Home Made Ice Cream (2013– )

[paulraphael]

Jo, keep us updated! That thing looks great. You'll probably find a million non-ice cream uses for it too. I bet you could make stable emulsions without an emulsifier. Would be interesting to test a traditional vinaigrette (with mustard and a whisk) against one made without mustard but with the homogenizer. I wouldn't be surprised if the latter was more stable.

 

 

 

Note:  Jeni uses no eggs.  Neither in her commercial ice cream nor in her home recipes.  Though I am sure she would be among the first to affirm pasteurization is important.

 

She's just using the concentrated milk proteins as an emulsifier and stabilizer. It's a cool trick, but I can't imagine it offers any advantages over modern hydrocolloids, besides being easier to find and use. There are options which don't add any flavors, don't interfere with flavor release, work in minute quantities, and which can be tweaked to your heart's content to get the texture and other qualities you want.

[pastrygirl]

This post and the next have been moved from the 'Fat in pate de fruits' discussion, as they are far more relevant here.
 

Oops.  There actually were two different recipes called jellies.  "Olive oil jellies", the recipe using gelatin, is at about 1:03 into the lecture.  The "soft creamy jelly" that uses carrageenan is at about 48 minutes.  I should have rewatched the whole video before commenting.
 
Fortunately I could find only the one recipe for "olive oil gummies".  That could really get confusing.
 
You realize that I am procrastinating from having to make ice cream?

 
Ha ha.  But ice cream is fun!  Maybe you should try making olive oil ice cream

Edited May 25, 2015 by Mjx
Note added. (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Ice cream is many good things, but it is seriously not fun.  So far into this batch I've had a muscle spasm in my leg, which among other things caused me to wet my pants.  My wrist is hurting so I had to pause for ibuprofen.  Not to mention an antispasmotic.

 

And I've only gotten as far as beating the yolks and sugars.

 

Olive oil ice cream would be easy.  I'd use the MC gelato recipe substituting olive oil for nut oil, and trehalose for all the sugar (if I wanted savory).  For the nut butter I'd choose a variety to complement the olive flavor -- off the top of my head, like walnut...I could be eating it by now.

 

I'll leave the pate de fruits science to you!

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I had but one project to accomplish all day.  Now it is 11:30 pm and I am finally sitting down with my first mai tai.

 

There is no pretense that this is a controlled experiment.  The main exercise was to see if I could maintain a constant temperature of mix near 161 deg F in the KitchenAid precise heat mixing bowl.  The bowl does well at keeping the contents just a degree or two below the setpoint as long as the lid is on.  But ice cream mix by Ruben's method must be stirred with the bowl uncovered for evaporation.  After much trial and error I found that by setting the bowl thermostat to 198 deg F I could hold the mix temperature in the range of about 159-160 while stirring.  This eliminates the chief source of grief trying to hold a constant temperature manually on the stove top for a full hour.

 

All in all the mix was in the KitchenAid for an hour and a half.  Much of this time the mix was as low as 149 deg F.  It was only close to the target temperature for about half an hour.  Note I had heated the mix on the stove top to 161 before adding it to the preheated 165 deg KitchenAid.  That's when the temperature dropped as low as 149 deg.

 

The mix was my usual:

 

heavy cream 750 ml

whole milk 250 ml

large egg yolks 6

sugar (sucrose) 90 g

trehalose 20 g

kosher salt pinch 

 

 

However for whole milk I used a new (to me) product:  Fa!rlife ultra-filtered whole milk (I wonder if they really mean nano?).  It is also ultra-pasteurized.  At least it was on sale.

 

After pasteurizing the mix I measured a reduction of 16% which is short of the 32% reduction called for by Ruben.  By about half, actually.

 

Sadly I have not been able to find literature on rotor-stator ice cream homogenization times.  Commercial ice cream typically employs high pressure homogenizers.  Modernist Cuisine uses a rotor-stator homogenizer for their gelato.  Since they do not hesitate to call out for a high pressure homogenizer when warranted I believe I am safe with using the rotor-stator homogenizer for ice cream.  I homogenized for about four minutes, approximately half on low and half on high.  This was partially determined by the BioSpec duty cycle of five minutes maximum.

 

When I tasted the cold mix it was not quite as sweet as I would have liked.  This is probably due to insufficient reduction.  But we shall see.

 

More tomorrow.

 

 

By the way, paulrapheal, if you know Michael Laiskonis let him know that his domain expired two days ago and his blog is off the air.

[paulraphael]

Laiskonis just moved his blog to luckypeach.com/category/columns/opusculum/ (to make it easier to remember?)

 

I've been investigating some of long cooking theories w/r/t protein denaturing and emulsification. Most of what's in the literature doesn't concern ice cream ... it acknowledges that sugar content can push temperatures up considerably, so there are a lot of question marks. Jenni Britton may know the most about this. She details her process on her site. Basically, she separates milk into skim and heavy cream, and then concentrates the skim portion with microfiltration, using no heat. She pasteurizes at 79°C for 2 hours (!) before homogenizing. her goal is like Ruben's ... to use the milk proteins as a stabilizer and emulsifier blend. This is related to what brands like Haagen Dazs do also, although they don't talk about their process.

 

I'm corresponding with Jenni about this. My primary concern is flavor. She believes that the long, slow cooking actually leads to more cooked milk flavor—which in her opinion is good in some circumstances and not in others. I may have to do a more regimented than usual experiment to see what time/temperature combination I like best in terms of flavor. I can deal with the texture through other means. For one, I'm happy to use hydrocolloids. For another, I'm ok with using some egg yolk, as long as I can't taste it.

 

Incidentally, I think you can come closer to Jenni's result by using nonfat dry milk than by reducing the milk with heat. The better nonfat dry milks are evaporated with a low-heat process, so you don't get that caramelized, condensed milk flavor.

Edited May 25, 2015 by paulraphael (log)

[Ruben Porto]

Hi Paul,

 

I think you are very likely to develop the cooked milk flavour, as well as the eggy hydrogen sulphide flavour, if you heat your mix to 79°C and hold it there for 2 hours. I found that my mix developed a cooked milk flavour when I heated it to around 73°C for 60 minutes. I wouldn't recommend going above about 72°C.

 

The sugar and total solids contents do indeed push up the temperature at which milk protein undergoes reversible unfolding. I haven't been able to measure the amount of irreversible denaturation that takes place but would love any information on this if you come across any.

 

All the best,

 

Ruben

[paulraphael]

Thanks Ruben. 

 

With a little luck Jenni will tell me some more, or maybe point me to some of her sources. Some pastry chefs have the benefit of working directly with guys like Douglas Goff and Cesar Vega, so they get information that we might not be able to find online or in books.

 

In the mean time I think I'll do a taste test of different cook times and temperatures. Part of the issue is that cooked milk flavor is so subjective. Some people want it, some don't. So the real issue might be what milk flavor you personally prefer.

 

I'm not putting the highest priority on the functional properties of the milk proteins, since it's possible to get those elsewhere.

Edited May 25, 2015 by paulraphael (log)

[Tri2Cook]

So the real issue might be what milk flavor you personally prefer.

Not directly related to what's being discussed but, speaking of milk flavors, I tried the burnt milk gelato from Migoyas Frozen Desserts and that was a revelation. The word "burnt" in association with food is rarely an appealing thing. "Burnt" in association with milk elevates that lack of appeal even further... but the result was delicious. Probably now among my top 5 favorite flavors.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Update.  This afternoon, after about seventeen hours of aging, I stirred in some vanilla paste and spun half the mixture.  It went sixteen minutes, though I had aimed for fifteen minutes and should have pulled it then.  At fifteen minutes it looked as hard as it was going to get.  I had the thermopen out to measure draw temperature but that didn't happen.

 

Had to try a bowl soft serve.  It was sweet enough.  It was as good as any I have had right out of the machine, but the proof is in the hardening.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Laiskonis just moved his blog to luckypeach.com/category/columns/opusculum/ (to make it easier to remember?)

 

Any chance you could find out from Laiskonis just how he does his homogenization?

[paulraphael]

He says he just uses a stick blender after cooking the custard. Last he blogged about it (not that long ago) he didn't have a real homogenizer. 

I had originally misread this; I thought he blended it after aging, which is something I usually do to thin it enough so it can run through a strainer easily. But this probably has no homogenizing effect.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

He says he just uses a stick blender after cooking the custard. Last he blogged about it (not that long ago) he didn't have a real homogenizer. 

I had originally misread this; I thought he blended it after aging, which is something I usually do to thin it enough so it can run through a strainer easily. But this probably has no homogenizing effect.

 

I've never tried straining the mix.  I figure after blending or homogenizing there is not that much left to strain.  Though I do take a look for egg shells before I whisk the yolks.

 

My batch has been hardening now for eight and a half hours.  Almost dinner time.  I can't decide what's for dinner besides ice cream and cake.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

After ten and a half hours in the freezer, I tried it.  Nothing lacking, perfect yield stress, ideal sweetness, silky texture, pleasant meltdown, no defects.  I have not had better ice cream.  Still need to run it past my grandkids sensory panel...assuming I can actually reproduce the recipe.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

More than thirty four and a half hours in the freezer (yes, I have a timer running) and the ice cream is still perfect.

[paulraphael]

I'd be interested to know if there's an effect on final texture if you homogenize at the beginning of cooking rather than at the end. Maybe I can commission a batch.

[paulraphael]

If anyone has a Bamix (I don't) I'm wondering if the whisk attachment would make a reasonable poor man's homogenizer. Some models go up to to 17,000 rpms.

[Kerry Beal]

Kind of looks like you could buy the rotostator and put on Bamix.

[ninagluck]

not much to see, but the taste is amazing, sorbet with fresh fig leafes

[paulraphael]

Kind of looks like you could buy the rotostator and put on Bamix.

 

I've already searched for an attachment designed for it. No hits. BTW, in the homogenizer world, the rotor-stator is called a generator (don't ask me why).

 

Seems like homogenizers today are like immersion circulators were 5 years ago. Priced for the lab market. An attachment for a Bamix would an interesting project for someone with access to a CNC machine. Or maybe we can convince Anova to get to work ...

[Kerry Beal]

I've already searched for an attachment designed for it. No hits. BTW, in the homogenizer world, the rotor-stator is called a generator (don't ask me why).

 

Seems like homogenizers today are like immersion circulators were 5 years ago. Priced for the lab market. An attachment for a Bamix would an interesting project for someone with access to a CNC machine. Or maybe we can convince Anova to get to work ...

1.4 cm generator, 2.5 cm generator

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The BioHomogenator uses a Bamix motor unit.  Whether or not the BioHomogenator generators are compatible with run of the mill (pun sort of intended) Bamix blenders I do not know.  You might try writing BioSpec to ask.  But since the cost is almost all in the generator, I'd say buy the complete BioHomogenator unit with warrantee unless you already have a Bamix.

 

BioSpec also sells the BioMixer, which as far as I can tell is a rebranded Bamix blender.  Or not really rebranded as the motors still say "Bamix".

 

BioSpec makes no secret that they use third party motors on their products.  The fact that the motors say Bamix is not necessarily a bad thing.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'd be interested to know if there's an effect on final texture if you homogenize at the beginning of cooking rather than at the end. Maybe I can commission a batch.

 

Until I can afford a mixer that fits my precise heat mixer bowl I doubt I will be making this recipe much, unless there is an emergency.  I have achieved proof of concept.  But then what is rent and food?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Sixty one hours, no iciness or defects.  I wish dinner had been half as good.

[paulraphael]

Until I can afford a mixer that fits my precise heat mixer bowl I doubt I will be making this recipe much, unless there is an emergency.  I have achieved proof of concept.  But then what is rent and food?

 

What's the advantage of the KA heat mixer bowl over a laboratory magnetic hot plate? I've seen ones with thermostats for under $200.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

What's the advantage of the KA heat mixer bowl over a laboratory magnetic hot plate? I've seen ones with thermostats for under $200.

 

I suggested the idea of a temperature controlled stirring hot plate back in post #17.  The Corning one was close to $800.  When I bought the KitchenAid bowl I had hopes it would fit my old KitchenAid mixer, which would have made the combination quite cost effective, in my opinion.  Less so, perhaps, now that I would need to purchase a more modern mixer to work with it.

 

Besides, the bowl works nicely as a slow cooker, and (once I get a mixer) should work for dishes like risotto that are difficult on a stirring hot plate.  I could not foresee much culinary application for a hot plate besides ice cream and possibly hydrating hydrocolloids.

 

I also like that the bowl is light weight and induction heated.  It gets only slightly warm on the outside.  And there are other applications for a KitchenAid mixer.  Right now I think I shall go have some angel food cake and tea.