Home Made Ice Cream (2002–2012)

[mhadam]

There is a restaurant here that makes the most fabulous licorice icecream. It's very popular. If I had an icecream maker I would make it myself, but I  never seem to have enough time to do it the old fashioned way. Trying to get it beaten at the right times is just too tough.

Never heard of licorice ice cream. Sounds dreamy....how would I go about making it? Anyone have a recipe?

Thank you in advance.

Maggie

[Lesley C]

I watched Gary Rhodes make some the other day on his cooking show. He melted black licorice and added it to a regular anglaise ice cream base. He served it with sticky toffee pudding I think. Looked great.

[High Priestess]

Dear Snow,

You must try rose petal or rose geranium petal (even better) icecream.

It's made with real flower petals, obviously organic.

It's great on a warm, fresh strawberry tart in summer, or just beside a bowl of fat, assorted summer berries.

I used to work in a restaurant where we served chartreuse ice cream, and I think that's my absolute favorite.

We made vacherin out of it by scooping it between two merangue wafers and then drizzling it with super dark, bitter hot fudge.

Even just thinking of chartreuse ice cream vacherins makes me happy, oh my God they're so good.

[maggiethecat]

To infuse the coffee flavor into ice cream we use one of Steve's alternate methods...the Medaglia d'Oro powder thing. Works for us. And a little dibble of Scotch whisky. Somehow Scotch supports the coffee flavor better than the likelier candidates like bourbon or rum.

Tomato desserts: does anyone remember a '60's favourite called...very forthrightly...Campbell's Tomato Soup Cake? Kind of a spice cake with raisins and cream cheese icing. A neighbor made it and I loved it as a kid.

Great post Steve...and all.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

DS, you could do a lot worse than simply freeze pumpkin pie filling, which is, when you think of it, spiced pumpkin custard. You can tweak the results by increasing either/and/or egg yolks and heavy cream.

[wingding]

Make an ice cream base with some pumpkin-pieish spices that you like-ginger,cinammon,cloves..Roast some pumpkin or sqaush till it begins to caramelize.Puree it,and strain through a chinoise[this won't be easy]...Add pumpkin puree to base to taste,maybe some maple syrup or honey to combat iciness and add flavor.Strain the completed base again.and let the base sit for at least six hours,then taste again to adjust flavors before turning in your machine..

[Stone]

O.k. I did a search and found 7 threads. Lots of good info, but none actually had a recipe for ice cream.

Can someone give me one? Preferably one I can turn into pumpkin ice cream and make in a 1.5 quart delonghi.

Thank you thank you thank you.

[TatarsHat]

Here's one I have made that is quite good.

Courtesy of the Ice Cream Parlour. http://www.dsuper.net/~zaz/icecream/frame/html

PUMPKIN ICE CREAM

1 1/2 cups light cream

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin

Scald cream in heavy saucepan. Whisk yolks, sugar and vanilla in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the cream, add the spice. Return to saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes; do not boil. Remove from heat. Whisk in the heavy cream and the pumpkin. Strain into bowl. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Transfer to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.

[Anna N]

So, I got an ice cream maker for Christmas - Cuisinart ICE-20C. Here's the recipe I used (modified by me so it shouldn't be a copyright issue):

1 cup 35% cream

1 cup whole milk

2 egg yolks (from xtra large eggs)

1/4 cup sugar

vanilla extract - total of 1T plus 1t.

Make custard in usual fashion, let cool completely, pour into already frozen container of ice cream maker and process for 20 minutes.

The problem? The ice cream tastes fine, the texture is quite nice. But there's at least 25% of the custard firmly stuck in a layer around the bowl of the ice cream maker. It is almost impossible to scrape out (no metal implements allowed) and what I do scrape out has a much less pleasing texture. Is it taken for granted that you will have this much "waste"? Not that it will be wasted, I did manage eventually to get most of it out and put it in a separate container in the freezer and I know The Dane will eat it - it's ice cream after all. But it seems to me that the bowl needs some scraping down during the processing. Any one have any ideas?

The same thing happened yesterday making frozen berry yogourt but since I had misread the recipe and done some things that in hindsight were not too bright, I took the blame. Today I followed the recipe like a scientist and still this layer formed.

Many thanks.

[Jason Perlow]

Theres no pectin in your mix. You need some in the custard during the setting process. The next time you make it, put in some jam or other kind of preserves (a little bit of peach jam or orange marmelade) and then refrigerate the batter to let it set for several hours after cooking it in the pot.

pectin is essential for preventing crystalization in ice cream.

Also, do not process the ice cream to the point of freezing it entirely. After you process it into a semi-hardened state, at the theshhold point of which is is soft serve, you want to take it out of the machine, put it in a container and then in the freezer for it to finish congealing.

[wingding]

Gelatin is not always used to stabilize ice cream.Sugar is vital in preventing crystilization,as are yolks.Of all the ingredients you've included,the high proportion of cream will cause the most problems,as will turning the ice cream in the freezer too long.Here is a basic gelato proportion,which yields nice creamy results,if you want to try it[flavor as you wish]....1 liter milk,10 yolks,350 grams sugar;cook as you would a regular anglaise...

[Rachel Perlow]

I think Jason got his terms wrong. I believe the desired part of using a bit of jam is the pectin.

[Jason Perlow]

Yep. I meant pectin.

[Anna N]

Winding, and both Perlows,

Thanks for your suggestions. Having asked for advice I'm not about to argue with it so please take this in the spirit of inquiry:

The recipe I used came from the instruction book that accompanied the product. The only changes I made were to halve the quantities given but add one extra egg yolk and to use pure vanilla extra rather than a vanilla bean (don't have vanilla beans and they are hard to come by around here).

But before I even attempted it, I looked up quite a number of recipes for vanilla icecream both on the Web and in cookbooks I own. None of them called for pectin but most called for a whole lot more egg yolks - 17 (seventeen) in one of them (for about double the quantity of liquid I used).

Initially I want to make plain vanilla ice cream - our favourite all-purpose dessert-making basic. So I'd rather not have to resort to marmalade or such even though I make the best Scotch and Seville orange marmalade around! Can I use powdered pectin instead and what sort of quantity would be appropriate for two cups of liquid?

If I remove some of the heavy cream and replace it with milk (homo 3%) do I need to increase the number of egg yolks?

I know darn well this is going to take practice and experimentation, I just like to start an experiment with the highest likelihood of success!

Many, many thanks for your time and input.

[Jason Perlow]

Adding a spoonfull or two of marmalade doesnt affect the flavor profile of a strong vanilla bean ice cream. We've done this several times with very good results.

[Anna N]

Adding a spoonfull or two of marmalade doesnt affect the flavor profile of a strong vanilla bean ice cream. We've done this several times with very good results.

I'm convinced! I will give it a try next ice-cream making session.

Do you think ice cream still has calories when you're trying to perfect a recipe?

[Sandra Levine]

Do you think ice cream still has calories when you're trying to perfect a recipe?

Not if you do the tasting while standing up.

[Rachel Perlow]

Initially I want to make plain vanilla ice cream - our favourite all-purpose dessert-making basic.  So I'd rather not have to resort to marmalade or such even though I make the best Scotch and Seville orange marmalade around!  Can I use powdered pectin instead and what sort of quantity would be appropriate for two cups of liquid?

Here's a link to Alton Brown's "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream from Good Eats on the Food Network. This is where we got the idea to add preserves to ice cream. Click the link for instructions, meanwhile, here's the ingredient list:

• 2 cups half-and-half
  1 cup whipping cream
  1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
  2 tablespoons peach preserves (not jelly)
  1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
  

The most important thing to keep in mind when using an ice cream maker is to thoroughly chill your ice cream batter before freezing. If you put it in while it is warm or at room temperature, you may get bits of congealed butter churned out of your cream.

About having some stuck to the bottom of the mixing container, not letting it freeze until hard will definitely help. You can scrape out the softly frozen ice cream with a rubber spatula.

[Anna N]

Initially I want to make plain vanilla ice cream - our favourite all-purpose dessert-making basic.  So I'd rather not have to resort to marmalade or such even though I make the best Scotch and Seville orange marmalade around!  Can I use powdered pectin instead and what sort of quantity would be appropriate for two cups of liquid?

Here's a link to Alton Brown's "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream from Good Eats on the Food Network. This is where we got the idea to add preserves to ice cream. Click the link for instructions, meanwhile, here's the ingredient list:

• 2 cups half-and-half
  1 cup whipping cream
  1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
  2 tablespoons peach preserves (not jelly)
  1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
  

The most important thing to keep in mind when using an ice cream maker is to thoroughly chill your ice cream batter before freezing. If you put it in while it is warm or at room temperature, you may get bits of congealed butter churned out of your cream.

About having some stuck to the bottom of the mixing container, not letting it freeze until hard will definitely help. You can scrape out the softly frozen ice cream with a rubber spatula.

Oddly, this is one of the recipes I found but didn't trust as it did not call for eggs at all. Being totally new to ice cream making I thought it was a bit strange and wondered if there'd been an ingredient omitted. I guess not. No eggs! Hmmmmmmmmm.

So, my next effort will definitely be the Alton Brown with the pectin source and I will chill my ingredients over night before putting them in the machine. I will report back - we just need to eat up the vanilla ice cream and berry frozen yogourt first - else there'll be no room in the freezer for anything! But I promise to report back when I do make it.

Again, thanks to everyone for their help - this board is GREAT!

[Jason Perlow]

Adding eggs makes it a frozen custard, not a true ice cream. But you can add egg yolks when cooking the batter, that will make it a little richer and closer to the "french vanilla" ice cream spec. You'll have to temper it though, otherwise you will end up with scrambled eggs in hot cream. Yick.

If you are serious about making your own vanilla ice cream mail order the beans. Extract is good but if French Vanilla is what you want, you wont be able to duplicate the taste without the beans.

[pjs]

Jason is correct. Having worked in an ice cream parlor as a teenager where EVERYTHING was made on premises--including the chocolate Easter bunnies--frozen custard has eggs, ice cream does not.

PJ

[wingding]

Ice cream,custard,and gelato are legally defined by fat content and overrun[how much air is incorpated into the product as it is frozen.]There can be varying proportions of milk,cream or eggs in any of these products,but the ultimate fat content defines them. A few other tips;If you use pectin,only use a very small amount[about .5-5% of total volume of your product]-maybe a teaspoon per quart of liquid.Mix the pectin thoroughly with your sugar so that it doesn't lump up.Always let your base rest,chill and ripen at least 6 hours[overnight is best]before turning in your machine,and always turn a cold base;if your base is warm,it will take longer to turn,and therefore incorporate too much air.

Edited December 27, 2002 by wingding (log)

[oraklet]

"The most important thing to keep in mind when using an ice cream maker is to thoroughly chill your ice cream batter before freezing. If you put it in while it is warm or at room temperature, you may get bits of congealed butter churned out of your cream."

why?

and how to duplicate the haegen datz experience?

[Steve Klc]

Anna--what you're noticing may just be a function of your machine--super-cooling (i.e. freezing) your liquid mixture against the core too quickly--and never actually getting churned evenly. It might just be poorly designed and engineered but then I don't know how expensive the machine is. If it is a self-contained cooling unit--i.e. expensive--just don't pre-chill your bowl as much before adding your mix next time; if it is a removable core try adding slightly more mix and add it all at once. That's the job of the dasher--to scrape down the walls. It also could be alot of other things, including a mix not properly integrated and homogenized. When your mix is chilled overnight to cure--always stir it up before pouring in and freezing. I know, seems obvious.

Be careful adding pectin or other stabilizers--depending on your ingredients--even a teaspoon can make the end product taste "gummy." And being concerned with this stuff can tend to put the cart before the horse, needlessly complicating something that should be simple and accessible as a beginner experimenting.

You chill your mix before freezing for several reasons--the main one being so your machine doesn't over-work your mix as wingding said--that over-churning or spinning too long is what can give you that slight (or severe) graininess. It also can happen if your recipe is "overfat" to begin with. If you have the cheapo $50 removeable core machines and try to chill a warm mix you'll have to wait for another day, for the core to re-freeze after you've turned your mix to slush and no farther.

Oh, and "ice cream" can and often does contain egg.

To get the Haagen Daz experience you have to acquire some of the knowledge of food and dairy scientists, and be especially knowledgeable of things like guar gum, carrageenan, carob, pectin and all sorts of other perfectly natural, perfectly safe additives and stabilizers. It's beyond most professional pastry chefs and certainly beyond most home cooks. And this element--the pectin-type addition--comes mainly into play when you consider storage--how an ice cream is held in the freezer from a few hours old to several days--that's where the "stabilizer" works its magic interfering chemically with water and fat bonds to prevent crystallization. At home you don't need to worry about this aspect--churn fresh and eat.

This is also why the old-style pastry chefs--who haven't quite gotten with the science aspect of this--melt and re-freeze their ice creams from the day before--and re-spin before the next day's service.

The answer to most of the how and why questions lie with first coming to understand, as Wingding said, the properties of the yolk and sugar in a "recipe"--what happens when you cook a creme anglaise--and then use that for an ice cream. Then you can start manipulating fat content. The last element--and an insignificant one for home cooks--will be using these stabilizers.

And for me, the only "true" ice creams begin with a creme anglaise base--though many seem to be scared off this style, it gives mouthfeel, richness, depth and creaminess. I know there are fans of ice cream and frozen dairy without egg--I'm just not one of them. It's a different product.

But then it helps to keep in mind that the world of frozen desserts has many categories, styles, effects, etc. It's a big sliding scale with a lot of room for different textures and taste sensations.

[oraklet]

all right then, to get close to the haegen datz, should i make a "thin" creme anglaise? (so that it melts on the tongue in a more-or-less similar way)

by the way, i don't think they use any additives?