Ice Cream Machines

[hinoki]

hi! i was wondering about the lello musso 5030 if they have 220v?

im trying to buy one but i live in the philippines so we need a 220v hopefully without a converter. is there a site that maybe has that? thank you!

i apolgize if im in the wrong forum...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

hi! i was wondering about the lello musso 5030 if they have 220v?

im trying to buy one but i live in the philippines so we need a 220v hopefully without a converter. is there a site that maybe has that? thank you!

i apolgize if im in the wrong forum...

 

http://www.mussolussino.co.uk/

 

Hope this helps.

[icecream]

I have the machine listed below and believe you me i actually used it for a small ice cream shop and after its success bought a professional batch freezer. The Cuisinart machine is a work horse IMO:

 

pros

cleaning is easy because the bowl is removable, churning is complete within 25-35 minutes depends on ambient temperature though, amazing texture after hardening the ice cream in freezer minimum 4 hrs. i.e. if you don't lick the bowl clean.

 

cons - its heavy and a little big and makes a little more sound that i would want but its not too much.

 

www.amazon.com/dp/B006UKLUFS/ref=nosim/?tag=egulletsociety-20

[etherdog]

America's Test Kitchen recommends Whynter SNÖ Professional Ice Cream Maker Model IC-2L, at amazon.com for $210. It is self refrigerating and makes 2 quarts in 40 minutes, ready to eat. It is also the most quiet of all the machines they tested.

[Tammi Townsley]

America's Test Kitchen recommends Whynter SNÖ Professional Ice Cream Maker Model IC-2L, at amazon.com for $210. It is self refrigerating and makes 2 quarts in 40 minutes, ready to eat. It is also the most quiet of all the machines they tested.

Read the reviews on Amazon. They are not kind. I checked ATK and found the review was done in 2010.

[IEATRIO]

Read the reviews on Amazon. They are not kind. I checked ATK and found the review was done in 2010.

 

The Whynter appears identical to the Lello Gelato -- which I have -- but according to Amazon the Lello weighs significantly more, indicating that the inside might be different.  My Lello is far from my favorite piece of equipment, but I consider it minimally acceptable if you pre-cool it, and process no more than .5-.75 liters at a time.  At best, I can get a batch time of about 12 minutes, but that time can triple if the full capacity is used.  I would like to upgrade some day, but I can't imagine ever going back to a machine without its own refrigeration. 

 

And speaking of ATK reviews . . . I don't put as much faith in those as I used to, as I have found too many instances where my own experiences disagree with their conclusions.

[rexster314]

horseflesh, I've had the Breville machine for just about a month now, and am totally satisfied with the machine. We've owned a Simac Ice Cream Boy since around 1987 or so but used it occasionally due to the pain in the butt due to the non-removable canister. I've made butter pecan, chocolate, mango, vanilla with chocolate covered bacon bits, dreamsicle with pineapple chunks, black cherry and all have been crowd pleasers. Easy clean up, settings for hardness of the ice cream is really handy, and it plays the ice cream man song when it's done! 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

horseflesh, I've had the Breville machine for just about a month now, and am totally satisfied with the machine. We've owned a Simac Ice Cream Boy since around 1987 or so but used it occasionally due to the pain in the butt due to the non-removable canister. I've made butter pecan, chocolate, mango, vanilla with chocolate covered bacon bits, dreamsicle with pineapple chunks, black cherry and all have been crowd pleasers. Easy clean up, settings for hardness of the ice cream is really handy, and it plays the ice cream man song when it's done! 

 

Don't know to whom you are replying but the Cuisinart ICE-100 is excellent.  I share your pain about the Simac non-removable bowl, although I must say the Simac made good ice cream.  Welcome to eGullet!

[horseflesh]

horseflesh, I've had the Breville machine for just about a month now, and am totally satisfied with the machine. 

 

Thank you for the feedback. 

 

This is still a tough decision!

 

My thoughts so far--

 

The ICE-100 seems like the safe bet among the affordable compressor units. Based on scary reviews I'm dismissing the Lello 4070 and 4090 and apparent variants such as Whynter. 

 

 

I wish I could find a real showdown between the Breville and the ICE-100. If the Breville made product as well as the ICE-100 it might be worth  $100 for the extra capacity and more useful keep-cold feature. I entertain a lot and I'd really like the ability to serve from the unit. 

 

The next step up seems to be the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino ($700, 1.5 qt) which is allegedly much different than the cheaper Lellos. However, again, there are no good reviews of the unit in comparison to the ICE-100 or Breville. (I did find a small blurb here, though.)

 

I'm also apprehensive about reliability and repairs on the 4080. I suspect it will be easier to get a Cuisinart fixed than a Lello, and I do not have any confidence that the $700 4080 will be more reliable than any other non-commercial model. 

[Ruben Porto]

Hi horseflesh, sorry I caught this entry late. The Breville and the ICE-100 have the same capacity: both make a litre of ice cream at a time. I found that both made ice cream that was identical in texture: very smooth, creamy, and dense. I would probably go with the ICE-100 over the Breville because 1. it's cheaper, and 2. the big plastic pin in the Breville's freezer bowl makes emptying a bit tricky.

 

Here are my thoughts on the Lello 4080:

 

http://icecreamscience.com/lello-4080-musso-lussino-ice-cream-maker/

 

Hope that helps. Ruben

[horseflesh]

Thanks, Ruben... And, you reviewed the 4080! Awesome. 

[Ruben Porto]

Hi Jo,

 

I hope your ice cream adventures are going well. I have a quick favour to ask. I have been working on a recipe that includes skim milk powder but does bring the heating time down from 60 minutes to 35. I know the 60 minute method can be cumbersome and I want to try and get it down. I'm pretty happy with the results that I have got so far but I would love a second opinion if you would like to give it a go? If so, please let me know the percentage of fat in the milk and cream that you use.

 

All the best, Ruben 

[Ruben Porto]

No problem. Let me know if you have any questions.

[paulraphael]

Is anyone using a compressor machine with spinning times under 20 minutes? That would be a requirement for me. 10 minutes would be even better.

This is for a drawing temperature of -5°C. Capacity wouldn't have to be more than 2 quarts.

[weinoo]

My 8-year old Lello is right around 20.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

For best results I pull my Cuisinart 100 at 15 minutes.  I've stopped measuring but pretty sure the churned base is not as cold as -5 deg C.  Does not seem to matter.  At 15 minutes in the Cuisinart I get good results.  Less so if I spin longer.

[ChefPip]

I have an old 4qt antique White Mountain electric with wooden tub that I take very good care of.  I've had an electric motor shop to PM the motor so it will be dependable as well.   I use 1 cup of rock salt to 6 or 7 lbs of crushed ice.  When it begins to set up I remove the wooden & metal dashers and ripen the batch for about 1/2 hour and pack it in containers for the freezer. 

 

Depending on the ambient temperature,  I'll make some adjustments as I use heavy cream in my basic vanilla recipe.  If anyone is

famaliar with an Ice Cream Company called Blue Bunny,  I'm told my recipe taste like the home made vanilla that they sell.

 

As I create a bunch of cobblers, pies, cakes, and baked goods this vanilla is my go to. and I try to keep it on hand.

 

Nearly everyhing I serve in my Cafe/Bistro is made from scratch so it isn't comparable to any 2014 industrial production.  I'm looking for Farm to Table authinticity to use with my collection of 70 year old recipes... 

[nonkeyman]

**I can't guarantee Amazon won't change the prices, I am not fancy enough to automate that stuff**

Here is a list of my top ice cream machines. I try to go from cheapest to most expensive. All pictures are from Amazon! There are a lot of great ice cream makers on this thread. Just wanted to share!

Gelato and Ice Cream are some of my favorite desserts to make! Making your own flavors. Coming up with your own ideas like toasted chocolate, cardamom, smoked bourbon (if you want ideas, I have more than a few) o.O. I really loved cooking the custard, tasting it and making sure there was plenty of salt. Yeah, salt in the ice cream. Important note!

 

Ice cream machines vary anywhere from a 50$ Cuisine art standard freeze core to a 5,500$ Paco Jet. With such vastly varying prices, it can be a little confusing as an end-user to what the quality of the product will be after the work is said and done.

 

Now I have used all sorts of Ice Cream machines. Classic gelato machines, frozen cores, paco jets and a few others. Each of these had their own benefits and flaws. Sometimes it just happened to be price, other times final product. Now if you have never made ice cream before, perhaps it would not be wise to buy the 5000$ dollar paco jet. Don't get me wrong, I love it. It may just be better to start out with 200$  Cuisinart  first.

 Hey, then when you do a pop up you won't have to be like me and being forced to use dry ice instead of a good ice cream maker to make Black Sesame Gelato.(Actually, that works pretty well!)

 

 

 

 

 

Buried Black Sesame Gelato made using Dry Ice

 

 

 

 

 Ice Cream Makers

1. Cuisineart ICE 50-70$

[Pic from AMAZON.COM]

 

 

Let's start with one of the cheapest options. There are still cheaper, but this ice cream maker is around 50$ and does alright. It is the standard Cuisine Art ICE. I personally bought this one when I was about 18. It requires you freeze the core over night before spinning and hold about 1-1.5 quarts of ice cream.

It doesn't do a very good job with gelato based products. Gelato should be made almost entirely of milk, vs. ice cream which often is half cream and half milk or some combination of the two. The lower fat content requires a lower freezing temperature for a longer period of time in order to avoid the formation of ice crystals. However, the Cuisine art freeze too fast per rotation. The cheap plastic blades of the cuisine art can't sheer the ice crystals. So if you are making a lower fat content product, it is obvious. However, if you are making peanut butter, Nutella, or olive oil gelato. It works great! I actually remember being in Culinary School and using this for my final product showing. I had to make enough for the whole school and there weren't enough Ice cream makers in the school. So I had to add in this puppy. Luckily, I had used it before, so I only used this for my Nutella and Peanut butter ice creams. Of course, the product came out amazing.

 

2.Cuisinart ICE-70 Electronic Ice Cream Maker, Brushed Chrome-90-120$

 [Pic from AMAZON.COM]

 

 

 

 I didn't want this to feel like a Cuisine Art commercial, but they are often the cheaper options..... Similar to the previous Cuisine Ice cream maker. This one relies on a frozen core. These can be pains. So the reduced price tag comes with a lot of extra work. However, this model is better at handling lower fat products like gelato. It has a better blade and a stronger spin. Really, those are the best added features. Personally, I would buy the Gourmia GSI if I had to choose again. If you really just want to do this once, and then never plan to use this tool again. Then pick either of the cuisine arts. It touts an LCD display. I don't really know why. It really doesn't add that much to the user experience. A mechanical timer works just as well. I guess the LCD was break through technology for them.

 

  3. Gourmia GSI-400 Sleek and Serve 200$-300$

 

[Pic from AMAZON.COM]

 

I did say this was not a list of Ice Cream makers under 100$. In fact most of these ice cream makers will be more than 200$. The best ones sadly are :(. Now if you are like most people and can't afford these. Check out the previous recommendations. Most of these ice cream makers will be 200$ or more and often time, you will only find them in restaurants. This product is the first product with an actual compressor. This means it cools on its own. Unlike the Cuisine Arts that require a frozen core. It can be a little bit of a pain to clean. Any of the one piece cleaners have their difficulties because you can't really separate the pieces easily. Nevertheless, I love not having to freeze the core. Then you can easily do multiple batches. If you forget to freeze the core, no problem. This puppy just needs to spin. It can be noisy, because of the compressor. It is a small price to pay for the convenience

 

 

 

 

 

3.Lello Musso Pola Dessert Maker 900-1200$

 

[Pic from AMAZON.COM]

 

Alright, now we are starting to play with some real power tools. This beauty can spin you a batch of Ice cream pretty quick. It doesn't have a cheap plastic blade, nope, it has a rotating metal blade that really helps shear through any of the ice crystal formation. Now, this puppy doesn't come cheap. It usually is well over 1000$ for an ice cream machine. However, it requires no frozen core and is a heavy duty champ. I used it a lot when I needed to spin a a separate batch. Typically, most of my gelato and ice cream was done in a Paco Jet, which is the next option.This could make a chocolate sorbet in about 7 minutes. It is very heavy though. So make sure you know where you want to put it. It does cause it to be difficult to clean. However, I have never seen this machine break. So if you don't mind it's heavy duty nature. This is a great ice cream machine.

 

4.Paco Jet

 

[Pic from AMAZON.COM]

 

Finally, I would say, most chef's personal favorite, as long as they don't have to pay for it. A paco jet is amazing. Instead of spinning liquid base, you freeze the base in canisters. This step does take longer. However, it offers the advantage of being able to spin what you need, when you need it. The way a Paco Jet works is it has a very solid metal blade that it spins at XXX rpm and sheers all the ice crystals. At the same time, it is aerating the gelato or ice cream. To make it even better, you can decide how far you want the blade to go. So if you only want to spin half of your tube and leave the other half for later. Well, that is an option. If you want to spin the whole thing, go for it. Trust me, fresh ice cream is just better. So if you are border line spinning to order. Your customers are going to get their ice cream at the best it could be! The downside, a 4-5K price tag.

One final note, this is much easier to clean compare to any of the ones above. There are two parts to cleaning it. You need to clean the canisters, which can go through the dish washer. You also need to clean the actual machine. For that, you have a special insert. You just put in the insert with some water and cleaning solution(not soap). Spin it, dry, and done. Some of the ice cream makers above require you to tip the machine over, or put a frozen canister into the sink and try washing it. Way harder.

 

 

5. Dry Ice or Liquid Nitro

 

 

For this last version. You should be careful and maybe even have an expert. The last thing you want is frost bite. If you want to learn about using these products you can email me or watch the video below! I would say use a slowly spinning kitchen aid, over a whisk. Again, Safety first. I am not responsible if you freeze off your thumb :).

These were just my recommendations for good ice cream makers. I am sure some of you think differently. Please feel free to share what you prefer. Maybe your favorite ice cream to make?

 

 

 

Now with your new ice cream maker. You will need a solid recipe. Check out the Gelato base in the Black Sesame Gelato recipe. You can use it to make any flavor you like. If you need help mixing in other flavors, feel free to ask!

                                                                            

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by nonkeyman (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

@nonkeyman you didn't mention the Cuisinart ICE-100.

 

[nonkeyman]

4 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

@nonkeyman you didn't mention the Cuisinart ICE-100.

 

Fair enough, but I can't vouch for it :). I just haven't used it, that's all. I am sure it is also great! What are your thoughts @JoNorvelleWalker

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Nothing I have not discussed here before.  I've owned a Sears branded White Mountain, a Simac, a very expensive KitchenAid with a horizontal freezing chamber, and most recently the Cuisinart ICE-100.  The ICE-100 works for me.

 

But then the Paco Jet remains out of my grasp.

 

[Lisa Shock]

Frostbite is the least of a cook's worries with regards to unsafe handling of LN2. The liquid to gas ratio is 1:692 at 20°C. This means that LN2 which is not handled properly and is exposed to warmth (like room temperature) can cause a large explosion. One liter is enough to displace the air from a small room, making it potentially fatal to transport in elevators and cars, or use in an un-ventilated home kitchen. The gas is odorless and displaces air, but does not impede release of C02 from the lungs, so people do not feel like they are asphyxiating even when there is no oxygen left in the environment. They just lose consciousness and die within a few minutes.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Lisa Shock (log)

[andiesenji]

I love my Gelato by Lello.  I got it to replace a 25-year-old Simac because it leaked coolant and the type it was designed for was no longer being used and conversion would cost more than a new Lello.

 

I do have an extra "can" for the machine so I can finish one and start another batch immediately.

 

My old Simac from late '70s, was very heavy and awkward to move but it worked great for many years while I was catering.

[paulraphael]

I wrote a post on the different varieties of ice cream machines (and related tools and techniques) here.

 

I covet the Lello machines. Unfortunately the small one has a bit less capacity than I'd like, and the big one is ... big. And not cheap.

[nonkeyman]

19 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

Frostbite is the least of a cook's worries with regards to unsafe handling of LN2. The liquid to gas ratio is 1:692 at 20°C. This means that LN2 which is not handled properly and is exposed to warmth (like room temperature can cause a large explosion. One liter is enough to displace the air from a small room, making it potentially fatal to transport in elevators and cars, or use in an un-ventilated home kitchen. The gas is odorless and displaces air, but does not impede release of C02 from the lungs, so people do not feel like they are asphyxiating even when there is no oxygen left in the environment. They just lose consciousness and die within a few minutes.

Oh dear! That is scary.