Home Made Ice Cream (2002–2012)

[paulraphael]

For your ratios, is it a quart of unfrozen base mixture or a quart of frozen ice cream?

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good point! that's for roughly a quart of frozen ice cream. the base i'm using typically has 1 cup cream / 2 cups whole milk. I get less than a quart of ice cream out of this, but a higher overrun machine would give about a quart.

sample recipe is here.

Edited March 9, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[ilikefood]

good point! that's for roughly a quart of frozen ice cream. the base i'm using typically has 1 cup cream / 2 cups whole milk. I get less than a quart of ice cream out of this, but a higher overrun machine would give about a quart.

sample recipe is here.

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Thanks! I was assuming the ratio was for a liquid base. Glad I asked

Thanks for the recipe also! I might have to try that very soon.

Edited March 11, 2009 by ilikefood (log)

[Darienne]

I don't know how to link up posts so this is the best I can do.

Text of post by Toliver, 'Ice Cream & Sorbet Cookbooks', August 29, 2003

"I was bowled over by Alton Brown's simple yet delicious "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream. You can strain the mixture before freezing to remove any peach bits left over from the preserves. This tasted better right after it was made than it did after ripening in the freezer."

Made this ice cream using candied kumquats instead of peach preserves and added chopped pecans at the end.

The main thing about it is that it did NOT crystalize or get hard in the freezer.

I am struggling to understand the workings of ice cream...I'll get there yet.

[Darienne]

Some general tips on preventing crystalization:

-make sure your freezer is turned down very low. the ice cream will harden faster. and if you use a frozen bowl mixer, it will freeze much faster while you spin it. My freezer is set to -4°F, which is great for ice cream making.

I know I am a bear of very-little-brain, but I have to run this by you one more time.

When you say 'make sure your freezer is turned down very low', do you mean a cold temperature of -4°F? For instance, I had to turn my freezer UP to -4°F because it was way lower and far too cold. Having a freezer at -4°F doesn't seem to me to be very cold in the grand scheme of things and I want to make sure I understand it correctly.

Keeping ice cream from getting too hard and crystalizing seems to have some issues which are the opposite of what the untutored novice might think would work. I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks.

[paulraphael]

-4°F is pretty cold for a home freezer. If yours goes colder, you might get results that are as good or better (at the expense of higher electric bills). Certainly worth trying.

I've found a lot of people's freezers to be in the 10 to 20 degree range, especially if they have old models or crappy ones supplied by a cheap landlord.

Colder is better because it freezes the ice cream faster, leading to smaller ice crystals. This matters when you harden the ice cream (after spinning it in the machine). And if you're using an ice cream maker that uses a freezer bowl, it matters for the spinning.

Ice cream that's too hard for serving is a completely different issue from icy or grainy ice cream. Any freezer cold enough to make a good, smooth ice cream is going to freeze it much colder than serving temperature.

Most ice cream reaches ideal serving consistency between 6 and 10 degrees F. A half hour in the fridge before serving is usually about right.

When you say 'make sure your freezer is turned down very low', do you mean a cold temperature of -4°F?  For instance, I had to turn my freezer UP to -4°F because it was way lower and far too cold.  Having a freezer at -4°F doesn't seem to me to be very cold in the grand scheme of things and I want to make sure I understand it correctly. 

Keeping ice cream from getting too hard and crystalizing seems to have some issues which are the opposite of what the untutored novice might think would work.

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Edited March 11, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[Darienne]

-4°F is pretty cold for a home freezer. If yours goes colder, you might get results that are as good or better (at the expense of higher electric bills). Certainly worth trying.

I've found a lot of people's freezers to be in the 10 to 20 degree range, especially if they have old models or crappy ones supplied by a cheap landlord.

Colder is better because it freezes the ice cream faster, leading to smaller ice crystals. This matters when you harden the ice cream (after spinning it in the machine). And if you're using an ice cream maker that uses a freezer bowl, it matters for the spinning.

Ice cream that's too hard for serving is a completely different issue from icy or grainy ice cream. Any freezer cold enough to make a good, smooth ice cream is going to freeze it much colder than serving temperature.

Most ice cream reaches ideal serving consistency between 6 and 10 degrees F. A half hour in the fridge before serving is usually about right.

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Thanks for the clarification. They say that learning something new will help to keep your brain working in your old age. Well, I am certainly learning...and constantly...and endlessly.

This is a Kenmore fridge/freezer combo and it was so cold that I really did have to turn it 'up', as in warmer. The ice cubes are still so hard, that I have troubles making our afternoon orange julius drinks. My landlord/lady is definitely not cheap. The appliances are excellent, including a digital run self-cleaning oven.

When we do return home in May, I shall check our fridge and chest freezers for temperature.

Thanks for the help.

[Darienne]

This morning I made some peach ice cream using as a base Alton's Seriously Vanilla Ice cream and adding peaches to it. The peaches, frozen without any additives, came from my neighbor and the ice cream was for her.

She broke up the frozen mass of peaches in her blender and insisted that I add some citric acid to the peaches to keep them from discoloring. I used about 1 teaspoon for 1 1/2 cups of peach mass. It is obvious by now that I had little idea of what I was doing. Just going along...... I suspect that if the peaches had thawed there would have been juice at the bottom of the bowl.

The peaches disintegrated into almost nothing in the ice cream...this was not a surprise to me. However, there were crystals in the ice cream also.

(It was delicious BTW , if a tad crystallish.)

Questions:

* were there crystals because I used partially thawed peaches?

* is making ice cream from frozen fruit a useful idea? I guess if one wants little chunks, frozen is not the way to go.

* does it vary from fruit to fruit?

* the bottle of citric acid crystals has no directions on it. ...hmm...I guess I could go to the manufacturer for directions? (too much is going on at once )

* any other comments?

[paulraphael]

Darienne,

fresh peach ice cream is a highly worthy endeavor. Just be prepared to work for it. Improvising fruit based ice creams is tricky. There are many competing factors, and two of the biggest ones (the amount of added sugar and the amount of added water) will vary even from batch to batch of the same kind of fruit.

Without getting into all the theory I'll suggest a general strategy. First, don't put any sugar in the mix. Reduce the total sugar in the recipe, to compensate for the sugar that comes with the peaches, and set that sugar aside.

Then, cut up the peaches to the size you'd like in the ice cream. sprinkle the sugar all over these, seal them in a container, and refrigerate overnight. You want them to soak up the sugar, which will act as antifreeze and keep them from turning to solid ice. In the morning, the peaches will be sitting in a lot of syrup ... sugar water that's been drawn out of them. This is ok.

Puree half the peaches (including all the syrup) and add to the mix before spinning. Then, about 2/3 of the way through spinning, add the solid peach chunks.

This should get you in the ballpark. There could be a lot of tweaking before you get the flavor and texture just right. And every batch will be a bit different, because the peaches are always different!

Edited March 19, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[Darienne]

Darienne,

fresh peach ice cream is a highly worthy endeavor.

Thanks for the information. I knew I was out of my depths doing what I did, but it was a real hands-on learning experience if nothing else.

Thanks.

[tmriga]

Years ago Haagen-Daaz made a fresh peach ice cream which I loved. I guess I was the only one who did, because it didn't last long on their menu.

It was a vanilla ice cream with peach chunks, no puree, no peach-colored ice cream. Pure creamy color with peach chunks. If I remember correctly, the chunks were on the large side, 1/2-3/4 inches. To me, the combination of the plain vanilla with the peach was similar to a creamsicle, two distinct flavors that complement each other.

Thanks! You've inspired me to break the Cuisinart out of storage and try my hand at recreating that combination.

Theresa

[Darienne]

Years ago Haagen-Daaz made a fresh peach ice cream which I loved.  I guess I was the only one who did, because it didn't last long on their menu.

It was a vanilla ice cream with peach chunks, no puree, no peach-colored ice cream.  Pure creamy color with peach chunks.  If I remember correctly, the chunks were on the large side, 1/2-3/4 inches.  To me, the combination of the plain vanilla with the peach was similar to a creamsicle, two distinct flavors that complement each other.

Thanks!  You've inspired me to break the Cuisinart out of storage and try my hand at recreating that combination.

Theresa

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Glad to know that my venture inspired such action. We did enjoy the less-than-perfect peach ice cream, although the DH said it reminded him of peach sherbet. The crystals were not a huge factor...they were not large and they were not all throughout it.

Live to learn another day. My encounter with a $5 Cuisinart Ice Cream machine in a second-hand store is bringing a new joy to our table.

[LizzyWizzy]

I am selling an ice cream machine if anybody is interested, its a restaurant standard stand on the work top

Robo Coupe piccolo

RRP £615

Hardly used

Sensible offers considered

[aidensnd2]

Does anyone use a thermometer to determine when churning ice cream is ready?

I'm trying to find a way to ensure consistency regardless of who churns the bases. I have one book which has recommended temps which seem pretty good, don't know them off the top of my head, but I can't find any other mention of this method anywhere online and was just curious if anyone else uses temp as an indicator.

Thanks in advance.

[tim]

Hi,

Ice cream is normally served at 15 degrees F.

When you make ice cream the maker is usually around 0 Degrees F. and the mix should be just below 30 Degrees F. Based on that, I doubt that an ice cream maker would get the mix to serving temperature during churning.

Tim

[aidensnd2]

To clarify, I'm looking for the 'best' temp to stop the churning and transfer to the freezer for hardening if there is such a magic number that can be applied.

Thanks

[dougal]

Does anyone use a thermometer to determine when churning ice cream is ready?

I'm trying to find a way to ensure consistency regardless of who churns the bases. ...

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For consistency, I think you'd be better churning until you achieve your chosen amount of volume increase or "overrun".

Edited July 4, 2009 by dougal (log)

[RobertM]

The other day, we tried to make strawberry ice cream using the Cuisinart Recipe as found in the cuisinart book that came with the machine.

We froze the unit beforehand per the instructions. We made the base, per the instructions. We then churned the ice cream, but the product did not "freeze" (I know, it should be the consistency of soft serve). The end result is a product with ice crystals throughout the product (although delicious)

The product was runny when I poured it into the container (to go into the freezer). I think what I did wrong was that I did not put the finished product into an airtight container.

Is there anyone with any knowledge of this? How/why did we get ice crystals? Does anyone have any advice?

thanks in advance

[weinoo]

The first thing that comes to mind...the cannister wasn't frozen "enough." Did it go into the freezer for a solid 24 hours? Is your freezer at 0 degrees or below?

Why don't you try making a nice simple sorbet as your next experiment? Lemon, strawberry or something like that before moving on to ice creams.

[Paul Stanley]

There's little doubt I think about why it happened: unless you have it frozen so that it is nice and thick (just as you say, like soft serve ice cream) before you put it in a freezer, you will end up with crystals. The airtightness of the container it ended up into is not likely to be the issue. If you freeze chilled liquid in an airtight container, you end up with a block of ice.

As to why it happened -- evidently because you didn't get the mixture cold enough while churning. That's almost certainly because either you didn't freeze the "cold unit" for long enough, or cold enough, or your mixture was slightly warm when it went in, or you didn't persevere quite long enough, or the weather was scary hot or all of the above. In my experience these units that you freeze really need to be very hard frozen first, and they like to be fed with a thoroughly chilled mix (overnight in the fridge), or they just can't cope. You may also want to pre-chill the container you are going to decant into (so it doesn't re-melt).

Personally I find rather rich ice creams easier to get smooth than sorbets, so I wouldn't recommend moving to a sorbet mixture if you are having trouble with ice crystals. The extra thickness and fat in ice cream, especially a custard-based one, makes it easier to keep things smooth.

So I'd try (1) freezing your churn bowl even longer and (2) chilling your mixture very thoroughly before attempting to churn.

[BeeZee]

I have the small Cuisinart unit with the freezable container...it really does need to be frozen for a minimum of 24 hours in the coldest part of your freezer. Frankly, I think 48 hours is better if you can, your freezer may not be cold enough. And I also chill the ice cream mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes before pouring it into the frozen container to churn. My first batch was one of their basic recipes as well, had no problem. The good news is, the mistakes still taste good!

[weinoo]

Personally I find rather rich ice creams easier to get smooth than sorbets, so I wouldn't recommend moving to a sorbet mixture if you are having trouble with ice crystals. The extra thickness and fat in ice cream, especially a custard-based one, makes it easier to keep things smooth.

I was focusing more on the effort and cost of making the base, which is fairly formulaic for sorbets. That, and the fact that I find them tastier and more refreshing than rich ice creams.

[Paul Stanley]

Personally I find rather rich ice creams easier to get smooth than sorbets, so I wouldn't recommend moving to a sorbet mixture if you are having trouble with ice crystals. The extra thickness and fat in ice cream, especially a custard-based one, makes it easier to keep things smooth.

I was focusing more on the effort and cost of making the base, which is fairly formulaic for sorbets. That, and the fact that I find them tastier and more refreshing than rich ice creams.

Ah, true, on all counts! But I do find them harder to get smooth without ice crystals, so if that's the immediate problem ...

[Darienne]

I've looked up the recipe in my little manual and it's rather poorly written. It says nothing about chilling the mixture before pouring it into the Cuisinart bowl. That by itself would explain the problem.

I always make certain the container is frozen solid. I also often put the ice cream base in the freezer for 1/2 hour or even an hour in the summer. And I have also tied onto the outside of the Cuisinart housing two of those athletic injury ice bags to make sure the entire thing stays cold enough during the machine process.

Better to ask some of the eGullet experienced ice cream makers for recipes instead of using the Cuisinart ones.

However, as noted, even abysmal failures taste delicious!

Good luck!

[djyee100]

Wow, Darienne, the manual doesn't say to chill the ice cream base? There must be lots of disappointed new owners of that ice cream maker.

RobertM, I may be repeating some points from above, but this is what I've learned about making ice cream with a freezer bowl unit:

- I make the ice cream base the night before, and chill it overnight. The freezer bowl chills at least overnight. I've gotten in the habit of keeping the freezer bowl in the freezer at all times. Then I never have to think about it.

- I freeze the dasher with the freezer bowl and I've noticed my ice cream freezes faster.

- If the recipe calls for add-ins, like nuts or chocolate chips to be added to the frozen ice cream, I chill those ingredients too.

- On hot days, I turn on the air conditioner while the ice cream is churning. I've noticed a very warm room will inhibit freezing the ice cream.

- I chill the container in which I pack the ice cream for the freezer. It doesn't take long--I put the container in the freezer while the ice cream is churning. That way no ice cream melts against the sides of the container to later form those pesky ice crystals.

A couple years ago, while answering another query on EGullet, I posted my favorite strawberry ice cream recipe, my adaptation from Alice Waters' Art of Simple Food. It's a custard-based ice cream, & sometimes people don't want to cook a custard. But if you do, here's the link to that message board. See my post #4, dated 24 October 2008.

[Darienne]

After reading djyee100's post, I started to feel a tad uneasy about my remarks and went back again to re-read the recipe.

OK. To be fair the 'Preparation' lines at the top of the recipe call for :"5 - 10 minutes, plus 2 hours for the strawberries to macerate. 20-25 minutes chilling time; optional 2 hours to ripen." I didn't notice that the first time around because I went straight to the direction section, which does not mention the chilling time at all and might well be confused with the prescribed 20-25 minutes in the machine. At best...just not well done at all on the part of the Cuisinart folks, particularly considering that inexperienced ice cream makers are very likely to be the purchasers of this unit.

I know I was. I knew nothing about making ice cream. Made one recipe from the book and then switched to pestering eGullet folks for help and recipes. It worked!