Sorbet: Tips, Techniques, Troubleshooting, and Recipes

[tan319]

Rehydrated dried peppers develop a wonderful smooth texture when blended and you preserve all of the original complex flavor, which is considerable with anchos.

Na, Na, Na na na

Just kidding.

I used to make a bread pudding with chocolate bread, ancho puree that started from roasted, then rehydrated anchos, with chocolate custard made with brown sugar, cinnamon and toasted pinons.

It was yummy.

[Dave the Cook]

. . . bread pudding with chocolate bread, ancho puree that started from roasted, then rehydrated anchos, with chocolate custard made with brown sugar, cinnamon and toasted pinons.

It was yummy.

fifi, do you, as I, ever wonder why SSBs spend a lot of time on the pastry threads? This is part of the reason.

[fifi]

Actually, Dear Dave, I don't spend a lot of time on the pastry thread because I don't do sweets much. However, the SSB in me has often led me astray from time to time. And then, the mention of ancho in a thread title snaps my head back. Actually, someone has to explain all of this to the pastry guys.

[Dave the Cook]

Actually, someone has to explain all of this to the pastry guys.

'zactly.

Though I've learned a lot from Ted and Steve and Michael and their peers. Pastry folks are the ones who most consistently push the envelope, in my experience.

[tan319]

'Cause we're all messed up from being around sugar and such, all day long, every day.

Sorry...

Just kidding around.

I'm not going to ask what an SSB is .

[tan319]

Actually, my wife, who is a Texan, has just explained it to me,( she thinks)

Would it be a Sorry Son of a Bitch?

[ariggsby]

Rehydrate real anchos.  Puree.

I'd toast them for a few minutes, then grind

If you were using any fat, I'd recommend steeping in that, as the chili oils are fat-soluble, not water-soluble. (Maybe you'd consider ancho ice cream?) Instead, try steeping some toasted ground powder in a liqueur (see suggestions below), then filtering to remove the particles

Wow. That's a lot of good ideas to work on. Thanks.

For present purposes I'm inclined to stick with plain chili, but the supporting flavors suggest do sound good.

Btw, the texture of of the powder-steeped version was surprisingly good. I would have expected grainy as well, but didn't really find it that way.

[fifi]

SSB=Smug Scientific Bastard

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Also, whenever working with dry (or fresh chiles) always remove the seeds before rehydrating or proceeding with the recipe. The seeds provide heat but no flavor.

[tan319]

SSB=Smug Scientific Bastard

Ted, in a SSB mood, contemplating ancho puree, chocolate bread,toasted pinons

http://www.pbmanagement.co.uk/images/tednicely.jpg

and his (former) production career?

Edited February 27, 2004 by tan319 (log)

[Dave the Cook]

SSB=Smug Scientific Bastard

Ted, in a SSB mood, contemplating ancho puree, chocolate bread,toasted pinons

http://www.pbmanagement.co.uk/images/tednicely.jpg

and his (former) production career?

Smoker, glasses, bald. You show great promise.

[tan319]

Thank you!

I thought you would like the glasses.

[ariggsby]

So I tried some of the suggestions above this weekend. Made an ancho-guajillo puree, thick enough to be still ketchup-y when diluted to volume with water and sweetener. Then added a little cream. The flavor-to-heat ratio was much improved and the texture was very good.

thanks

[tan319]

Nice One!

[Dave the Cook]

Very cool (pun intended, of course).

Any chance of getting a real recipe for those of us too dense to suss it out on our own? I found some really nice anchos, guajillos (and chipotles -- hmm) this weekend.

[iguana]

I hope I can pitch in without getting too far into SSB mode, but another way to extract more flavor from the chiles would be to use a little alcohol (i.e. vodka), which can solubilize many things. Alcohol will lower the freezing point of the sorbet, so you don't want to add too much. Also, although the compounds that contribute the heat are very fat-soluble (so the cream was a great idea), the compounds that contribute to the other flavors may extract with alcohol.

</SSB>

[Katherine]

I posted a recipe for habanero granita that you might find interesting. It goes exquisitely well with chocolate ice cream, but I found that both chocolate and cream tended to mask the essential habanero-fruitiness of the pepper purée.

[tan319]

I hope I can pitch in without getting too far into SSB mode,

Embrace the inner SSB in you...

[fifi]

One thing I have noticed using peppers in anything with fat is that as it sits in the fridge, or even the freezer which is relevant here, is that it gets hotter with time. It is like more of the capsaicin diffuses out into the fat and provides more of a "hit" to the tongue.

By the way... One of the best desserts I have ever had was in a great little restaurant in Akumal, Mexico. After trying to dissect the complex flavors, the chef finally confessed that it was just a puree of mango with some sweetened condensed milk drizzled in to taste, finely minced habernero mixed in and then frozen. It was served in a very large snifter and at serving, flaming very good tequila was poured over it.

[ariggsby]

Any chance of getting a real recipe for those of us too dense to suss it out on our own? I found some really nice anchos, guajillos (and chipotles -- hmm) this weekend.

The following is what I actually did. Some of the details probably aren't actually relevant, but I'm not sure which ones.

4 anchos

4 guajillos

[i don't have a weight on those, but they're pretty large and fleshy here in Austin]

1/4 c. cream

about 1/4 c. corn syrup

stem and split peppers and remove seeds and the inner membranes holding them.

toast for about 10-15 sec. per side on a fairly hot griddle or heavy pan (I use a big cast iron skillet).

rehydrate 20-30 min. in hot tap water (I put a small plate on top to keep them under water).

put it blender with corn syrup and enough water to come to 2 cups. Blend as smooth as possible, then strain through a fine mesh strainer.

lighten the resulting puree with the cream, cool, then freeze per maker's instructions. I served almost immediately out of the machine.

The first several steps are pretty much the ones I'd use in a lot of savory recipes. In those the next thing I'd usually do is fry the sauce to a thicker, darker form. For ice cream you'd probably end up rehydrating, so the reduction itself wouldn't matter, but the browning might have an interesting effect on the flavor.

[Dave the Cook]

Thanks, Andrew.

[Bicycle Lee]

a buddy of mine has asked me to help him out with a catering gig tomorrow. He wants me to make a sorbet using citron vodka flavored with herbs and other things, sort of like aquavit...I was thinking I'd infuse the vodka with clove, fresh bay leaf, and green peppercorns... I said I thought rosemary would go well with the lemon, but he didn't sound too keen on that. Any ideas on flavors?

Also, in making a sorbet from an alcoholic liquid, should I raise the level of simple syrup to counteract the extremely low freezing point of the vodka? What ratio of syrup to citron should I use? In making sorbets I usually go 2-1 (juice to syrup), but I am worried that if I do that it will not freeeze properly...Any suggestions?

[Toliver]

You should try posting this on the "Pastry & Baking" board. You may get more responses over there from all the Pastry Chefs on that board.

[slkinsey]

AFAIK, there is a certain (relatively low) percentage of alcohol above which the sorbet will not freeze.

[iriee]

raw alcohol will not freeze unless you have a ton of simple syrup. and if you do its going to be sweet as #%@^$$!!! i'd cook it off a bit,,,steep your spices then freeze. you can always drizzle with your flavored vodka as you send it out. good luck!