Peter Gordon's Tamarind Ice Cream

[rajsuman]

I was trying to watch Peter Gordon make a tamarind ice cream (UKTVfood, Nigel Slater's Real Food Show) last Wednesday when interruptions made it difficult for me to follow the whole recipe. I can't wait to make this ice cream and was wondering if someone could kindly help fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw. Google shows up only references to the recipe, not the recipe itself. My questions are:

- How much honey does he use - with the yolks and in the cream mixture?

- Double cream or single cream?

- How much tamarind?

Thanks for all your help, as always.

[oneidaone]

Aloha! Sorry you missed the show! I looked in my "Cook at Home with Peter Gordon" and all I could

find listed with tamarind was tea and then a recipe for grilled tamarind with mango. Sorry! I hope

you find out! A hui hou! Sounds like a good show - we don't get it here!

[Andy Lynes]

The recipe is on page 170 of The Sugar Club Cookbook. I can't reproduce it here for copyright reasons but the quantities are 7 egg yolks, 200mls honey, 300mls milk, 300 mls cream and 200ml tamarind paste. Its the usual method, but beat half the honey with the sugar and heat the the other half with the milk and cream.

[rajsuman]

Thank you both for taking so much trouble. Much appreciated.

[Shalmanese]

The recipe is on page 170 of The Sugar Club Cookbook. I can't reproduce it here for copyright reasons but the quantities are 7 egg yolks, 200mls honey, 300mls milk, 300 mls cream and 200ml tamarind paste.  Its the usual method, but beat half the honey with the sugar and heat the the other half with the milk and cream.

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I don't know the specifics about the UK but, in the US at least, straight recipes cannot be copywrited. Any creative text surrounding the recipe such as historical notes of autobiographical details can be copywrited but a list of instructions is okay to post on the web verbatim.

[Andy Lynes]

a list of instructions is okay to post on the web verbatim.

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The The eGullet.org Copyright and Fair Use Policy states, "What would not in our minds be acceptable would be saying, "Hey, I found this recipe in so-and-so's cookbook, here it is!"

[Abra]

Does tamarind paste = tamarind concentrate in this case, the kind that comes in a small tub?

I love tamarind and this sounds intriguing.

[chromedome]

I'm curious about this too, but I have a small problem. I buy my tamarind in the traditional compressed format, which needs to be soaked and strained before use. How would I go about converting?

[rajsuman]

PG used the compressed tamarind that Chromedome mentions. I'm pretty sure he soaked it in boiling water before use - it certainly had that appearance. He whisked it into the hot custard and then strained it to remove the fibres. Chromedome, I guess you just measure the thick extract. Abra, I thought of using the concentrate too (so convenient), but first I want to make this the way it was done, then tinker with it. If any of you want more help with the method, please feel free to PM me.

For those interested,here's an article by Peter Gordon where he mentions this ice cream.

http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/not...our/9810130.asp

[Andy Lynes]

I contacted Peter Gordon to see if he would like to add his comments to this thread. He e mailed me the following helpful advice, along with a plug for his latest books, but I think we can allow him that!

"I always prefer to make my own tamarind paste. I take 1 block of compressed tamarind and cut / break it into 6-8 pieces then put in a pot and cover with 2cm warm water, bring slowly to a boil and cook it out until it becomes a porridge like mixture, stirring often. The pass it through a moulis or sieve. I recently used the Indian style dark glossy tamarind paste from a jar and whilst it gave the panna cotta I made a sharp and tangy quality, it didn't taste quite right. Although I have used this particular tamarind when making soups and laksa as it seems less noticeable. I hope that helps.

And while I'm on here, you need to go out and buy my latest UK book Salads - the new main course (Quadrille). Anyone in the US (the Hawaiian amongst you) needs to get my latest US release Peter Gordon's World Kitchen from Ten Speed Press.

Cheers, Peter Gordon."

[rajsuman]

Wow! The lengths people go to help out others - this could only happen on eGullet! Thanks Andy and Peter!

[Andy Lynes]

I think we must have caught Peter at just the right moment because I understand he is a very busy chap, what with restaurants either side of the Atlantic, books and TV shows and God knows what else. Very decent of him to respond, and so quickly.

[rajsuman]

I think we must have caught Peter at just the right moment because I understand he is a very busy chap, what with restaurants either side of the Atlantic, books and TV shows  and God knows what else. Very decent of him to respond, and so quickly.

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Very decent of you to write to him in the first place, Andy. Anyway, here's my report on making of the tamarind ice cream. It is, obviously, a very unusual flavour, but the honey and the tamarind work very well here. The tartness of tamarind tones down the sweetness imparted by the honey and somehow the combination works well. The texture is pretty good too.

Chromedome and Abra, here's what I did for the pulp: I steeped 135 g of block tamarind in 500 ml boiling water for about an hour and then squeezed the tamarind well to extract (into the water) as much pulp as possible. I then strained 200 mls of this into the custard, whisked it well and then strained the custard again.