Ice cream maker - any recipe ideas?

[earthfriendly]

Reason being I am not much of an ice cream eater.

[x9200]

I was having a similar discussion with my wife this pm.

Just about any well made home-made dish is so much nicer than a purchased version. That definitely includes ice cream etc too.

If you've only ever eaten McDonalds, a home made gourmet burger meal should knock you for six. The same goes for ice cream, it will probably be like nothing you've experienced before...

The best ice-cream I have ever had was in Rome made in these small family owned Gelaterias. They used mixers of a washing machine size and appearance and any flavor I tried was so good. Interesting that on a bigger scale they apparently have difficulties to get it well reproduced.

From what is sold here I actually only like Andersen's.
Another problem in Singapore is that frequently the ice-cream is exposed to higher temperatures and later frozen back with all the consequences (ice crystals formed). This is so notorious. I could understand this happening in rural Cambodia but it looks like it's also a serious challenge for Singapore.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I haven't had homemade in 50 years I guess. My G.Father used to have one of these and that's probably the last time I had it the original way.

Home-churned.... yum.... required a bit of elbow-grease though, same with home churned butter!

I miss that as well. (Old farmboy, remember.)

[JR8]

I miss that as well. (Old farmboy, remember.)

It's another thing that's better than you get retail. Same with milk fresh from the cow (wow!).

I recall the first time I tried to make butter. I attached a 3/4 full jam-jar of whole milk to the saddle-rack on the back of my bike, and rode around the quite lumpy garden for an hour. It only yielded a thimble-full, but I swear that was the best butter I've ever tasted

We had another curious appliance at home too, back in the 70's. It turned butter into cream! This was back when the EU had a 'butter mountain', and it cost peanuts. You'd put this attachment onto a Kenwood Chef mixer, add molten butter and milk, and out came cream. Butter was cheap as chips back then, but cream was a luxury and expensive, so this was a clever thing...

[x9200]

Kenwood IM280 (S$68)

Vanilla-coconut

• 250g whole milk
  300g double cream
  200g coconut cream
  100g whipping cream
  100g light brown sugar
  50g coconut oil
  1/2 vial of Dr Oetker's vanilla aroma (from the German grocery store)

I still have no good feeling when to stop the process (before the pot cooling capacity is over). This turned out a bit too soft but the taste and the texture was good.

[JR8]

Kenwood IM280 (S$68)
Vanilla-coconut

• 250g whole milk
  300g double cream
  200g coconut cream
  100g whipping cream
  100g light brown sugar
  50g coconut oil
  1/2 vial of Dr Oetker's vanilla aroma (from the German grocery store)

I still have no good feeling when to stop the process (before the pot cooling capacity is over). This turned out a bit too soft but the taste and the texture was good.

Looking good!

Kenwood was a brand on our recommended-list that we looked at, but I think Tangs only had a smaller capacity model than that one, so we chose a Cuisinart one instead. But that price you got is pretty stunning value! That's like 3 pints of HD/B+J, and of course the home-made product is soooo much nicer!

So far we've done two recipes, chocolate ice-cream and mango frozen yogurt. The latter is a good one to try right now as they're in peak season. A couple more batches and the machine will have paid for itself.

What we are finding is that even with a fully pre-frozen mixer bowl the resulting mix is too loose to serve up as is. I think the climate contributes to this. So once the mix is done I've been decanting it to a 6.5"(h)*5"(w) cylindrical snap-lock container, and that then gets further chilled/frozen in the freezer. That seems ideal for a standard batch of say 1.2-1.5 litres. That container also sits neatly inside the freezer bowl, so minimal space is used, and the bowl is always ready for spur-of-the-moment use.

Thus:




p.s. You've got me thinking it's time to go and find another recipe! This is another aspect of it, it's bloody good fun, and there are several good websites where people try out sometimes really interesting stuff!

[JR8]

This was the Mango frozen yogurt after churning, and before it went into the snap-lock container on the left. You'll see what I mean about the mix still being pretty wet/loose at that stage.

[x9200]

Yes, soft and wet. I have that too. * The problem is that after it is really frozen it is not that soft any longer. How is your mango ice-cream you earlier put to the freezer?
If I take my favorite - Andersens, I can keep them at -19 deg C and they are still nice and pretty soft.

I have improvised with my first recipe and it did not turn out that good. I used sweetened, condensed milk for it and this was probably a bad idea. The maker could only bring it to a semi-liquid form and I still could feel like ice micro-crystals in it. When I put it to the freezer it took almost one day to freeze it solid.
The second attempt was much better (this is the one above) but I still miss this low temperature softness. I guess for a good ice-cream it is a rather narrow window of having sugar, fat and water content right, plus the preparation.

The next thing I would like to try would be some mango based stuff and based ice-cream (yes, I like the idea too) and maybe something with whipped whipped cream (to make it all more light and airy).

-------
BTW, if somebody wants to join the club or have a backup device the Kenwood maker still can be bought I believe at the said price from Courts and Harvey-Norman.

*) having a 2nd thought - maybe a good softness-hardness balance it is not achievable with this sort of maker at all? It definitely have some temperature related limits. I can imagine if one does it at -20 deg C or so and such temperature remains for the whole time of processing it should yield in the ice-cream that is hard enough and remains like this even in the freezer (no wet factor).

[JR8]

I know what you mean. It goes from soft/loose by the end of the mixing, to as hard as bullets fresh from the freezer. [Interesting to note that Haagen Dazs recommend storing their products at -18>-23C [http://haagendazs.co.th/collection/storagetips.aspx] which is bordering on a Siberian winter – that’s how hard it must be to keep their blend frozen it seems]. I think a machine like this is going to be inherently challenged in this climate, and I look forward to seeing how it fairs back in Europe. If we had air-con in the kitchen I’d experiment with making a batch in a cooled room. ‘Experimenting with ice cream in the bedroom’ sounds rather dodgy

What we’ve found is that before serving, if we take the storage pot out and sit it on the kitchen counter for 10 minutes (unopened) that the contents are softened enough to scoop, without the contents turning to liquid. We also bought a very solid ice cream scoop (NTUC) which makes a huge difference vs say a dessert spoon.

That mango frozen yogurt is lip-smackingly good, *super*-fruity! You can find some wonderful recipes here ... http://www.davidlebovitz.com/category/r ... d-sorbets/ . I originally came upon his website as I found some link to him where he advocates adding a spoon or two of vodka as an ingredient that raises the melt-point. Alcohol also acts as a conveyor of flavour, which is why ‘vodka sauce’ is an old established and very popular pasta sauce in the US. Fat carries flavour too, for the same reason that low-fat, or no-fat, foods often disappoint flavour-wise. So, I’d suggest that it would be impossible for the likes of HD to produce a successful product that hasn’t got the fat in there by some means or other, however sneaky.

Now that’s HD, a ‘premium’ ice cream. I haven’t checked B+J’s but they’ve got be doing something to maintain that unnatural scoopability. Even more so for ‘Easy scoop’ ice-creams that I imagine are perhaps loaded with added oils.

The choco batch we did used double cream (2 cups). That felt pretty sinful, but then you don’t need or want to eat a huge quantity. The Mango FY was interesting, as it required 1.25L of yogurt (Marigold Low Fat) that you strained, to get the fluid out, leaving something akin to the solidity and taste of Greek yogurt... over a pint of fluid came out, and curiously it was crystal clear but notably fluorescent green in colour! [and that was just the plain yogurt, prior to adding anything else].

I think you are right re: airiness. Manufacturers have industrial churners that can whip in lots of air. Air is free, and they don’t have to list it in the ingredients either, perfect for them! Probably why you can’t thaw and refreeze ice-cream. We DIYers are limited by the capability of a small counter top unit and it’s motor. You can hear the motor starting to work hard the colder the mix gets.

Where was the recipe from that used sweetened condensed milk? Was that in addition to cream and sugar, or a substitute?

Commercial ice cream has ingredients that make it easy to scoop, even straight from the freezer... these are all re: Haagen Dazs...
http://www.autho-rity.info/2011/05/11/h ... uit-cream/
Vegetable oils
http://www.junkfoodguy.com/2013/04/22/r ... TXwGb.dpbs
Palm oil
http://www.junkfoodguy.com/2012/03/16/s ... ofkEc.dpbs
Corn syrup
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/ ... =256071839
Egg yolks [= *fat*. And btw why... why on earth would anyone imagine to put *egg yolks* into ice cream, apart from a sly way to disguise adding yet more fat?]


Check out one of their newer product lines...
http://www.lostateminor.com/2009/04/05/ ... ent-lists/
‘HÄAGEN DAZS FEATURES FIVE INGREDIENT LISTS’
The makers of Häagen-Dazs want to join the eco-movement as well, it seems. The ice cream giant recently revealed Five, their new line of pared-down ice creams. Flavors like mint, ginger, coffee, vanilla bean, and passionfruit are touted by the makers as having less fat than its contemporaries, and each flavor has five ingredients — skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and natural flavors.


http://haagendazs.com.sg/en/SG_Home.aspx
As if you go to the source itself, there is no mention of ingredients, apart from the headline flavourings... curious, or not?

[x9200]

I will try more mechanical method for the freezer frozen ice cream. It is that solid because it likely contains bigger ice crystals formed from what was left wet after the preparation. I have this kind of mini wooden...eee...bat (?) at home. Something similar to what was used in older times to make butter. I will crush the solid mass with it at room temperature so it should make it softer plus it will also warm up.

The condensed milk was my own idea. Powdered milk is added to ice-cream mixtures so I figured out this could do well to the taste and the form. I was wrong.

Alcohol - it actually lowers the melting point (freezing point for clarity) so I don't think it should be used as a part of the mixture, but pouring some brandy or advocaat over the final product is a good thing.

Egg yolks. I would say it is a traditional component of many ice-creams. I mentioned custard in my previous post and this is typically made of milk and yolks. Ice-cream to be "full body" needs fat anyway.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I don't know if you guys are into rose petals preserve in honey but from what i do know it makes a great combination for Ice cream.
take a scoop of this rose petal preserve, mix it with a combination of chopped nuts and serve with a scoop of any ice cream flavour of your choice.

[JR8]

The condensed milk was my own idea. Powdered milk is added to ice-cream mixtures so I figured out this could do well to the taste and the form. I was wrong.

Alcohol - it actually lowers the melting point (freezing point for clarity) so I don't think it should be used as a part of the mixture, but pouring some brandy or advocaat over the final product is a good thing.

Egg yolks. I would say it is a traditional component of many ice-creams. I mentioned custard in my previous post and this is typically made of milk and yolks. Ice-cream to be "full body" needs fat anyway.

The machine I bought came with a booklet of basic recipes. That's the source of the two recipes I have tried so far.

Condensed milk.... wow, last time I used that was to make the base (with smashed biscuits) for banoffee pie! All the recipes (in said booklet) call for 'thickened cream', and we used 'Bulla - Original Thick Cream' [NTUC]. It was easily the main cost, and most expensive ingredient.

re: alcohol. But if it's sub-zero surely it raises the melting point... anyway, we both know what each other mean I think! In any case if I can find a link to his 'recipe/strategy' I'll post it for you to peruse.

You might find this interesting, including her observations/tips:
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type ... cream.html ---- oh and my point, note, no eggs!

Edit/add: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/tips-for-making-1/
re: adding vodka.

[JR8]

Nigella's dense chocolate loaf cake +
'Real' vanilla pod ice-cream (from the Cuisinart recipe handbook) +
'Double nuts toffee brittle' - that was a Nigella recipe too IIRC.

I hadn't done the toffee before... wow, dramatic preparation procedure, starting with blasting a pan of dry sugar!

[the lynx]

I propose an Eagle's ice cream Sunday at JR8's!

[JR8]

If SMS does his mega crab dish