edge combinations here e.g. Pear-Pecorino Ice Cream that I’m very much looking forward to trying. But today, I thought I’d start out with something simple yet sublime: How about Chocolate Sorbet (p120). The recipe is very very easy. For my cocoa powder I chose Valrhona and Valrhona again for the bittersweet chocolate – Guanaja 70%. The mixture cooking on the stovetop is quite heady and aromatic.

Right now, I’m cooling the mixture (I should be vanner-ing …) and tomorrow I’ll process it in my new Whynter ice cream maker.

I’ll let you all know how it turns out and hope that others will join in trying other recipes or variations.

[CaliPoutine]

I dont have the book(yet), but I do have 3 recipes I want to try.

The coffee, the salted butter and the carmelized banana ice cream. ( David has made a few on his site)

Maybe I'll pick one and start it tomorrow.

[David J.]

How does that compare to "Ice Cream!: The Whole Scoop" by Gail Damerow? That was my bible for ice cream and by far the best book I had found. I've got several books and the only one I was still looking for was the Cooks Illustrated ice cream book, but it was out of publication and I wasn't about to pay the $80 for the only used copy I could find on Amazon.

[Abra]

I've made several recipes from the book so far, with mixed success, although it's a total blast to read and I wanted to try every single thing after reading the descriptions.

The Lean Chocolate Sauce is beyond awesome. I made it with Peringotti cocoa and Scharffenberger chocolate, and believe me when I tell you you'll end up eating it with a spoon right out of the fridge. It's worth the price of the book just to have that recipe.

I made the Tiramisu ice cream, and while the flavor was delicious, it was very soft after freezing. It has a lot of booze, and I think the alcohol content mst be too high for it to freeze well. The mocha ripple sauce that goes with it is good, but honestly, I'd stick to the Lean Chocolate. I served it as affogato, so the meltingness wasn't a big problem, but I wouldn't have been able to scoop it on a plate, even after 24 hours in the deep freeze.

The roasted banana tasted divine, but froze up very hard, and even when left out of the freezer wasn't very creamy. For those that don't have the book, this is a recipe that contains only whole milk, no cream. Also, it only made 3 cups, not the quart it was supposed to make.

I followed all of the recipes exactly. But David was using a different sort of freezer than the cannister one I have, and that might have made a difference. I normally trust his recipes implicitly, and so made all of these things for guests without a trial beforehand. I'll be a bit warier from now on.

[emmalish]

I was at Chocolate Arts a couple weeks ago and they had this book on display at the counter. I flipped through it and I just had to have it. All the recipes look amazing. So far I've only tried the chocolate ice cream (French style). It's so ridiculously rich and chocolatey that I can only manage a couple spoonfuls at a time – but in a good way! I'll try the chocolate sorbet next, John.

[ludja]

I dont have the book(yet), but I do have 3 recipes I want to try.

The coffee, the salted butter and the carmelized banana ice cream. ( David has made a few on his site)

Maybe I'll pick one and start it tomorrow.

←

I'm thinking of trying the salted butter caramel recipe rom the book that Lebovitz has on his blog: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007...d_butter_c.html]click

[Carolyn Tillie]

I am looking to explore ice cream making this summer and am considering buying the Kitchen Aid attachment -- does this book discuss the differences in equipment out there? I don't necessarily want a whole different piece of equipment to make ice cream which is why I'm thinking the Kitchen Aid unit would be best for me. Would the book be compatible to that unit?

[John DePaula]

I am looking to explore ice cream making this summer and am considering buying the Kitchen Aid attachment -- does this book discuss the differences in equipment out there? I don't necessarily want a whole different piece of equipment to make ice cream which is why I'm thinking the Kitchen Aid unit would be best for me. Would the book be compatible to that unit?

←

Absolutely. He specifically mentions the Kitchen Aid cannister as a good option if you don't want want a big bulky unit. The recipes will work with just about any ice cream maker.

ETA: From his web site: Meet Your Maker: Ice Cream Machines

Edited May 8, 2007 by John DePaula (log)

[John DePaula]

I dont have the book(yet), but I do have 3 recipes I want to try.

The coffee, the salted butter and the carmelized banana ice cream. ( David has made a few on his site)

Maybe I'll pick one and start it tomorrow.

←

I'm thinking of trying the salted butter caramel recipe rom the book that Lebovitz has on his blog: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007...d_butter_c.html]click

←

Ahh, yes, that is one I'm really looking forward to trying.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I am looking to explore ice cream making this summer and am considering buying the Kitchen Aid attachment -- does this book discuss the differences in equipment out there? I don't necessarily want a whole different piece of equipment to make ice cream which is why I'm thinking the Kitchen Aid unit would be best for me. Would the book be compatible to that unit?

←

Absolutely. He specifically mentions the Kitchen Aid cannister as a good option if you don't want want a big bulky unit. The recipes will work with just about any ice cream maker.

ETA: From his web site: Meet Your Maker: Ice Cream Machines

←

Thanks, John! Just ordered the attachment AND the book from Amazon...

[John DePaula]

Well, I processed my chocolate sorbet this morning and the result was wonderful. Can't believe how smooth and creamy it is. Very rich, a little goes a long way. It was soft serve, though thick enough. I'll see how it is tomorrow. Next time, I'd process it longer in my machine. The recipe says it makes 1 Quart / 1 Liter; I got pretty close to that at 3-1/2 cups.

I think it'd be interesting to do a flight of frozen chocolate treats to compare the differences:

1) Chocolate Sorbet (p120)

2) Chocolate Ice Cream, French (egg custard) Style (p26)

3) Chocolate Ice Cream, Philadelphia (milk & cream but not eggs) Style (p28)

Of course, using the same cocoa and bittersweet chocolate.

For me, I don't miss the added richness of cream and eggs but I'd like to taste side by side to see.

Happy churning!

[Carolyn Tillie]

Well, I have a freezer full of the new Haagen-Dazs reserve and while I am enjoying the exotic flavors, the fact that they are all a little too sweet for me is my main impetus to start making my own is to develop great flavors that don't hurt my teeth.

[John DePaula]

Well, I have a freezer full of the new Haagen-Dazs reserve and while I am enjoying the exotic flavors, the fact that they are all a little too sweet for me is my main impetus to start making my own is to develop great flavors that don't hurt my teeth.

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Yeah, I love sorbets but there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety. Raspberry, boysenberry, strawberry, peach... they're great but after a while I want something new. And with all of the fresh berries here in the Pacific NW it makes sense to try to use them in as many ways as possible.

[emmalish]

I think it'd be interesting to do a flight of frozen chocolate treats to compare the differences:

1) Chocolate Sorbet (p120)

2) Chocolate Ice Cream, French (egg custard) Style (p26)

3) Chocolate Ice Cream, Philadelphia (milk & cream but not eggs) Style (p28)

Of course, using the same cocoa and bittersweet chocolate.

←

I'd love to do a side-by-side taste test of them all, but I have a wee little top-of-the-fridge freezer, so I'm going to have to do them one at a time. I was going to make the Philadelphia style chocolate ice cream last weekend, but it calls for unsweetened chocolate, which I didn't have, and I was too lazy to go out and buy some. So by default I made the French style (because I had plenty of eggs for the custard). I picked up some unsweetened Valrhona at CA yesterday, so I can try the Philadelphia style as soon as there's room in the freezer.

[bloviatrix]

I bought a copy of this over the weekend. I worked my through Emily Lucchetti's A Passion for Ice Cream last summer with great success. I'm curious to see how this will compare.

[djyee100]

I dont have the book(yet), but I do have 3 recipes I want to try.

The coffee, the salted butter and the carmelized banana ice cream. ( David has made a few on his site)

I found the recipe for salted butter caramel ice cream but not the coffee or the caramelized banana ice creams. Can anybody post link(s) where these recipes appear on the site?

[David Lebovitz]

Hi Everyone.

Glad you're working your way through the book!

I have been posting recipes from the book and you can find the recipe for Roasted Banana Ice Cream at Traveler's Lunchbox.

For testing recipes, I used a Krups pre-freeze model, a Cuisinart ICE 50 with built-in refrigeration, and a KitchenAid IC-making attachment. I got various yields (aka; overrun) depending on the speed of the dasher. The Cuisinart had the highest overrun and although I couldn't get access to one, the Donvier has the least from what I'm told. (Even though they have a French-sounding name, they're not available in France!)

My average overrun was about 20%. So due to variations in each of the machines, I use the word 'About' to note yields, explained on page 20.

Also when dealing with inexact quantities, as in fruit, there's going to be variations. The recipes are in metric weights as well.

My tastes (and stomach) have changed over the years, and I find that I prefer ice cream that's less-rich so I've cut down a bit on some of the cream in recipes and added milk or half-and-half. In other cases, I offer both options. The book is mostly aimed at home cooks who are looking for basic recipes, a few challenging ones, as well as some chef-inspired ones too. There's over 200 recipes in the book and although I wanted to include more, due to space, I opted to go for variety but included as many variations as would fit.

You'll also find a Frozen Yogurt recipe from The Perfect Scoop at 101Cookbooks and I'll be posting recipes on my blog from time-to-time.

Happy churning!

-David

[Desiderio]

I think this summer I have to get myself into ice cream making as well

I just love fresh Gelato and chocolate season is almost over.

I will check the thread on ice cream machines and get the book and follow you guys in this sweet ,creamy and cold adventure

[John DePaula]

Well, I have a freezer full of the new Haagen-Dazs reserve and while I am enjoying the exotic flavors, the fact that they are all a little too sweet for me is my main impetus to start making my own is to develop great flavors that don't hurt my teeth.

←

Yeah, I love sorbets but there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety. Raspberry, boysenberry, strawberry, peach... they're great but after a while I want something new. And with all of the fresh berries here in the Pacific NW it makes sense to try to use them in as many ways as possible.

←

After re-reading this post it sort of sounds like I'm criticizing the book for lack of variety. Actually I wanted to say that there isn't a lot of variety available in the grocery stores and I bought the book to have a nice collection of flavors that I can make myself; ones that I won't find in the stores.

[Druckenbrodt]

What a great first post! That's like foodie equivalent of telephone sex (erm, I would imagine...)

I'd forgotten how good ice cream can be. If only my BF was a fan... or if only he'd stop hogging the deep freeze with all his photographic film. Or if only we had a kitchen with enough space for an ice-cream maker... Might just have to buy that book anyway!

[ejw50]

I've been looking for an ice cream book but didn't want to spend on the $200 one at JB prince. Thanks for the tip on this one!

[John DePaula]

Today I was at the grocery store and spied some lovely just-ripe Hass avocados, so I figured now’s a good time to try Avocado Ice Cream (p95).

The recipe is extremely quick to prepare and you can process it right away. The avocados I had were very mild in flavor and the ice cream was really interesting and gelato-like – very smooth and creamy.

This time I let my new ice cream maker churn away longer than my first recipe and I think that was better. I got pretty close to a quart.

I’ve never had avocados in a dessert and this was interesting and delicious. I especially liked the tang of the sour cream.

Has anyone else had Avocado Ice Cream before? If so, do you have any recommendations for pairings or mix-ins? I keep thinking it would go well with chocolate and I may try some Chocolate Sorbet with it tonight.

Happy Churning!

[alanamoana]

John, what kind of ice cream maker do you have?

Also, I make a really nice avocado-grapefruit salad drizzled with very lightly sweetened heavy cream. I think this is a great pairing that isn't often thought of. So, you could make a light grapefruit granita to pair with your creamy avocado ice cream for a textural and flavor contrast. Great for summer.

[John DePaula]

John, what kind of ice cream maker do you have?

Also, I make a really nice avocado-grapefruit salad drizzled with very lightly sweetened heavy cream.  I think this is a great pairing that isn't often thought of.  So, you could make a light grapefruit granita to pair with your creamy avocado ice cream for a textural and flavor contrast.  Great for summer.

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That sounds like a good suggestion; I'll have to try that.

I looked at several machines and read a lot of reviews and in the end, settled on the Whynter SNO Ice Cream & Frozen Dessert Maker IC-2L. It's a 2 quart machine and, according to a reviewer on Amazon, it is the same as the Lello 4090 ice cream maker. (it certainly looks identical).

I've only used it twice so far, but so far so good.

[John DePaula]

Has anyone else had Avocado Ice Cream before?  If so, do you have any recommendations for pairings or mix-ins?  I keep thinking it would go well with chocolate and I may try some Chocolate Sorbet with it tonight.

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Tried the Avocado Ice Cream with Chocolate Sorbet tonight. The Chocolate totally overwhelmed the delicate Avocado flavor. Not a good match. I like Alana's idea of the granita, instead.