Sorbet: Tips, Techniques, Troubleshooting, and Recipes

[teonzo]

 

You can try different infusion temperatures and times. Different aromatic molecules diffuse in different ways, which means that at different temperature you can get a different ratio of the aromatics in the infusion. For example, say that at 80°C you get 50% aromatic A and 50% aromatic B, if you change temperature to 50°C it's possible you get 60% aromatic A and 40% aromatic B. You need to find the temperature (if there is one...) at which you get your desired result. For tobacco I founf that my favourite results are at 40-50°C, at that range I get more subtle aromas if compared to the strong ones (pungent and smoked).

There is another consideration. Cream and eggs tend to mute subtle aromas. If you make a lapsang souchong ice-cream (dairy recipe with cream and possibly yolks) then what you taste is the strong aromatics of lapsang souchong (smokiness) and cream fats + sugars. Subtle aromatics from lapsang souchong get lost, buried by cream and so on. Just to get an idea, make 2 parallel infusions with the exact same method (temperature and time), one of lapsang souchong in cream, one standard in water. It's interesting to notice the differences. In the cream one you taste strong aromatics from lapsang souchong then the cream, in the standard water infusion you get the frontal kick from the smokiness then the whole rest of background tea aromas. Those background aromas get buried by cream and similars. That's why I decided to stop making ice-creams for this kind of stuff and go with sorbets.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Vasco]

I would use the lapsang souchong in a milk only icecream base and use the smokiness to complement a chocolate dessert.

People need to stop using eggs unless you actually desire the egg flavor which in most cases you do not because it just masks the flavor of the main ingredient

Edited January 13, 2017 by Vasco (log)

[paulraphael]

I think a lot about milk fat and egg content with regards to flavor release. Usually I use 2 yolks per quart, because I find minimal impact on other flavors and no discernible egginess. Some flavors I feel are a muted by any eggs, like fruit. Others already have too much hardening fats in them, like chocolate or nut butters. I leave the eggs out of these and use other ingredients as emulsifiers. I aim for milk fat percentages from 10% to 15%, depending on the kind of flavor. I don't care for the mouthfeel and dull flavor release of super rich ice creams.

 

Possibly with the lapsang I'd aim for a recipe that's on the rich end of this spectrum, just to help take the edge off the smoke. Off the top of my head I'm thinking it might work well with cooked pears. Maybe also cardamom. I also like the idea of serving it as a complement to chocolate.

Edited January 14, 2017 by paulraphael (log)

[Vasco]

Paul and even in regards to milk. I would advocate that for a dark chocolate icecream I would use skim milk because the fat in full fat milk tends to mute the "darker" flavors of the chocolate, that is if you really want it to be a full on frontal flavor!

Icecream is a very exciting topic, from sorbets, to ice cream, sherbet, soft serve, custard...there is room for everything and that is why it is magical.

 

The most exciting one I produced and I forgot to take a picture of it because I probably had temporary demencia...was a Pumpkin seed and pumpkin oil "constructed cream"

Water, roasted pumpkin seed paste and oil, salt, sugar and a very good mix of stabilizers/emulsifiers. The beauty of it is achieving almost a kind of textural similarity to well whipped cream

[paulraphael]

I don't have a problem with ice creams muting the flavor of dark chocolate desserts they're served with. I find the yin/yang of the intense chocolate and softer cream to be quite nice. I prefer this to chocolate desserts served with sorbets and very low-fat gelatos (although I like chocolate sorbet). 

 

If we're talking chocolate ice creams, I do eggless and about 10% milk fat (so what many people would think of as a gelato). It's still a fairly rich ice cream because of the cocoa butter (5%).  The cocoa butter has a stronger effect on the texture than the milk fat, and not a positive one. I'd use all cocoa powder instead of chocolate if I could control the flavors adequately with powder. 

[Vasco]

Have you tried making the roasted cocoa gelato of chefsteps? They only use cocoa butter, water, sugar, cocoa powder, it is quite amazing

[teonzo]

If you want to make a smoked tea ice-cream and lapsang souchong gives a too smokey result, then there is another way: you can prepare your favourite tea-flavoured ice-cream base, then add few drops of liquid smoke. This way you have total control both on the smokiness and the tea flavor.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[weinoo]

I had never made a sherbet, but when a friend linked to a recipe for Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk sherbet, and when I was able to get excellent strawberries at the greenmarket, I forged ahead, and was delighted with the results...

 

 

Now, it's certainly not as creamy as a great ice cream, or as wonderfully delicious as a great gelato, but it's easy and good!