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Home Made Ice Cream (2015– )

Darienne

By Darienne
in Pastry & Baking

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Another batch of Rose's chocolate.*  I do believe her chocolate is the finest ice cream I have eaten in my life.

 

 

*with a couple modifications from the recipe.

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

teonzo

teonzo

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I do believe her chocolate is the finest ice cream I have eaten in my life.

 

You are succumbing to your genes.

 

 

 

Teo

 

  • Like 1

Teo

ccp900

ccp900

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Another batch of Rose's chocolate.*  I do believe her chocolate is the finest ice cream I have eaten in my life.

 

 

*with a couple modifications from the recipe.

Have you tried Dana’s blue ribbon chocolate?

paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Another batch of Rose's chocolate.*  I do believe her chocolate is the finest ice cream I have eaten in my life.

 

 

*with a couple modifications from the recipe.

 

How would you describe it? What distinguishes it?

Notes from the underbelly

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, ccp900 said:

Have you tried Dana’s blue ribbon chocolate?

 

I have not.  I own Dana's book but the Blue Ribbon recipe did not speak to me for several reasons.  I eschew any ice cream recipe that calls for boiling milk.  I question the wisdom of cooking chocolate.  I don't like low fat ice cream.  I prefer a custard base.  Both Rose and Dana call for glucose but then Dana adds an injunction for "Texture agent of your choice".

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

ccp900

ccp900

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I have not.  I own Dana's book but the Blue Ribbon recipe did not speak to me for several reasons.  I eschew any ice cream recipe that calls for boiling milk.  I question the wisdom of cooking chocolate.  I don't like low fat ice cream.  I prefer a custard base.  Both Rose and Dana call for glucose but then Dana adds an injunction for "Texture agent of your choice".

 

Not a fan of the cooked milk taste?
 

you can skip the texture agent part but I understand your love for custard hehe

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, paulraphael said:

 

How would you describe it? What distinguishes it?

 

Refreshing my remembrance as we speak...

 

Texture lacks for nothing, as I play with a spoonful on the tongue.  A glass at -30C, it becomes scoopable at -18C.  In the bowl it melts almost not at all, no polysorbate necessary.  No hint of the waxiness I found in Rose's coconut recipe, which in our family is a fault.  My almost adult grandson has been experimenting with our ancient Simac.  My son complains his results unpleasantly coat the mouth, same as what I used to feed him when he was little.  (I credit the use of my homogenizer these days as the difference.)

 

Finishing a bowl of Rose's chocolate makes one want more, rather than becoming cloying.  Sweet but not too sweet, I am not tempted to fiddle with the sugars.  Flavor is more mellow than the first time I made the recipe.  I used Ghirardelli cocoa this batch rather than black cocoa, though I must say black cocoa makes a most impressive color.

 

For me Ice cream is all about texture, but having texture and flavor together is what makes this recipe special.  Even @Margaret Pilgrim might be satisfied as there is nothing untoward in the ingredients but glucose.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted

I made a batch of mint ice cream, with a variation on Teonozo's infusion method. It got great reviews from my house-bound tasting panel, but still needs some work to get to where I'd like it to be. 

 

I made this with a variation on my standard base that's lower-fat: 9% milk fat, 10% total fat with 2 yolks/KG. 37% solids. 

 

For a 1kg batch I used 12g fresh mint leaves (mystery mint from the garden). I'd planned to use more but this seamed like a big enough pile of leaves. I brought the milk to a simmer, took it off the heat, added the mint and 0.5g citric acid (as an anti-oxidant). Blitzed with a stick blender. Infused 1 minute and strained. At this stage the milk had a hint of green tint and a nice fresh mint aroma. 

 

I then cooked the mix sous-vide, and homogenized in a vitamix. Before the blender I added 0.1g peppermint oil. 

 

The result has great texture and tastes great, but for my tastes still has too little fresh mint flavor and a bit too much mint oil flavor. 

 

Next batch I'll try 18g mint leaves (which is most of our summer crop!) and drop the mint oil to 0.5g. It's ridiculous how potent that stuff is. 

 

Possibly my biggest problem right now is that our mint isn't great. I waited until we had a good sized crop, but by that time it was getting rangy and starting to flower. So it's more mutton than lamb ... bright mint flavors are giving way to grassy ones. 

 

FWIW, I also threw an inclusion into half the batch, which I almost never do. But the little kid in me really likes chocolate chips in mint. To avoid cocoa butter boulders, I took some of the cheap chocolate we had around (Ghiradelli bittersweet chips) and melted it 9:1 with refined coconut oil. Added 0.5% salt. Spread thin on a sil-pat, freezed a few minutes, then broken into pieces. (Use a spatula or something to break, because this stuff melts quickly in your hands). 

 

I'd prefer a slightly less sweet chocolate, but this turned out really well. I got the proportions from Dana Cree. 

  • Like 1

Notes from the underbelly

paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Who you calling cheap?

 

Not you, Mitch! Maybe easy, but never cheap ;)

 

I think of Ghiradelli as cheap because they have it at the supermarket around the corner. It's not like the Michel Cluizel stuff I have special order, and then stash locked up underneath my most boring financial documents, to keep it safe from certain other household members.

  • Like 2

Notes from the underbelly

teonzo

teonzo

Posted
Posted

Glad you liked it!

For a 1 kg batch I use 30 g of mint.

I would suggest you to try the sorbet version.

 

 

 

Teo

 

Teo

paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, teonzo said:

Glad you liked it!

For a 1 kg batch I use 30 g of mint.

I would suggest you to try the sorbet version.

 

 

 

Teo

 

 

That makes sense. Do you use just the leaves or are there any small stems still attached? I think both my garden containers together would be cleaned out if I harvested 30g of leaves. They're very light!

 

I've been on a drawn out quest to find the best extraction method for different kinds of herbs. It's challenging because there's practically no science on this. Not even rigorous blind tastings and experiments by chefs. Some herbs are pretty durable and taste good no matter what you do, but the delicate ones like mint and basil are mostly surrounded by a lot of dubious lore.

Notes from the underbelly

ccp900

ccp900

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, paulraphael said:

 

That makes sense. Do you use just the leaves or are there any small stems still attached? I think both my garden containers together would be cleaned out if I harvested 30g of leaves. They're very light!

 

I've been on a drawn out quest to find the best extraction method for different kinds of herbs. It's challenging because there's practically no science on this. Not even rigorous blind tastings and experiments by chefs. Some herbs are pretty durable and taste good no matter what you do, but the delicate ones like mint and basil are mostly surrounded by a lot of dubious lore.

CAn you press them and make some sort of oil?

Edited by ccp900 (log)
weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, paulraphael said:

 

That makes sense. Do you use just the leaves or are there any small stems still attached? I think both my garden containers together would be cleaned out if I harvested 30g of leaves. They're very light!

 

I've been on a drawn out quest to find the best extraction method for different kinds of herbs. It's challenging because there's practically no science on this. Not even rigorous blind tastings and experiments by chefs. Some herbs are pretty durable and taste good no matter what you do, but the delicate ones like mint and basil are mostly surrounded by a lot of dubious lore.

 

Well maybe, since most herb ice cream sucks, end the quest?

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Well maybe, since most herb ice cream sucks, end the quest?

 

I've had great luck with thyme, and also done pretty well with basil (although I haven't tried the latter in years. The basil I've been growing tastes terrible). 

 

My current thinking is that different methods work well for herbs with small sturdy leaves (thyme varieties, lavender, rosemary) compared with bigger more delicate leaves (basil, sage, parsley, sorrel). Herbs like mint and basil that oxidize quickly may pose special problems, but I've found mint to be the hardest. 

 

I wish I had a bunch of interns to test multiple versions with controlled variables. I

 

  • Like 1

Notes from the underbelly

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, paulraphael said:

 

I've had great luck with thyme, and also done pretty well with basil (although I haven't tried the latter in years. The basil I've been growing tastes terrible). 

 

My current thinking is that different methods work well for herbs with small sturdy leaves (thyme varieties, lavender, rosemary) compared with bigger more delicate leaves (basil, sage, parsley, sorrel). Herbs like mint and basil that oxidize quickly may pose special problems, but I've found mint to be the hardest. 

 

I wish I had a bunch of interns to test multiple versions with controlled variables. I

 

 

I certainly wasn't questioning your ability to make herb ice cream.

 

Just saying that herb ice cream, in and of itself, is really not the reason to eat ice cream. At least not my reason. Gimme vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, peach, mint CHOCOLATE CHIP,  rum raisin, etc.

I'll be using the thyme and rosemary to roast my chicken!

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted (edited)
57 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

I certainly wasn't questioning your ability to make herb ice cream.

 

Just saying that herb ice cream, in and of itself, is really not the reason to eat ice cream. At least not my reason. Gimme vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, peach, mint CHOCOLATE CHIP,  rum raisin, etc.

I'll be using the thyme and rosemary to roast my chicken!

 

Herb flavors are special to me because of a single formative experience. I'd just finished working for a couple of years managing a homemade ice cream shop in Colorado ... a typical local shop that buys a base from a dairy and adds flavors. We thought it was great ice cream. Oreo and chocolate chip cookie dough and "rocky mountain road" ... that kind of thing. I then took a trip to Paris and got invited to dinner at Taillevent. This was way back when it was considered one of the great restaurants. One of the desserts (by pastry chef Gilles Bajolle ... I've been cyberstalking him since) was a single quenelle of thyme ice cream. It blew my head off. It made me realize I'd never even tasted good ice cream, much less made it. Since then, herbs have been a kind of obsession.

Edited by paulraphael (log)
  • Like 3

Notes from the underbelly

beauxeault

beauxeault

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, paulraphael said:

 

My current thinking is that different methods work well for herbs with small sturdy leaves (thyme varieties, lavender, rosemary) compared with bigger more delicate leaves (basil, sage, parsley, sorrel). Herbs like mint and basil that oxidize quickly may pose special problems, but I've found mint to be the hardest. 

 

 

 

 

I'd be interested in your thoughts about best methods for using lavender.

Yiannos

Yiannos

Posted
Posted
59 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Make soap.

 

I love lavender but this made me laugh, there is a very fine line for sure. When it's right, to my taste at least, I like it to be more of a "Mmm is that lavender?" vs "There is lavender in that", if that makes any sense. My family though is right there with you and the soap 🧼

  • Like 1
SeanT

SeanT

Posted
Posted

I tried a mint ice cream recipe that called for steeping mint leaves in the heated milk. It did not taste good; too earthy and not enough mint favor. 

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

The only herb ice cream I've really liked is the bay ice cream from @lesliec.  I confess to occasionally enjoying commercially made mint.

 

  • Like 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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