Home Made Ice Cream (2015– )

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

 

Yes I used that recipe.

The texture was good although it freezes really hard.  I think I read somewhere that if you add alcohol to the recipe it helps keep it from being quite so hard.  I will try that next time.

 

 

I just made the custard.  I am using two recipes, the strawberry part is from the NYT Cooking site.  I pureed the berries with corn syrup instead of sugar and added balsamic vinegar.  The custard has some balsamic as well.  I was going to put some stabilizer in it but it needs to be mixed with the sugar to avoid clumping and I forgot.  I wanted the stabilizer in there because I'm worried about the ice cream turning out rock hard.  The corn syrup apparently helps with that and tomorrow when it goes into the machine I'll add some liquor of some sort, probably Chambord.  If you are interested, ii'll report back.

[paulraphael]

I haven't had the best luck with strawberries this season either. I've used Driscols (first from Mexico, then California) and then ones from the local farmer's market (mostly New Jersey and Long Island). The local berries haven't been better than the Californian, but to be fair I haven't tried in the last two weeks. I've measured the berries with a brix hydrometer at 8 to 9 (which translates to fair-to-middling). 

 

These have still made some pretty good strawberry ice creams and sorbets. I've come up with formulas that use a ton of fruit ... 40% in the ice cream, 75% in the sorbet. I compensate for the lower brix readings with some added sugar, but still go for lower sweetness than commercial ice cream. The biggest issue is that the bitter background flavor you sometimes get from less sweet strawberries is pretty pronounced. Not enough that I find it unpleasant, but it definitely gets your attention. 

[ElsieD]

Mine turned out really well, although a bit harder than I might have liked.  In the end, I realized I had forgotten to add the liquor, which would have helped.  Our local strawberries are really good right now and I pureed them and added the puree to the custard.  So, there were no frozen bits of strawberries.  And since the pure was not cooked, it the freshness of the berries came through.  Since the recipe was a hybrid of two others, I have written it up to include the stabilizer so I don't forget next time.

[btbyrd]

I've been using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream and sorbet in my Kitchenaid stand mixer. Haven't tried using dry ice yet, but that is supposed to work just as well (and it's much easier to source and store). My first attempt was this strawberry-Angostura sorbet recipe from ChefSteps. The flavor and texture were incredible. I should have made a double batch!

 

 

I'm going to start experimenting with flavoring agents sourced from Mandy Aftel. I added a spritz of violet extract - alpha ionone - to that strawberry sorbet, and it only further added to the delicious berriness of it all. I have some vanilla ice cream base in the fridge that's demanding that I add some black pepper essential oil before churning (following a recipe by Mandy and chef Daniel Patterson). And I've got some peach isolate that is just crying to be made into a frozen dessert. It smells so good!

[KennethT]

I made ice cream with dry ice once - just be warned that it will slightly carbonate your ice cream... can be a neat effect - I used an "egg cream" flavored base (it's a NYC thing) so the slight spritz I got from it worked well.  A couple things (note taht I haven't looked at your dry ice link yet) - while dry ice is easy to store, it's usually industrial grade and can have some dirt in it or on the surface if purchasing large blocks.  Also, make sure you turn the dry ice into snow in a food processor and make sure you don't get any lumps while you're mixing because biting down on it can be quite dangerous as I'm sure you're aware....

[paulraphael]

Yeah, it's important to find food-grade dry ice. I've wished for a stronger carbonation effect (champagne sorbet was an application for this). I've found the carbonation disappears pretty quickly. 

[paulraphael]

@Btbyrd, my mind is a little blown that the ChefSteps recipe isn't full of typos. 100g of fructose in that formula would give the equivalent sweetness of 30% sugar, before even accounting for the sugar in the berries! and 50g of bitters? That's like 500 cocktails worth ...

 

This isn't a prank?

[ElsieD]

On 4/22/2019 at 9:33 AM, lindag said:

Actually, yes, I have.  My favorite source for dried fruits and veg. happens to be sold out of strawberries at the moment..

But I will definitely order some when they're back in stock.

North Bay.

I don't know how I missed the North Bay reference when I first read your post.  How much by weight of the dried strawberries would you use in a batch of ice cream?  Here in Canada the only freeze dried fruit I've seen has been very expensive but ordering some from North Bay might be an option.

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, paulraphael said:

@Btbyrd, my mind is a little blown that the ChefSteps recipe isn't full of typos. 100g of fructose in that formula would give the equivalent sweetness of 30% sugar, before even accounting for the sugar in the berries! and 50g of bitters? That's like 500 cocktails worth ...

 

This isn't a prank?

I saw that 50g bitters... That's like half a bottle...

[lindag]

12 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I don't know how I missed the North Bay reference when I first read your post.  How much by weight of the dried strawberries would you use in a batch of ice cream?  Here in Canada the only freeze dried fruit I've seen has been very expensive but ordering some from North Bay might be an option.

I haven't tried this yet.  Was thinking yesterday when I read about putting the berries through the food processor so that there are any big frozen bits.  I think I'd have to do that with the air dried berries as well (after they're rehydrated?)

As to how much to use, I guess we'd just have to eyeball the amount first and see how it works out.  Maybe start with a quarter cup or so, don't know the weight.

[BeeZee]

Not actually ice cream, but I made sorbet out of latte today. About 2c liquid, added 2 tsp alcohol, might have needed a bit more to inhibit freezing solid since I didn’t add sugar. Will see how it looks after dinner.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Probably 15 years ago we happened on a garage sale where a jilted lover was selling his ex-partner's toys, among them this Simac ice cream maker, then somewhere a nickel under $500...for $35.     Instruction booklet included.

 

 

Today, in the country where this beast lives, temp of 98 is forecast -> PEACH ICE CREAM!

 

Husband enjoyed the dasher and bowl for 10:30am snack.   The rest is curing in freezer for later on.

Saying good-bye to the last of the Elbertas.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

We portioned off a pint, placed the (plastic) container in a ziploc bag, added several inches water and froze the package.    On our way home, we stopped and gave it to our "peach people" in Lodi.    They weren't home, so we left if in a backporch freezer with note taped to door.

[Smithy]

@Margaret Pilgrim, are you willing to share your recipe for peach ice cream? It's been ages since I made mine (actually, it's my mother's recipe) and I'm curious as to how they compare. Heck, I might even try making some again, even though I'm the only ice cream eater in our household.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

While I usually make a simple if rich custard, then add fruit, this time i just churned pureed peaches, heavy cream and sugar.    Very clean and fresh, fruit forward flavor.

[andiesenji]

I have a Lello gelato machine, that is twenty years old.  It replaced a Simac that was 30 years old - it needed recharging but it used the old type refrigerant that had been banned.

Anyway, last year I experimented with not using heavy cream.  Instead I purchased  whole milk powder  5 pounds, 2-  2 1/2 pound  tubs because I use it to make my cocoa mixture.

 

But I also found that mixing 10 tablespoons of this  WHOLE milk powder into a pint of regular milk,  and a scoop of one of the plant protein powders (including the "Hemp Yeah" powder),  will produce an extremely creamy result that is as rich as the ice cream made with heavy cream.

And I can use half the sugar because while the powder is not sweetened, when combined with whole milk, it tastes quite sweet.

I have flavored the base with vanilla, with my cocoa mixture which is a combination of black cocoa and regular Dutch process cocoa,

with frozen and defrosted bananas, with frozen berry medley,  blueberries  and one batch with a cup of orange marmalade (homemade). 

 

Since I have mostly been doing this at night, because my swamp cooler is not working and I can do nothing during the 100° days,

I use a blender to mix enough whole milk and the whole milk powder to fill a Half-gallon  milk bottle so I have it ready for use.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I use a Cuisinart ICE-100.  Thirty year old Simac is at my son's house.

 

[lindag]

I picked up a few peaches to make the ice cream recipe from "The Perfect Scoop".  

Peaches are a ways from being ripe so it may be a few days before I can do it.

The recipe is pretty simple, no eggs, no milk, no cooking.  Will see how good it is (and how sweet the peaches are).

Re-reading the recipe, I see that it does require some cooking.  Oh well, that's ok.

Edited September 11, 2019 by lindag (log)

[paulraphael]

Peaches are pretty close to strawberries in terms of sugars and solids, so if you have a strawberry recipe you like you can probably adapt for peaches without too much rejiggering. 

[lindag]

Prepared the peaches tonight.  Two of the five big ones went south,

 but I still had more than enough.  I cooked the peaches, added the sugar, cooled and then added the sour cream, whipping cream,

Vanilla and a Tbsp of vodka so that it doesn’t harden up too much.

it's now in the fridge chilling for tomorrow.

will churn it up then and see how it tastes.

(I have no idea how much alcohol it takes to keep the mixture soft, I'm thinking what I added isn't nearly enough.)

Edited September 15, 2019 by lindag (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Casting aside all preconceived notions, I made a batch of @Ruben Porto's vanilla:

http://icecreamscience.com/vanilla-bean-ice-cream-recipe/

 

I followed the recipe to the gram, with a couple of exceptions.  The spreadsheet calls for 70g egg yolks.  Mine weighed 90g.  And I added a pinch of salt, because I am a good American.  And I skipped the vanilla bean, using only vanilla extract.

 

In olden days Ruben's method did not call for powdered milk.  This newer recipe does.  Perhaps if Ruben is sitting home with time on his hands he might come back to our conversation.

 

Now that I have the Paragon induction cooker it was easy to hold the 70C temperature to about plus or minus 2C.  But I found I had to cook my mix for a full hour to achieve the weight reduction Ruben calls for.  Then I homogenized the mix as usual.  (Ruben does not homogenize his mix.).  I divided the mix into two 450g portions and blast chilled at 1C overnight.

 

So far so good.  I spun the mix the next day.  I got distracted and did not note the draw temperature but the ice cream chilled to -30C quickly.  At -30C the ice cream was not scoopable.  A couple minutes at room temperature and it was OK.

 

 

 

The texture was to die for, I hope not literally.  Unfortunately I found the ice cream too sweet and a little cloying, as from too much solids.  Though I am being picky.  Next time I'd go back to my more usual recipes, cutting the sugar and upping the butterfat.  And I think I'd omit the powdered milk.

 

It is good to be back in the ice cream game.

 

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Another batch:

 

Heavy Cream 600g

Whole Milk 150g

Sucrose 80g

Egg Yolks 4

Polysorbate 80 0.055g

salt pinch

ethanol 10 ml

vanilla extract 10 ml

almond extract 5 ml  (just because)

 

Mix cooked about 90 minutes by Ruben's method.  Final mix weight 724g.  (Alcohol and extracts added right before churning.)  If my calculations are correct 10 ml of ethanol has the same freezing point suppression as 58g sucrose.  The mix was a little slow to churn.  Typically I pull my ice cream after no more than 15 minutes in the ICE-100.  This batch required 22 minutes.  Probably because of the ethanol.  Not that I have anything against ethanol.

 

It took 45 minutes for the batch to harden from -12C to -30C.  Even with the ethanol, at -30C the ice cream was still rather hard.  It took a couple minutes out of the freezer to be scoopable.

 

But possibly my best batch ever.  Perfect texture.  Neither over sweet nor cloying.  Something I could enjoy all night.  If there was one fault, the alcohol was perceptible.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If it's not one thing it's another.  Since at -30C the ice cream was too hard, I put the temperature up to -18C.  At -18C the ice cream was too soft and the lovely texture suffered.  The alcohol was still perceptible.  Clearly I should forgo alcohol* and adjust hardness by other means, such as choice of sugars.

 

Still, all in all not bad.

 

 

*in ice cream.

 

 

[mgaretz]

57 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

If it's not one thing it's another.  Since at -30C the ice cream was too hard, I put the temperature up to -18C.  At -18C the ice cream was too soft and the lovely texture suffered.  The alcohol was still perceptible.  Clearly I should forgo alcohol* and adjust hardness by other means, such as choice of sugars.

 

Still, all in all not bad.

 

 

*in ice cream.

 

 

 

Try some vegetable glycerin.  I use 1 tbs in most of my recipes that use 16 oz of fluid.

[teonzo]

You can reduce the ethanol from 10 ml to 3 or 4 ml.

 

 

 

Teo