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Today I taught 17 high schoolers how to make ice cream. It was the first time everyone in my class was under
the age of 20. Which means very little, in a way, except that unless you teach or coach high school students, you would probably not be in a class with so many of them. And I can't imagine they would all spontaneously sign up and pay for a specific subject baking class.
They are having a week-long intensive on everything ice cream, and I was the hands-on How To part of the week. Yes, some learning facilities are better than others!
We ate 3 different ice creams today: Butterscotch, Malt and Strawberry. As is the case with cooking on TV, one must have everything ready because 3 hours is just not enough time to produce various ice cream bases and their frozen twins. I made and churned butterscotch ice cream last night. For the malt I made creme anglaise last night and brought it to class as is. We froze/ churned the malt right away because I wanted to show everyone how to make the best ever chocolate "chips." (Melt chocolate and drizzle into ice cream you've just pulled from the machine, then freeze a bit more, or eat it right away!)
Lastly, we made strawberry ice cream from start to finish, eating our results within an hour of cracking eggs and prepping strawberries. Very exciting indeed.
I thought I would share with you some of my notes because, as I am wont to do, I made a lot of changes as I went along, and came up with some great results. As you know I think most recipes are guides. Ice cream is especially amenable to making it up as you go along.
Ice cream likes when more people come to the party than were invited. It's not a rave, like soup, but feel free to take ice cream's hand, pull her on the dance floor and do a spontaneous dance for no reason except that you love how she tastes... If you know what each ingredient is there for and what each ingredient does to the end result-- taste, mouthfeel, freezing capacities, texture-- you can play quite a bit with the ratios. This is the ratio I gave to my students, knowing that they'll be using home ice cream machines, which, by the way, are not big fans of liquids insanely high in fat.
ICE CREAM BASE
WHOLE MILK 2 1/2 CUPS
HEAVY CREAM* 1 1/2 CUPS
SUGAR** 5 to 7 ounces
EGG YOLKS 8 EACH
*please do not use ultra-pasteurized cream
**Always split sugar in two additions.
Here are a few methods for making creme anglaise: one, two, three. As you can see, they are quite similar. This is because it takes a certain amount of egg yolks to marry cream and become liquid custard. Too few yolks and you'll never reach nappe, too many and you may curdle the mixture before the whole body has reached coagulation. Although, truth be told, there are ways to get 10 times the amount of egg yolks into cream to create insanely thick creme anglaise, creme brulee, and many other custards, but that lesson is for a commercial kitchen with big, heavy equipment.
Nappe (pronounced na-PAY) is when creme anglaise gets thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon so when you draw a finger through it it creates a line. You could use a thermometer (and take it to 180F) but if you get used to this I guarantee you will ruin more bases than succeed, or at least you'll never teach your body what nappe feels like. Unfortunately for the somewhat lazy there's no bread machine equivalent for ice cream....
There's nothing like the flavor and texture of homemade ice
cream either! Nothing beats this body memory-- sweating profusely while hand cranking a metal canister embraced by salty ice in the middle of a NYC heatwave, on the floor of a tiny cramped lower east side apartment, getting to the last two-handed push and stopping, forcing off the lid and reaching a spoon into voluptuous chilled vanilla ice cream, white and billowy, chilling teeth and tongue and throat as it went down. Mmmmm, my first homemade ice cream experience. /Thanks Dad!
So, any questions so far?
Follow instructions for making creme anglaise with these recipes, except with batch #2 strawberry-- you'll see there are some slightly different instructions there.
BUTTERSCOTCH ICE CREAM
WHOLE MILK 3.75 CUPS
1/2 & 1/2 2.25 CUPS
VANILLA BEAN .25
RAW SUGAR 3-4 ounces
YOLKS 12
------
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE 5-8 OUNCES
For the vanilla infusion I took dry, brittle leftover beans and pulsed them in my little coffee/ spice grinder with 1/2 of the weighed sugar. You may also use this helpful method to get all that you can out of those expensive little black pods.
After making and chilling this anglaise for a spell I added about 5 ounces of butterscotch sauce. {Whisk a little custard into bowl of butterscotch to loosen it first. Otherwise it might be difficult to dissolve it (if butterscotch is cold.)} When base was completely cool I seasoned it a bit more, to taste, with Lima salt and vanilla extract. Goodness me oh my but this stuff should be available by prescription only...
So you don't think I have the corner on butterscotch ice cream making, here's another way of doing it.
MALT-CHOCOLATE "CHIP" ICE CREAM
WHOLE MILK 3 CUPS
HEAVY CREAM 3 CUPS
VANILLA BEAN .25
RAW SUGAR 1 ounce
KOSHER SALT a pinch or two
---
EGG YOLKS 13
BROWN SUGAR 2.5 ounces (light or dark is fine)
MALT POWDER* 3 ounces *You may use malt syrup instead-- it's easier to find.
---------------------
70% CHOCOLATE @6 ounces
This: ---- indicates that brown sugar and malt powder are to be added to the yolks and should not be put in steeping dairy.
--------> Melt chocolate carefully, set aside to cool a little. When ice cream is done churning, scoop it into a cold bowl and with a slotted spoon, serving fork or whisk, sprinkle thin, quick streams of chocolate over ice cream, fold and repeat until either you have enough chocolate twigs or ice cream needs to be rushed into the freezer.
If your chief complaint with mint chocolate chip or chocolate chip ice cream is chocolate chips are too waxy, hard, big or just plain dreadful, you could say I've just solved your problem. And if you're feeling happy & generous because of it, feel free to buy me my favorite home ice cream maker... kidding. /Not.
As with the butterscotch ice cream, I prepared my vanilla sugar mixture the same way & also seasoned at the very end with a dash of salt and vanilla extract. If the malt flavor is not strong enough, you can always stir in more-- don't be shy-- have fun!
STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
We made 2 very different bases to see what changes when you switch around the ingredients and change the method.
BASE #1:
MILK 3 CUPS
CREAM 3 CUPS
SUGAR* 12 ounces *If I were going to make this again, I would lower the amount of sugar to 9 or 10 ounces.
YOLKS 12
VANILLA BEAN .5
BASE #2:
1/2 & 1/2 3 CUPS
EGG YOLKS 12
SUGAR* 12 ounces *If I were going to make this again, I would lower the amount of sugar to 9 or 10 ounces.
--------
HEAVY CREAM 3 CUPS
------
When base was cool we made a strawberry coulis in the blender of about 3 baskets of strawberries, a splash of water and some sugar, and added this to the custard, after it had been chilled. We made "strawberry custard," not by cooking the strawberries, but by adding our coulis to the creme anglaise to taste.
In another bowl we rough-chopped 3 more baskets of strawberries, tossed them with a splash of sugar, and after our strawberry ice cream was done churning, we married the two together.
-----> Hint: place metal bowl in freezer. When ice cream is ready to come out of machine, use a spatula to lift it into metal bowl and fold macerated strawberry chunky stuff into fresh ice cream. {at this point I will admit it's hard to get it into containers in the freezer. freshly churned ice cream is the best mouth feel!}
This is what I ate for lunch and I would do it again.
In base #2 we followed the method of making ice cream Chez Panisse employs. Instead of cooking all the dairy to have an end result of one cohesive creme anglaise, they want their diners to taste the pure taste of cream with a hint of flavor. For certain flavors I will use this method because the uncooked cream can be a delightful side flavor to a main flavor, especially when the main flavor is inherently bright, like with fruit or some herbs and spices.
If you are of the mind to think of some flavors as warm and some as cool, you know what I mean. It's true that when some of the dairy stays away from heat, you create a very different ice cream flavor profile.
Good To Know Ice cream Hints & Allegations:
High acid sugars:
Maple, brown sugars, raw sugar, Organic sugar, honey, malt, molasses, and/or fructose based sugars like stevia and agave…
When using high acid sugars, never:
steep first hot mixture with them.
Instead:
make your "liaison" with them. (add them into yolks, not steeping dairy.) 
Always steep until taste. Every aromatic is different.
Remember that when ice cream is frozen it will taste 10% less strong.
Inversely, ice cream base will taste sweeter & saltier when hot. Season base "to taste" when fully chilled.
If you make a milk anglaise and pass this into cream, you will also diminish the strength of the initial anglaise flavor, but also "brighten" the cream taste.
If you ever find that the ice cream base "curdles" somewhere along the way you can "save" it in the blender or with a stick-blender.
Never cook high acid dairies like buttermilk, crème fraiche, yogurt, cultured cheeses.
Always add high acid liquids to ice cream base after chilling it through and through.
High acid liquids: citrus juice, the above dairies, molasses, fruit purees, vinegars, etc.
An invert sugar is one that exists in nature as a liquid.
Examples: corn syrups, glucose, honey, simple syrup, agave syrup, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, Lyle's Golden syrup, Treacle, etc.
Both Invert Sugars and alcohol will lower the freezing temperature of ice creams and sorbet. Meaning that ice cream and sorbet will not freeze as hard if these are present. For example, it's almost impossible to make smooth chocolate ice cream without at least one invert sugar.
Never seal closed an ice cream base in the fridge if it is still warm or hot. Always chill in ice bath, stirring frequently, until cold through and through to the touch before storing and covering.
Creme Anglaise will keep 5 to 7 days if it has not been churned.
To preserve aroma and flavor, sorbet should be churned the day it is made, but it will keep 3 to 5 days.
Always whisk bases thoroughly before churning. Some flavors will settle, or sometimes bases will separate a bit in storage.
If you are going to season with vanilla extract, do so after the base has been chilled.
And don't forget-- never throw out that used & spent looking vanilla bean sheath when you're done infusing! The whole pod is edible and you can dry it and zap it in a spice grinder when it's thoroughly dried out.
So, nu? You think you might be making your own ice cream soon?
Enjoy!
~ come one, come all, come hungry to learn! ~
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