"The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz on ice cream

[Eden]

My wonderful husband made the Aztec chocolate for me yesterday.

The spicyness of the peppers is a lovely backnote to the dark dark chocolate flavors. the texture was just a little dusty(possibly the lack of egg?) but otherwise it was awesome.

Next up the malted milk - I have a box of whoppers standing ready

that sour cherry looks dreamy - maybe they'll have them at my farmers market next weekend...

[Carolyn Tillie]

Okay, I'm not doing so well. I tried the Salted Caramel from Lebovitz's site. For starters, I am confused as to why he calls for 2 cups of milk, yet Instruction #4 says pour in 1 cup of milk. What happens to the other cup of milk?

Secondly, I am using a Kitchen Aid. I followed the recipe to the letter (using only one cup of milk), and the custard NEVER hardened. At all. It is still just as syrupy as when I started. The ice cream bowl has been in freezer since I purchased it a month ago. The custard was refrigerated for 12 hours.

Any clue?

[weinoo]

Okay, I'm not doing so well. I tried the Salted Caramel from Lebovitz's site. For starters, I am confused as to why he calls for 2 cups of milk, yet Instruction #4 says pour in 1 cup of milk. What happens to the other cup of milk?

Secondly, I am using a Kitchen Aid. I followed the recipe to the letter (using only one cup of milk), and the custard NEVER hardened. At all. It is still just as syrupy as when I started. The ice cream bowl has been in freezer since I purchased it a month ago. The custard was refrigerated for 12 hours.

Any clue?

←

The other cup of milk is supposed to go into the bowl nestled in the ice/water filled bowl - this is the bowl that you strain the cooked custard into.

Most ice creams recipes I've used, and indeed the one I used from David's book to make the vanilla above, calls for the cream to go into the bowl, with all the milk being used to make the custard - something about heating milk to a certain temp is supposed to help with making high quality ice cream - but it's not necessary to heat the cream.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Okay, so to compensate for the fact that I f****ked up in not reading the recipe well -- I DID start with milk in the bowl. When, in the flurry of trying to keep my caramel from burning I didn't see to add the second cup of milk to the heated custard, I DID splash in some extra milk (about 1/2 cup worth) to compensate.

Would that variation have kept my ice cream from hardening? I mean, I churned for almost an hour and it never changed an iota. The Kitchen Aid book said it would almost double in volume and I can't help but think that even a variation of 1/2 cup of milk or so wouldn't have at least given me something of a soft-serve?

[weinoo]

That's a good question!!

Have you tried making a simple sorbet (like lemon) and seeing how well the frozen canister works? Is your freezer right around 0, which I think is pretty necessary for these canisters?

[Carolyn Tillie]

That's a good question!!

Have you tried making a simple sorbet (like lemon) and seeing how well the frozen canister works?  Is your freezer right around 0, which I think is pretty necessary for these canisters?

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Well, my next step will be to make a recipe from the Kitchen Aid booklet -- probably some basic like their vanilla which uses 8 egg yolks to Lebovitz's 5. Yes, the cannister was in the coldest of my two freezers.

[Pallee]

Okay, so to compensate for the fact that I f****ked up in not reading the recipe well -- I DID start with milk in the bowl. When, in the flurry of trying to keep my caramel from burning I didn't see to add the second cup of milk to the heated custard, I DID splash in some extra milk (about 1/2 cup worth) to compensate.

Would that variation have kept my ice cream from hardening? I mean, I churned for almost an hour and it never changed an iota. The Kitchen Aid book said it would almost double in volume and I can't help but think that even a variation of 1/2 cup of milk or so wouldn't have at least given me something of a soft-serve?

←

I have noticed when I make a high sugar ice cream that it doesn't get as hard. I would guess that since you didn't "dilute" the custard enough with milk that the sugar content was too high to allow it to freeze hard.

Just a guess.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Okay, so to compensate for the fact that I f****ked up in not reading the recipe well -- I DID start with milk in the bowl. When, in the flurry of trying to keep my caramel from burning I didn't see to add the second cup of milk to the heated custard, I DID splash in some extra milk (about 1/2 cup worth) to compensate.

Would that variation have kept my ice cream from hardening? I mean, I churned for almost an hour and it never changed an iota. The Kitchen Aid book said it would almost double in volume and I can't help but think that even a variation of 1/2 cup of milk or so wouldn't have at least given me something of a soft-serve?

←

I have noticed when I make a high sugar ice cream that it doesn't get as hard. I would guess that since you didn't "dilute" the custard enough with milk that the sugar content was too high to allow it to freeze hard.

Just a guess.

←

Seems reasonable! Thanks...

[Lindacakes]

Okay, so I'm hanging out on the Dorie Greenspan thread and I'm hanging out on the David Lebovitz thread and voila --

World Peace cookie ice cream sandwiches with malt ice cream . . .

That's good. Really, really good.

[jende]

I got the book a couple weeks ago and finally made my first batch: Gianduja gelato. Holy crap, it was so delicious! This is definitely the best ice cream recipe I've ever used, and I can't wait to try more flavors. Some friends and I only ate about half the batch last night, but the texture was still good this morning.

Does anyone know if halving these recipes works well? A half-batch would be more feasible for just hubby and me (and then we can try more recipes!).

[jende]

Okay, so I'm hanging out on the Dorie Greenspan thread and I'm hanging out on the David Lebovitz thread and voila --

World Peace cookie ice cream sandwiches with malt ice cream . . .

That's good.  Really, really good.

←

BTW, this is genius.

[jgarner53]

After an article in the SF Chronicle a week or so ago, and finding this thread, I knew I had to run out and get this book as soon as humanly possible. Upon coming home, I started reading through it and tagging recipes that sounded good. About halfway in, I had to stop because there were post-it flags on nearly every page! Really, I wanted to make every recipe RIGHT NOW.

I found some mango puree in my freezer, from a time when an abundance of super-ripe mangos forced me to puree them or lose them, I made the mango sorbet. Damn, it's good!

I think I have to try the green tea next, or else the kinako. I have to admit I'm intrigued by the idea of the flavor. Since I have to go to the Japanese market anyway for the matcha, I might as well pick up the kinako at the same time.

[bloviatrix]

Butterscotch Butter Pecan has been called "the best ice cream EVER" by my husband. The contrast between the salty buttered pecans and the ice cream is quite addicting.

[chile_peppa]

A few weeks ago, I bought a Back-to-Basics ice cream maker (on sale for $18) and found The Perfect Scoop at the library. So far, I have tried the Rum Raisin and Strawberry-Sour Cream recipes, and both turned out beautifully. I had never made ice cream before and was a little daunted by the custard, but no worries! The instructions are well written, and this newbie with a cheap machine made some pretty good ice cream. So now I have to go and buy the book...I can see cooking my way through the entire thing!

[David Lebovitz]

Okay, I'm not doing so well. I tried the Salted Caramel from Lebovitz's site. For starters, I am confused as to why he calls for 2 cups of milk, yet Instruction #4 says pour in 1 cup of milk. What happens to the other cup of milk?

Secondly, I am using a Kitchen Aid. I followed the recipe to the letter (using only one cup of milk), and the custard NEVER hardened. At all. It is still just as syrupy as when I started. The ice cream bowl has been in freezer since I purchased it a month ago. The custard was refrigerated for 12 hours.

Any clue?

←

The other cup of milk is supposed to go into the bowl nestled in the ice/water filled bowl - this is the bowl that you strain the cooked custard into.

Most ice creams recipes I've used, and indeed the one I used from David's book to make the vanilla above, calls for the cream to go into the bowl, with all the milk being used to make the custard - something about heating milk to a certain temp is supposed to help with making high quality ice cream - but it's not necessary to heat the cream.

←

Hi Mitch: Heating up the milk is a holdover from the olden days when it was recommended to scald milk to kill any microorganisms. I don't heat the cream since I like it to be quite cold so it stops the cooking of the custard immediately.

Carolyn: The Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream will be quite soft coming out of the ice cream maker due to the larger amount of sugar (which doesn't freeze) in it than other custards. I tried it with less sugar but preferred the stronger caramel flavor. To compensate I used more milk and less cream.

I've made it numerous times and had no problems; I mostly use a Cuisinart ICE-50 nowadays. In my experience, those machines that require pre-freezing really need 24 hours. Not 23 hours, not even 23.5 hours. (Believe me...I've tried) I would try another recipe if you're using the KitchenAid attachment. If it doesn't work, contact KitchenAid. Unfortunately I haven't used one much since they just recently introduced them in Europe a couple of months ago.

[Jean Blanchard]

So far, I've just made the Vanilla (which my 9 year old granddaughter thought was the best ice cream she ever had - and she IS an expert) and the blueberry, banana sorbet. The sorbet was incredibly easy and refreshing. Beautiful color also.

[trader0227]

I have tried 3 recipes from the book so far.

-Mint Ice Cream. The book says the milk will turn an emerald green mine did not take on any color. Everyone who has tried it agrees that it is good but there is a grassy-green? flavor. It is definitely different than using a mint oil or extract. I made it mint straciatella with Valhrona 70% bittersweet. The chocolate is wonderful with it.

-Chocolate. Very good.

-Malted Milk Ice Cream. What can I say this is right there with my favorite ice creams I have ever made (pistachio and nutella being the other two). The chopped malted milk balls add a nice texture in the ice cream

[jgarner53]

I just packed away the green tea ice cream for ripening. Wow! So yummy! I can't wait to dig into it and even bought some kinako powder for later experiments and sprinkling on top. I should have made the candied azuki beans, but haven't had time.

Anyone have good recommendations on macha powder? The Japanese grocery had several, all labeled in Japanese; I couldn't tell which ones were more "ingredient grade" (like cooking wine) and which were fancy, other than just a strict price basis. I bought a pretty little black tin with glossy black kanji on it (the label itself was matte black), in part because I was rushing to make a movie and had about 20 seconds to decide.

[Lindacakes]

I made the fresh apricot ice cream last night.

I suppose I went amuck with the Bamix, because my "batter" was very fluffy, and when left in the fridge for the day, turned to a chiffon-ish consistency.

The ice cream froze just fine, all the same.

It is exceptional ice cream, and my parrot loves it, but somehow I felt it needed a bit of salt. I neglected to look through the book to see if other recipes called for salt, but that's how it seemed to me.

Of course, this may have happened as a result of Bamixomania.

[jende]

I made the vanilla frozen yogurt yesterday, and even though I used low-fat yogurt, it turned out great. It was ridiculously simple to make: just mix yogurt, sugar and vanilla; chill; and freeze.

The flavor was nice and tangy, if a little too sweet for my tastes. I'm going to cut back on the sugar next time.

[bloviatrix]

I made the salted butter caramel ice cream earlier in the week. Another success. The mouthfeel is great and because it doesn't get super hard you can scoop it right out of the freezer. This and the butterscotch butter pecan are truly winners.

Next up will be a coffee flavor.

Edited July 22, 2007 by bloviatrix (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I made the malt ice cream again without the malt balls. I sandwiched it between two of those little Nabisco chocolate wafers because I didn't have time to make cookies for ice cream sandwiches.

They turned out very nicely, the perfect two or three bite ice cream sandwiches.

[Dave Weinstein]

This weekend, I made the Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream... sort of.

There were no Strawberries that looked worth doing anything with, but I had some local Rainier cherries on hand, so I used just under a pound of those (14oz after removing the pits). Rather than Vodka, I used a tablespoon of Sonoma Valley Portworks Duet (Sherry with Hazelnut Essence), and I added a quarter cup of Valhrona dark chocolate that I had slivered.

I'm very pleased with the results. I need to make a batch without sour cream to compare it to.

--Dave

[cheryl]

Does anyone know if halving these recipes works well? A half-batch would be more feasible for just hubby and me (and then we can try more recipes!).

←

I've been halving them, and they seem to work just fine (as long as the ingredients look like they can be halved - ie- it might be difficult with one that calls for 5 eggs, vs 4).

So far, the malted milk is my favourite - by far (and that's really saying something, because they've all been delicious). Although the chocolate raspberry was a very close second.

Next up - ginger, and chocolate mint.

[John DePaula]

Does anyone know if halving these recipes works well? A half-batch would be more feasible for just hubby and me (and then we can try more recipes!).

←

I've been halving them, and they seem to work just fine (as long as the ingredients look like they can be halved - ie- it might be difficult with one that calls for 5 eggs, vs 4).

So far, the malted milk is my favourite - by far (and that's really saying something, because they've all been delicious). Although the chocolate raspberry was a very close second.

Next up - ginger, and chocolate mint.

←

Halving should be fine. If you consider that 1 egg ~= 50g, then a recipe that calls for 5 eggs needs about 250g egg; half of that is 125g.

For purposes of making these recipes for home use, I don't think that a little more or a little less egg will be a showstopper. In other words, for your 5 egg example 3 would probably be fine.