eggbeater

Hot Chocolate in London

When it gets cold out, or suddenly chilly, or Autumn's leaves begin to whisper in, or scarves begin living around my neck, I think of Hot Cocoa & Hot Chocolate {no, they are not the same.}. I want to drink hot chocolate liquid for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I do, in secret or in public, as often as I can.

In London, part of the EU and in very close proximity to countries boasting the best chocolate making in the world, finding hot cocoa or hot chocolate worth a swallow, is harder than one might think.

But I have recently found 3 locations doing their best to convince me otherwise.

Pictured here on the right is Story Deli's little glass mug of deeply hot chocolate joy. Neither Novel, nor deli, Story Deli is a modern organic pizza restaurant deep within the folds of crazy manic super duper trendy Brick Lane madness.

When my ex pastry chef companion ordered it off the menu, we practically cried with happiness, after trial sips, at the fact that it was indeed real dairy & chocolate they had decided to put in that glass! Hot cocoa in London mostly consists of water, or skim milk if you're lucky, artificially flavored cocoa-ish substance and way too much sugar. {Can someone please tell me why a country producing some of the best dairy in the world has embraced skim milk for all of their cafes & restaurants?}

The second restaurant to completely take me off guard with it's organic milk and slow moving, practically ganache, river of chocolate wallop was Leon. With plenty of locations around London, I might have expected chain-like beverages & insipid concoctions, but no. I went to a knitting 'event' put on by Stitch & Bitch London last week, and when someone ordered the hot chocolate and the perfume attacked me from across the table, I knew. I knew I had inadvertently discovered another.

Pictured on the left is a hot cocoa worth runner up mention, for grace, poise and effort. Flat White's hot cocoa plate could be the best looking hot cocoa in London, but it was short on taste I am sad to admit.

So for third place I have to say The Modern Pantry is doing its very best to create a London hot chocolate worthy of mention. If you make it there, be sure to have a small one, at least, and tell me what you think. Being such a fan of theirs, I've secretly shared some of my opinionated thoughts with them.

Always on the lookout for fantastic hot cocoas & hot chocolates in London, please do share your favourite spots-- any list of liquid chocolate locations is a friend of mine!

The Espresso Room. London WC1

sometimes the littlest places
make the biggest impressions.
maybe because they ain't trying to sell you a bridge
or get on the cover of a magazine
or become the next hottest thing.
although I'm sure they wouldn't mind
having enough business
to stay in business.

 

if you
should find yourself
close to Holborn Tube, or wandering aimlessly down Lamb's Conduit Street
and you are in need of
one of the best damn espressos
you can get your hungry thirsty cold little paws around.
don't despair. liquid help is close by.

in the form of

The Espresso Room.
the tiniest 'coffee shop_cafe_espresso bar_' in London.

 

you might remember
how I came to 'meet'  Square Mile Coffee Roasters?

well,
suffice to say
that began a secret, not so sordid
love affair~

/one that The Espresso Room seems to have caught a whiff of too.

~an addiction
that began
years ago
in a land far far far far
away. heh.

the espresso room 31 - 35 great ormond street wc1n 3hz london m-f 7 am 'til 5 pm

p.s. i can't take any responsibility for finding this gem of a place. it was all bea vo. x

Guinness Chocolate Cake. {the easiest cake. ever.}

My first chocolate cake, like my first kiss, was an unknown, but left me giddy and wanting more. 
My first chocolate cake, like my first kiss, was easier than I thought.
My first chocolate cake, like my first kiss, mixed hot weather and dark chocolate, and needed no major machinery.

And, like kisses, after The First chocolate cake, things got a little more complicated later.

They say baking is easier when you don't know a lot about baking. Innocent. Naive. Openhearted.

Guinness Chocolate Cake reminds me of My First Chocolate Cake. A few tools are all that's needed. And the recipe likes being toyed with. A little more of this and a dash of that works, or get tipsy and substitute one thing for another.

It's all good.

I spent a week testing a number of recipes I found on the www. I used spectacular ingredients and basic ones. I rearranged percentages and threw away the directions. I halved the sugar and tried various flours. I baked in bundt and tiny buttons. I used a convection/fan oven and big deck pizza ovens. I baked in metal and silicone. I baked them tall. I baked them shallow.

And this is what I found out:
The cake batter is really moist. And sticky. All the ingredients are there for a reason, even the ones that seem out of whack proportionally. I got the best results in silicone, filling the cups less than halfway. The batter is really energetic and loves making an absolute mess of your oven.* Sifting the flour is a must. Being able to whisk vigorously is also high on the list. Cake needs a lot of time to be by itself in the oven, without disturbances or else it will have a little terrible temper tantrum. See *

Do let me know what you find out about your version, if you and your cake come to any revelations.

If you want to know why I write recipes with the ingredient first, check out my post on Recipe Writing.

If you need this recipe in OUNCES, make converting your friend. We multiply 1 gram x 28.32 to get ounces. And Celcius x 1.8 +32 = Farenheit

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

GUINNESS STOUT   1/2 can {about 250ml}
UNSALTED BUTTER   250 g
SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS   100 g

SUGAR   300 g
LIGHT BROWN SUGAR   100 g

SOUR CREAM   120 g
LARGE EGGS   2

ALL PURPOSE FLOUR   225 g
BAKING SODA   1 Tablespoon
SALT    pinch

• preheat oven to 185C
• generously butter and flour an 8 inch cake pan with a piece of parchment on the bottom, or line about 20 cupcake containers
• put wide mouthed pot of water on to boil
• in a wide stainless steel or glass bowl, measure in sliced butter
• on top of butter, measure in chocolate
• set bowl of ingredients over boiling water and lower heat on pot so that water is simmering only
• measure both sugars and salt in another bowl
• sift flour and baking soda and make 'well' in center. the bowl holding these ingredients should be wide and big and at the bottom of the well you should see the bowl
• as chocolate and butter melt, whisk to combine. add Guinness to melty mixture, whisk. when bowl of liquid is hot to the touch, add both sugars at once and whisk
• measure sour cream and eggs in a bowl and whisk to combine fully
• take chocolatey sweet stouty bowl of meltiness liquid and pour sour cream-egg mixture in, whisking as you pour
• take a deep breath
• in the next step you are first pouring then whisking, but not at the same time
• pour a little more than half of liquids into well of drys. WHISK FROM THE MIDDLE -- OUT, in concentric circles RAPIDLY. this is your moment of truth. you don't want lumps and the batter does
• when your batter looks like batter, and you still have a bit of flour clinging to the sides of your master big bowl, pour, INTO THE MIDDLE the rest of your liquid mass. whisk again from the middle - out, making sure to get every last bit of drys in there.
• take a drink
• pour your batter into prepared vessel(s) but make sure batter is not filling said container more than halfway!
• set this prepared pan on a baking sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper (your dishwasher will thank you later) and place in middle of preheated oven
• set first timer for 20 - 25 minutes and do not disturb cake until then
• your cake might take 10 - 25 minutes longer to bake fully. when the first timer goes off, open oven door slowly and slightly move baking vessel
• cake pan can be rotated ( = turned around so cake bakes evenly) when batter is beginning to set and cake is past the halfway mark
• test cake with skewer or very sharp knife inseted into center. when said object comes out of cake with crumbly bits or when you touch center of cake with your asbestos fingertips and cake bounces slightly back, cake is done
• cool on rack until vessel is warm. run knife around edge and turn out cake to cool the rest of the way

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CAKE FROSTING
The Head, if you will~

SOUR CREAM   50 g
CREAM CHEESE   150 g  room temperature
ICING SUGAR   120 g
DOUBLE CREAM   125 g

• on a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth
• add rest of ingredients and mix until uniform
• taste for seasoning and add more of whaterver else you think it needs

When cake is cool, frost generously with frosting

Cake will keep for 4 days refrigerated & wrapped well. Frosting will keep for one week refrigerated in non-reactive container.

A few more Shuna hints:
I got the best results baking Guinness Chocolate Cake in silicone baking molds. About 20 minutes after taking cakes out of the oven, I placed silicone molds and all into freezer and turned cakes out after at least 2 hours. I kept cakes refrigerated until I frosted them and then asked the bakery not to keep them longer than one day.

This cake is amazing. Not least of all because beer takes on chocolate. Not many flavours can meet chocolate, shake hands, and both come out looking good. It's a really moist cake and eats well. I love how the top gets crunchy and ripply. If you turn Guinness Chocolat Cake upside down and frost the flat side, you get to have the crunchy top stay a fantasic texture.

I hope you'll keep this baby up your sleeve. It's dead easy.

borough from monmouth

hot chocolate at flat white. soho, london

    ~ on the subject of hot cocoa & hot chocolate.

FLAT WHITE

17 berwick street

map

British Tea, I Heart You.

Square Mile Coffee Roasters, London.

My friends could very well be separated into two categories.

Those who knew me before I knew espresso and its dangerous side-affects, and those who knew me to steal and beg and plot and manoeuver for a sip of their hot smoky beverages, after I was introduced to its gateway powers.

Some of the latter people have heard me apologize many times. I
For I am a crazy person when I have had access to too much delicious caffeine.

It is all the fault of one wonderful person named azo. He's from Seattle. He was weaned on Vivace and after that it's all down hill. His first coffee in the morning must happen before all else, including conversations about anything other than the brewing of such cup.

A byproduct of falling in love with azo was becoming bewitched by exquisite espresso.

I have never been the same since.

But for full transparency I must admit to something at the onset:
I am not a daily user.
I remain a lightweight.
I am an odd sort: when I find ambrosia I take part. I can take it or leave it. Unless it's the pure, uncut stuff. Then I'm doomed. Like a ship's captain out at sea for too many years I fall prey to the sirens and lead my wooden vessel to the rocks like honey to a bear. It's bad. And no one can stop me. I must have it.

Must.
Have.
Liquid.
Trouble.

Someone please pinch me. Hard.

So... When I said that I was on my way to London a little over a month ago, a fellow named Anthony Silverbrow sent me a bunch of recommendations based on what, perhaps, he had seen me going on about at eggbeater and KQED.

And so I, like an innocent Dorothy skipping through a field of illegal poppies, took my wide-eyed self and made my way, stopping at every intersection looking at the A to Zed, to Square Mile Coffee Roasters at 273 Poyser Street, E2.

When I walked through an arched lane below railway tracks, and took a gander down what the street sign was listing as Poyser Street, I turned around and re-traced my steps. All I could see were auto-mechanics and a dead-end.

But because I live in a city full of back alley cult status espresso kiosks, I ventured on.

What I failed to take note of: Square Mile Coffee Roasters is not a retail establishment.

One walks through a blue corrugated steel doorway right into a roasting room. Loosely woven sacks of coffee beans are piled high on your right, massive machines that could very well explore the sea's floor with Jacques Cousteau sit still in their glory and a tiny counter are in front of you.

If you walk in there anything like me, this is how it goes:

me: walking comes to a confused standstill as I take it all in.

owner: "Um. Hello? Can I....... help you?"

me: "o."

owner: "What were you looking for? Are you.... lost?"

me: "Hmmmm. Is this... Square Mile?"

owner: "Yes, but we don't sell anything here... well not exactly..."

me: "o."

owner: "Who sent you?"

me: "Um.... An- Anthony...?"

owner: "Silverbrow?"

me: "........yes."

owner: "Do you know him?"

me: "Well.... not exactly."

owner: "O. I see. ?"

It was so much fun. You should try it some time. Especially when your accent stands out among the rest and everyone in other country thinks your people are stupid anyway.

But you know what?

After that incredibly awkward exchange I had a fantastic experience.
Because Square Mile Coffee Roasters is a small company with obsessive passionate attention to detail, a love of all things coffee bean, and friendly. I was invited to stay and sit and chat and someone handsome and cheeky made a complimentary cappucino for me. Owner James Hoffmann educated me about the history of coffee in London and we even spoke briefly about Jeremy Tooker and Slow Food Nation's amazing coffee station staffed with extraordinary baristas.

They even let me take out my intrusive camera and shoot away. Find the photos on my Flickr page.

Beginning to soar, I went on a pilgrimage to find retail establishments for espresso such as this.
Next time I'm in London you might find me wrapped around a small porcelain mug at Milk Bar or Flat White. Hoarding, secreting. Pretending I'm really just a black tea drinker...

And that Square Mile Coffee Roasters cappucino?

Fucking sawed-off shotgun-stylee rocket fuel.
Strong and silky delectable elixir of double edged greatness.

You can be sure I'll be back.

Thank you James & Anthony!

/gone swimming.

about a month ago, on the anniversary of a death in my life, i took a trip to see a river i'd never met. not that i knew of, at any rate. it was the Yuba River and it startled and awed me.

today, with my same friend, we are adventuring to see and swim in another river. no anniversary today, just a day between things, catching summer before it ends.

if you are visiting eggbeater for the first time from TuttiFoodie, welcome! please make yourself at home-- there's lots to see and taste, and any number of the links will take you to see others for whom i have great respect and admiration.

thanks for visiting!

Chihuly at the de Young Museum, San Francisco

Dale Chihuly is a glass artist, glass craftsman and visionary. His work is delightful, playful, grand, bright, fantastic, fluid, outrageous, spectacular, dynamic and inspired by the natural world as well as fantasy.

When I was at CCAC he came to work in our glass department for 3 full days-- 72 hours non-stop glass blowing. He drew and sketched and barked and thought and watched; and his crew spun, molded, blew, sweated, lifted and swung, and on the last day pieces were finished, and also destroyed.

Glass is a lot like sugar.

And going to museums feeds and inspires me in a way I will never be able to describe.

If you have the time, inclination, desire and curiosity, I strongly suggest going to this show. If for no other reason than to take in the de Young in all its amazing architecture.

Chihuly at the de Young

June 14 - September 28

~ Directions to the de Young & other information.

Blue Bottle @ Mint Plaza, SF: I have been kissed by g-d.

My bank account and I have a psychic connection. It knows when I have wandered into the realm of danger. Various colored flags appear on my radar. There is orange for big alert like Garnet Hill and one-of-a-kind old school Adidas, and there's baby blue for the more innocuous butter sale. Purple is saved for subtle spending. A purple flag might go up if Mangosteens or Candy Cots or Mas Masumoto's peaches show up at Monterey Market. {Which they have, by the way, so go soon. Amazing, and worth the credit card dent.}

Today a red flag flew so high and so frantically it threatened to put all bullfighting in Spain out of business.

I walked into the Mint Plaza Blue Bottle Coffee for the first time this early foggy San Francisco morning.

And I will never be the same.

It was better when I was ignorant. When the NY Times knew things three thousand miles away that I didn't.
It was better before I saw those Tate Modern-esque orange chairs myself.
It was denial. Labotomized, nodding-out bliss when I never saw and drank and tasted manna from a discreet grey & sleek space in the elbow of a street that is no longer.

My psychic colored flag alert service had lain dormant until today, when a wail so fierce, so loud, so preposterously high pitched and electrically charged it scared even the San Andreas faultline.

Do not go here if you think the coffee you're drinking now will do.
Do not go here if the pastries you eat now are made by a baker who has had their butter license taken away.
Do not walk into this coffee bean laboratory if you think Silicon Valley has patented the word Geek.

Do. Not. Go. Here.
If your g-d is a threatening force, jealous lover-type, list-maker or task master.

Do not go here if you are following the tweets of my psychic connection. {It will crash your server and shatter all your (glass) windows.}

Blue Bottle Coffee in the newly minted bright and clean green Mint Plaza, across Mission Street from the San Francisco Chronicle, at the corner of Jessie and Mint streets

will serve you,
if you can pay up,
exquisite
delicious beyond reason
mocha. we had today and boy what balance! perfect pitch! sanded to perfection! color! sound! leaps! aroma captured!
drip coffee
espresso

and some crazy insane double breasted tie me up and cart me away
brioche, so buttery i was transported to Paris,
with musky speckled hazelnut heroin hiding inside, so as not to alarm the authorities.

Am I speaking in tongues?
I have been touched. Dancing with rattlesnakes.

But I might never be able to go back.
    will it ever be the same?

Maybe not. But I'll need to, you know, just try it again, not too soon, wait a few, um, hours, days, Weeks, before trying it out again. I'll let you know when I do.

Yuba River, California

The Yuba River

has changed me forever.

I am in awe.

my heart has been stretched and pulled

water, in all its green clarity

massive granite boulders

dimpled and sanded

rough & smooth

hot & dangerous

dynamic

beautiful.

I could not have designed a better place to swim, think, travel inward, see, visit, take part in,

and now know about. I will be back. Mark my words with an x on my heart.

rose petal tea & tisane

a number of years ago an old friend gifted me with one of the most evocative, delightful teas i had the pleasure of experiencing. it came in a small, silver square tin and inside there was loose black tea and pink rose petals.

i have quite a thing for black tea, as you know, but up until that moment, and the Mariage Freres she would also introduce me to, i was a mere novice, drinking strong bags from England and Ireland, always having a box of Twinings Earl Grey on hand, thinking it was the most flavourful. {little did i know!}

rachel's gift of rose tea came from Takashimaya, an austere Japanese department store on Fifth Avenue in NYC.

a few weeks ago i had the pleasure of sharing the most stunning glass teapot filled with whole rose tisane at bar JULES in san francisco. 

all dried roses and rose petals are not created equal. like dried herbs and spices, their aroma is volatile and will not keep for much more than 6 months at the intensity they once had when freshly dried. (and all dried herbs and spices are irradiated in the USA unless specifically stated otherwise. this process wipes out a lot of the flavours/scents you want in dried herbs and spices.)

at bar JULES i noticed a large dark pink Mariage Freres tin and guessed that this was where our lovely pot's roses came from. i thought it quizzical since there's a fantastic source for dried roses and rose petals, in bulk, in san francisco, at Rainbow Grocery. at my last job i had the magical pleasure of using dried rose petal dust mixed with ground cassia cinnamon from a woman named Kathy FitzHenry who has a local company called juliet mae. it went especially well with a moroccan ground almond "crust" i made for a lebne cheesecake.

many people don't love the taste of flavours that hail from flowers because of their inherent perfume qualities. but rose petals and buds are much more subtle than rose water, oil, or even infusing with fresh rose geranium. look at the tea in the photograph. it's so barely pink it could be an illusion.

i might not need to say this but, unfortunately, i feel i must:

never use roses, dried or fresh, that you are not absolutely certain are not sprayed. roses, because they have been bred a million ways, are treated heavily with carcinogenic chemicals. if you are making a rose infusion with pesticide and fungicide laden flowers, you will promptly ingest those chemicals.

one of the most delicious desserts i had the honor to prepare and serve of claudia fleming's when i worked for her at gramercy tavern was a bowl of warmed blackberries with fresh rose petal cream. it was summer, perfectly. scents, color, temperature.

bold and deep, light and heady.

exquisite.

Napa Valley Eating & Imbibing

While I was staying at the farm last week, I did manage to pry myself away from dog walking and reading the New Yorker long enough to eat and drink a bit in the new & improved Napa Valley.

Almost 10 years ago, when I lived in Napa, the city proper, downtown was basically a memory for a few people. The old movie theater was mostly "closed for renovations," block after block in the historic area was dusty and cobwebbed or being torn down, and visiting the post office was sometimes the highlight of my week.

Not so anymore.

The place has exploded.

You can get exquisite, inky, oily, sweet, freshly roasted espresso at Ritual, one of the best {vegetarian} meals in California at Ubuntu, real mint mint chocolate chip ice cream at Three Twins, just about any meat or meat product you want or have never heard of at Fatted Calf {our guy Guy took some of the best FC photos-- check em out here}, illegally delicious coffee cake at Alexis Baking Company, gorgeous and delectable desserts by Nicole Plue, and produce grown with everloving care, if you choose to wake early and go to the St. Helena farmers' market.

Of course there are a hundred more restaurants and dozens of more eateries and imbibing stations, but above is what I got to on this go-around.

Cherry Pit/ Noyaux Ice Cream. & More Notes on Homemade Ice Cream

We appear to be having a cherry pit-fest over here at eggbeater. Welcome, take a seat, but don't eat candied stones from strangers. Not everyone has your best interest at heart.

See PART ONE here and PART TWO there.

One of the many commenters on this controversial post asked why did I not give a recipe for Cherry Pit Ice Cream after I waxed, or cackled-- depending on how you look at it, poetic on the elusive subject. And so, not one to say a unilateral no to requests, here is the recipe.

Find my notes on ice cream from scratch here. In that post there are 3 links to other people who had the time to type out how to make creme anglaise-- the liquid base for many ice cream recipes. If you need a lot of hints, check out what David Lebovitz has to say in his book The Perfect Scoop, or in his Ice Cream Tips category on his blog.

*

    CHERRY PIT / NOYAUX ICE CREAM

    Whole Milk  3 Cups
    Heavy Cream* 1 Cup
    Sugar   3/4 Cup
    Large Egg Yolks   6-7
    Smashed Cherry Pits   1 - 1 1/2 Cups

    *Not ultra pasteurized or listing stabilizers on the carton.

    Heat milk, cream, pits, and half the sugar, in that order, in heavy bottomed stainless steel saucepan over low to medium heat. When hot to the touch, shut off heat, whisk and let steep 1-2 hours, tasting every 30 minutes.

    When hot dairy tastes as strong as you'd like it (remembering that it will taste stronger in flavor and sweetness when it's hot), bring liquid to boil and pass through a fine meshed sieve, pressing on the solids to press out as much of the liquid as you can.

    Make creme anglaise with scented liquid, being sure to chill in ice bath until chilled through and through. It is best eaten the day it is churned but will keep 5 days in a non-reactive container (I use glass) with a tight fitting lid in the coldest part of your fridge.

*

Creme anglaise recipes vary considerably because, 1. recipes are guides, and 2. recipes are about proportions. If you know what role an ingredient plays and who each ingredient relies on to make it be the best it can be, you can switch up most anything to suit your particular whim on a given day.

The proportion I start with for home ice cream makers is:
6-8 egg yolks
for every
1Q liquid dairy
and
1/2 - 2/3 Cups sugar

My experience with home machines is that they prefer to have slightly less butterfat involved. In a commercial machine it's easy to make ice cream that cardiologists would call the police on you for, on the other hand. This is because of the amount of time an ice cream spends in the machine, physically getting churned. It's about how much chill a machine might be holding onto or being generated.

If you want the best homemade ice cream mouthfeel, eat churned ice cream as soon as it's ready. If you must put ice cream away for a few weeks or long days, about 20 minutes before you want to eat it, put container in your fridge. This will help "temper" the ice cream = get it to soften slowly, carefully and evenly. If your ice cream ingredients were high in sugar or alcohol, though, you might never get a hard set because these ingredients lower the freezing temperature of water and create smoother, more elastic, softer ice creams.

When making ice creams whose flavors depend on infusions it is of utmost importance that you taste as you go. All herbs, whether they be green or dried, come in varying strengths that only god can determine. Depending on the time of year, weather, and soil; various highly scented flowers, leaves, woods, herbs, spices and other infusables will make stronger or weaker impressions on your ice cream base.

And

butterfat is the magic carpet ride for flavor infusions in ice cream

so

if you are looking for a really minty ice cream made with nonfat milk, you are going to have to work really hard at getting that mint scent and flavor to stick to the inside of your mouth once the ice cream melts.

About 10% of flavor and perfume get lost when ice cream is frozen. Although ice cream melts in your mouth, your mouth gets really cold and has a harder and harder time distinguishing actual flavor the more bites, licks, nibbles and slurps you take.

Also, if you infuse ingredients that are high in fat, like nuts and coconut, they will leach out extra fat into the creme anglaise and you might want to make adjustments for that. Not to mention that with something like dessicated coconut you will lose a portion of your liquid to it re-constituting the dried flakes, so you'll need to be aware of that too.

You can also make ice cream without eggs but not all "alternative dairys" want to be cooked until 160-180F. so be sure to check into it before making an expensive mess in your kitchen.

I hope some of these hints help. I wish you much ice cream making this summer! If you feel like thanking me you may do so by pitching in to buy me a machine I have coveted some time now...

How To Make Homemade Ice Cream. Class & Flavor Notes

*Looking for a current class calendar? Click here."

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!  ~    

Bay Area Baking Class: Caramel as a Subject 4.19.08

{Please click here to see what I'm teaching right now.}    

I will not lie, this class is not full and in order to teach it I need a few more students... 

When was the last time you made caramel confidently? How many pots have you ruined? What is the difference between amber and burnt caramel? How much butter can you add, how much cream, and can you add both? What is caramel sauce and did you know gastrique can be applied to sweet and savoury foods?

CARAMEL

is the subject of one of my next classes. Get more confident around this dangerous substance. Understand mounting and avoid crystallization. Taste the difference between various caramels, develop a taste memory for salts and dairy seasonings, and walk away with a caramel swagger.

CARAMEL
Saturday April 19, 2008
12 Noon - 3 pm

$125*

*There's one spot left for assisting on this class.

Paulding & Company Kitchen
Emeryville, California

Payment Information:

A direct Paypal link is in eggbeater's upper left hand column, right under the "What's Next? San Francisco/Bay Area Baking & Culinary Classes on the Horizon: A Calendar" link. If you prefer to send me a check, send an email and request and address. **Please be specific about which class you are signing up for.**

*There are 2 spots in each class reserved for "assistant" positions at $65 each. These positions are offered to those people who might not be able to afford the class otherwise. Please email me directly if you feel you qualify-- do not register at this price unless you've emailed me first. You will come early to set up and stay late to clean up. You do not need previous or professional experience.

This class will max out at about 15 people. Please check back in here to make sure you're not paying for a class that is closed. If, for any unforeseeable reason the class needs to be canceled, you will be paid back in full minus whatever fees Paypal takes. There are no refunds.

*

Yes, my classes are thorough. Yes, I answer all your questions and some you don't even know you have.
Yes, I will be teaching more classes in the upcoming months
Yes: if you can't make it to these classes I will teach these subjects again, BUT I can't guarantee when.
Yes, I take suggestions for subjects!

YES, I CAN TEACH IN YOUR CITY. Contact me directly if you want me to teach near you.

Yes, you'll miss out if you keep saying, "I'll take the next class..."

If these classes filled up before you even knew about them--
Yes, please: sign up on my personal private mailing list by emailing me and asking.
It's that easy to know first!

Isn't it time you understood the Whys as well as the Hows?

come one, come all, come hungry to learn!

Butterscotch Questions & Answers

Butterscotch is a much disputed substance. People say butterscotch is this and butterscotch is that, but butterscotch is just one thing:

Butterscotch.

god said it, i believe it, and that settles it

Over yonder ho at Simply Recipes on the How To Make Butterscotch piece there are some absolutely fantastic questions being asked. What I love about the hard questions is that they make me think really hard, do a little more research and then try as hard as I can to explain what I know. In an actual kitchen, with you standing by my side, I can explain by saying "Here, look, see that and hey-- take a spoon and taste. See?"

But on this here flat screen, with only these 26 letters below my fingertips... Well let's just say it's a challenge I love to meet.

Two of my favorites so far:

"I fear I must repeat a previously asked question, as I, too, want to know. What is the difference between butterscotch and caramel? Thanks.

Hello LesterK,
Thanks for your question. I fear the explanation will bring us into the sticky realm (pun intended) of the thick and murky nomenclature bog.

Plainly, for the sake of brevity, caramel is made with white sugar and butterscotch is made of brown sugar.

But caramel could also be seen as an umbrella term for a wide range of sugars that caramelize. See above comments-- butterfat can caramelize from a number of animals which give milk, and depending on the region you could be eating Yak caramel or coconut sugar caramel, neither of which fit neatly into these two binary caramels.

I fear your question has spurred in me a number of other questions, and possibly posts, to come. Thank you for your small but grand query! ~ Shuna "

and

"Can you explain the New England habit of adding a dash of vinegar to butterscotch?

Hello DtG,
This is a great question. Because butterscotch began its life in the form of a hard candy there are a few "hold-over" ingredients from that particular recipe that can still sometimes be found in butterscotch sauce recipes and methods.

I don't have a degree in science, so explaining exactly why acidic liquid is added to sugar while sugar cooks and melts and reaches high temperatures is difficult in this format. Sugar loves to re-crystallize while it melts and one way of "insuring" that it will not re-crystallize is to add acidic liquid or an invert sugar (the most popular one now being corn syrup.)

Although one source listed cider vinegar as a preservative in butterscotch hard candy making, I believe the addition of vinegar was first used to facilitate sugar's smooth transition from granulated to liquid, and secondly the presence of acid in sweet cookery is like salt in savoury cooking-- vinegar acts as a flavor enhancer.

It should be noted: butterscotch making as we know it today, whether it be for hard candy or sauce, looks very different than the way it did in 1817 and the decades following. ~ Shuna "

Might you have any questions weighing on your heart about the elusive creature that is butterscotch? Fire away!

Butterscotch: How To Make. {finally}

For all the butterscotch rage that's been going on for about a year now, (on the www), there's still very little information about what butterscotch is and is not.

#1. Butterscotch is not made with white sugar. Look here if you don't believe me.

#2. Butterscotch is not the flavor of butterscotch chips and butterscotch chips are an artificial flavor.

#3. Butterscotch is really easy to make from scratch.

#4. A lot of people have told you how to make butterscotch pot de creme or stove top pudding before me. My own recipe and method is only one of many.

But now,

#5. I'm here to tell you How To Make Butterscotch. Yes! Finally! Go see for yourself!

How To Make Butterscotch-- with step-by-step photos and instruction. It's at Simply Recipes. Yes, I'm lucky enough to be a guest author there again.

So now you can do whatever you want with butterscotch. Now you have freedom. The skies are the limit. Butterscotch thrown from the rooftops! Butterscotch dresses! Butterscotch kiddie pools!

Butterscotch. The flavor. The memory. The sauce. The elusive & rare perfume.

Butterscotch: the myth, the legend. The Movie.

Butterscotch, the photo essay tutorial, can be found on Flickr. Click here to see the whole process.