Ice cream

It's a hard call, but my absolute favorite piece of kitchen equipment may be my professional model ice cream maker. This monster, which weighs in at about forty pounds, is essentially an air conditioner compressor connected to a churner. It's great for impatient people like me, who don't want to wait for the "innards" of smaller machines to freeze, and who want to make lots and lots of the stuff at once. It's also great for the mechanically inept, because there are very few parts. One knob to turn on or off, a few pieces to tighten in the churner, and that's it. I am not suggesting that everyone get one (actually, I AM, but I know that's impractical). The smaller ones can be had for as little as 40 bucks. You DO have to do some advanced planning and block out some freezer space. The inner part of the machine needs to be frozen, overnight, so that you can use it the next day. You can only make one type of ice cream at a time, because once the insert is used, it has to be refrozen. Whatever kind you get, get one. There is such a difference between homemade and store bought ice cream, even the "premium" types, and you can make flavors that you can't buy. (I just read a recipe for bacon and egg ice cream, for example. I'll avoid that one, but there are so many other good ones).

In this field of "frozen desserts," the varieties you'll see most often are sorbet, sherbet, gelato, and ice cream. I WISH that there were something scientifically precise about what these terms mean, but there really isn't. The way I understand the terms are supposed to be used is as follows: sorbet is fruit juice or puree, with sugar, and perhaps liqueur. Nothing else. Sherbet adds milk to that, but not eggs, and no cream. Gelato is supposed to be fruit, or some kind of flavoring, heavy cream, and no eggs. Ice cream, the richest of the gang, is gelato with eggs. But even within ice cream, I understand two varieties: French ice cream is high on heavy cream, and lower on eggs, while Philadelphia style combines heavy cream and milk, and is really heavy on eggs. It's not unusual to find a Philadelphia style with a dozen egg yolks to a quart of ice cream.

I prefer to make the French style, when I make ice cream, because the eggs tend to overshadow the taste of good cream. Also, since I always think I'm going to use those egg whites to make "something," there is generally a container of egg whites in the fridge that sits there until I remember to throw it out, with a guilty look on my face.

Good ice cream is expensive. This is something I think we lose track of, because there is so much bad ice cream available, that is just sweet and rich, but doesn't have much flavor. Make a batch of something you like, at home, and taste it. You'll be stunned at the difference. And I swear, you'll begin to taste the chemicals in the storebought stuff.

I try to make ice cream "in season," so this time of year, I'm making ice creams made with "essences" like coffee, or cinnamon, or clove, or perhaps citrus (you can get citrus into the cream, without curdling, by steeping peels and adding juice to custards. There really isn't a curdling issue). This past week, however, I had a call for strawberry ice cream. A good friend was doing a big favor for me, and she asked for "a berry" ice cream. I had some gorgeous strawberries from Nevea, from last spring in the freezer, "for a pinch" and out they came. This is my recipe. It's good.

I like to use half fruit to half custard when I make fruit ice cream. I had a quart of frozen strawberries which I thawed, and to which I added 1/4 cup of sugar. Then I mashed everything together, and let it sit for an hour or so, so that the pulp could break down, and the juices could reduce. That gives me a bit more than two cups of pureed fruit, when all is said and done.

Now, to the custard. Here, I'm going to break with tradition, as I will explain. I use two cups of heavy cream, and a half cup of sugar. I put that into a pan, and BEFORE I start cooking, I separate three eggs, and take the yolks. I put the whites into the fridge so I can feel guilty later, and then break up the yolks. Rather than cook the cream and sugar to a warm point and then temper the eggss and put them back in - which is all a nuisance really, I add the yolks to the cold heavy cream. I get out my whisk, and get to work, stirring constantly. You HAVE to stir constantly here, over medium low heat, until you begin to see a thickening in the custard. It's really very visible. If you don't trust your vision , get a thermometer. The relevant temperature is 180. When you get there, you have to work quickly, because the custard will continue to cook, and the egg will curdle.

Pour this mixture into the strawberries. You may have a bit of curdle, but that's okay, in my book. Just as long as you don't have creamy scrambled eggs, you'll be ok. Now, chill this mixture for a few hours. Putting the hot mixture into an ice cream maker , especially one of the smaller ones, will inevitably result in a failure to freeze correctly. So maybe it's better with a smaller one to do the custard and put the machine in the freezer the day before, so that everything is nice and cold and ready to go.

It takes about twenty minutes in a powerful machine, maybe 35 in a smaller one, to get to the right texture. It won't look like ice cream. It will look more like a very thick "whip." It has to finish in the freezer, for at least a night, although I love eating the stuff right out of the machine. (I think we call that "the Dasher effect.").

And there you have it. Yes, you DO need equipment here, but it's worth it. And once you make strawberry, you're on your way to making all kinds of other flavors.

Sorbet is even easier, and I'll give you that one in the near future. I think you'll like that even more, especially if you want dessert, but you want to feel good about eating it.

Off I go. I have some ice cream to eat.