Philadelphia Style Ice Cream

[Darienne]

I don't like mint extract. That was the whole point of using mint leaves. And now I know how to use them properly.

[vice]

Chris Amirault suggested this elsewhere (Perfect Scoop topic, maybe) and I tried it with success: take your whole mint leaves (2C sounds about right for a quart). Muddle lightly a handful at a time and add to dairy mixture before infusion.

[Becca Porter]

I greatly prefer P-style ice cream, at least when it is homemade. So far, my very favorite vanilla is David Lebovitz's. My very favorite chocolate is ironically from a French Chef... Pierre Herme. It is in his Chocolate Desserts book. He thinks that eggs compete with the flavor of chocolate too much; I agree. It only uses whole milk as well, no cream. It is crazy good.

I blogged about it here with the recipe: http://porterhouse.typepad.com/porter_house/2008/04/pierre-hermes-c.html

[Becca Porter]

Btw, I did try David L's chocolate P-style. I did not like it. It retained the exact same solid state, even when at room temp. It was weird. (It was the only ice cream of his, that I didn't like.)

I adapted his butter pecan ice cream into a P-style. It is amazing. http://porterhouse.typepad.com/porter_house/2008/06/butter-pecan-ice-cream.html

[paulraphael]

Chocolate ice cream is tough. It's the cocoa butter ... if you use a lot of chocolate, the ice cream will be too hard when frozen and too hard when melted. Making it with cocoa powder is easier, but I don't think as good. I've been experimenting with a blend of both. I'm not 100% there yet but it's getting close.

[Darienne]

Using a tweaking of a chocolate gelato ice cream...don't have the names at hand...I made the MOST INCREDIBLE chocolate ice cream. It has a cornstarch base.

Some one on eG tried the recipe and then added her own touch a couple of years ago and then I added the Paulraphael hints and the results were stupendous. The most chocolatey ice cream I have ever tasted and soft enough also. If anyone wants this recipe, I'll pm it to him/her and meanwhile I'll look for the proper attribution.

Found my post on another thread concerning constarch based ice creams & gelatos:

...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.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

Made cardamom ice cream last night, Philadelphia base, no eggs. Very nice. Could have used more cardamom. I gather from a fairly recent thread on using cardamom that it's not the most straightforward of spices to use, but I love it.

Next time I am going to make it as Kulfi, the frozen Indian ice cream. The main difference is that one starts with a larger quantity of milk and cooks it down, as is done in so many milk-based Indian desserts. Also Kulfi is often not churned but simply poured into molds and frozen, rather like a Popsicle on a stick.

This time I was simply not ready to do the whole procedure and so took a great shortcut and used the simplest recipe I could find.

[youngchef11]

I find that with cardamum, you often need to use more then called for. Or, when you mix the cream/milk for the ice cream, let some crushed up cardamum pods soak in it for 24 hours. It will bring out the flavor tremendously. Then sprkinke some in the ice cream it tastes wonderful

[Darienne]

I find that with cardamum, you often need to use more then called for. Or, when you mix the cream/milk for the ice cream, let some crushed up cardamum pods soak in it for 24 hours. It will bring out the flavor tremendously. Then sprkinke some in the ice cream it tastes wonderful

Gotcha. Thanks. Will sprinkle some powdered on my next bowl and try it.

[youngchef11]

Anytime, tell me how it tastes!

[Darienne]

Anytime, tell me how it tastes!

It tasted wonderful. I sprinkled some on and then I sprinkled some more on, and so on. Yummm...

Do I have a high 'tolerances' for cardamom in the same way as some people love any amount of some other spice or herb? Ooops. That would be another thread...

[youngchef11]

I think with you cardamom love, that you do have high tolerances. I think its also the difftent things your pallet enjoys. Some people like unique foods like cardamom, star anise, liquorice etc. Cardamom just appeals to you and your senses. Does that make sence?

[LizD518]

Chocolate ice cream is tough. It's the cocoa butter ... if you use a lot of chocolate, the ice cream will be too hard when frozen and too hard when melted. Making it with cocoa powder is easier, but I don't think as good. I've been experimenting with a blend of both. I'm not 100% there yet but it's getting close.

Made a batch of DL's Aztec Hot Chocolate which I churned up this morning as I was gettting ready for work. It is Philly-style made with both chocolate (I used Trader Joe's bittersweet) and cocoa poweder (Penzey's Dutch Process). It was tasty when churned, but took a really long time, so long it overheated the motor of my Cusinart machine. Hopefully that is only a temporary development. Overall, I think it will be a good flavor, but the grittyness of the cocoa powder, coupled with the powdered cinnamon and the chili powder are not something I would probably serve to someone besides myself.

[Darienne]

Made a batch of DL's Aztec Hot Chocolate which I churned up this morning as I was getting ready for work. It is Philly-style made with both chocolate (I used Trader Joe's bittersweet) and cocoa poweder (Penzey's Dutch Process). It was tasty when churned, but took a really long time, so long it overheated the motor of my Cusinart machine. Hopefully that is only a temporary development. Overall, I think it will be a good flavor, but the grittyness of the cocoa powder, coupled with the powdered cinnamon and the chili powder are not something I would probably serve to someone besides myself.

That's interesting and unpleasant at the same time. I wonder why it overheated your motor and did not get to where you wanted it in the prescribed time. Do please try it again and let us know if a second batch is the same. Or perhaps someone else will try it. Also I am curious about the grittiness. It seems unlikely that DL would post a recipe which was gritty.

You have pricked my curiosity.

[youngchef11]

To help with the grittyness, sift it atleast 3 times to get everything out. And, have you tried the recipe again? Possibly in it resulting better?

[LizD518]

Made a batch of DL's Aztec Hot Chocolate which I churned up this morning as I was getting ready for work. It is Philly-style made with both chocolate (I used Trader Joe's bittersweet) and cocoa poweder (Penzey's Dutch Process). It was tasty when churned, but took a really long time, so long it overheated the motor of my Cusinart machine. Hopefully that is only a temporary development. Overall, I think it will be a good flavor, but the grittyness of the cocoa powder, coupled with the powdered cinnamon and the chili powder are not something I would probably serve to someone besides myself.

That's interesting and unpleasant at the same time. I wonder why it overheated your motor and did not get to where you wanted it in the prescribed time. Do please try it again and let us know if a second batch is the same. Or perhaps someone else will try it. Also I am curious about the grittiness. It seems unlikely that DL would post a recipe which was gritty.

You have pricked my curiosity.

Usually with custard ice creams the custard is thick to start off with. This seemed really thin, almost watery when I poured it in the machine. However, except for the grittyness, the texture is terrific. It didn't freeze to a solid block like I thought. That also might be to letting it churn for such a long time, a lot more air got into it than I usually let happen.

As for the grit...DL recommends whizzing it in a blender to help that problem. Although I think the grit comes less from the cocoa powder (some, but not all) than from the cinnamon, and especially the chili powder. I don't have a blender, just a food processor, and that usually doesn't work for fine blending, so I skipped that step.

It is tasty though!

[pnwradar]

I find that with cardamum, you often need to use more then called for. Or, when you mix the cream/milk for the ice cream, let some crushed up cardamum pods soak in it for 24 hours. It will bring out the flavor tremendously. Then sprkinke some in the ice cream it tastes wonderful

I've found a lot of variety in cardamom strength and flavor, and the strength fades quickly as it ages. The seeds and pods I used in India were amazingly strong smelling and tasting -- I totally overpowered my chai, using the same amount as at home. It's one of the spices I now refresh every few months, throwing the old stuff away (or into the mulling spices bag).

[weinoo]

Finally, even the grey lady catches on...extolling the virtues of eggless ice-cream:

Egg-free ice cream might be trendy, but it’s not new. Often called Philadelphia-style or American-style ice cream, it’s a traditional method that can yield phenomenal results if superior ingredients are used and if the ice cream is not pumped full of air (as many cheap store-bought brands are).

And I agree .

For full story, click here.