Food and Cooking

All the time! 4 eggs, a cup of milk, a cup of cream, some sugar. Actually according to my calculations an all ice cream diet would be cheaper than our current grocery bill (we have cows and chickens) and not that much less healthy.

Allow me to introduce my wife's ice cream recipe. Obviously, your base is going to be different, but I'll post the whole recipe here to make sure I don't miss anything.

Strawberry Ice Cream with Lemon and Mint Note: This is more than one batch worth of ice cream (approximately 1 ½ batch for the size ice cream maker I have at home). Fill your ice cream maker to the level recommended by your machine’s instructions. Don’t worry about your mix sitting in the fridge while waiting for your bowl to re-freeze, it just allows the flavors to meld more. Don’t worry about the berries getting too soft. It is ice cream, they will be slightly more firm than everything else, no matter how long it sits. Since my household likes lemon and mint, the below listed amounts are minimum, we tend to use more. Once your ice cream is ready, it finishes beautifully with a bit of huckleberry balsamic vinegar poured over the top when served.

Ingredients: Approximately 32 ounces by volume of fresh strawberries, washed and stems removed
3 tablespoons of lemon juice, more if lower quality(or to taste)
1 cup sugar, divided (into 0.25 cup and 0.75 cup)
1.5 cup heavy cream
0.5 cup whole milk
2 tablespoon fresh mint, minced (or to taste)
Pinch salt
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
approximately 1 lemon’s worth of zest, finely grated (or to taste)

Directions:

1. In mixing bowl, blend approximately half the strawberries with a stick blender. Chop remaining strawberries (to slightly larger than chocolate chip, so that it does not clog the ice cream machine) and add to same mixing bowl. Add 0.25 cup sugar and lemon juice. Stir together. Set aside in fridge for at least an hour to macerate.

2. In a small saucepan, warm the dairy, 0.75 cup sugar, salt and mint. Warm the milk mixture, whisking to incorporate flavors.

3. Whisk egg yolks together with vanilla extract; then temper: when the milk mixture is warm, slowly spoon into the egg yolks, whisking to keep from cooking eggs. Repeat several times until eggs and milk mixture are approximately the same temperature, then whisk yolks into the mixture. On medium to medium-low heat, thicken mixture until it coats the back of a spoon. Let cool.

4. Combine milk mixture with strawberry mixture and lemon zest and mix well. Chill in fridge until cold enough for your ice cream maker (at least an hour).

5. Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer instructions.

6. Serve immediately for soft serve, or place in Freezer for firmer texture.

(extremely loosely based off of “Strawberry Ice Cream Like Ben and Jerry’s”, and “Homemade Ice Cream: Perfect Custard Base”)

Yes, I make ice cream at home as well. l For me a game changer was to add an emulsifier (I use lecithin) and some stabilizers (I use guar and xathan)

If you can get your hands on “Dole Whip Powder” it’s a great lactose free alternative that you can mix with water and make in a home churn.

Yes. We just had a scoop of homemade coconut sorbet tonight, super simple to make:

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 can of unsweetened coconut cream
• 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Bring the water and sugar to a boil, lower the heat to medium, and let it simmer for 10 minutes to make a simple syrup. Let the syrup cool to room temperature, then mix all the ingredients together in a blender briefly, then pour into your ice cream maker and freeze. Set the sorbet into the freezer for at least 2 hours to finish the freezing.

If you can't find coconut cream, you can just use 2 cans of full fat coconut milk, but it will be icier.

I haven't made any this year, but I have in the past. My favorite flavor I've made is a chai ice cream (just brew the tea in the ice cream base).

No, but I spent a few years working at a mom & pop ice cream place, and that ruined store bought for me for awhile. It tastes oddly waxy compared to homemade.

Some flavors I remember were coffee made with cold brew, honey + sunflower seeds, and lavender. Lavender was surprisingly good, made by steeping lavender in milk like you would a tea.

I am not, but I appreciated Brian David Gilbert's video on this! What recipes have you made lately?

https://youtu.be/tjmzfOUOw08?si=UBHWAZCOfN6vwMxK

Yes! Not to brag but I like it so much better than store bought. Technically I think what I make is frozen custard (whisk 4 egg yolks with 1/2c sugar, slowly whisk in 1 cup barely-simmering whole milk, bring to 165 and chill overnight; stir in 1 cup heavy cream and flavoring before churning).

My favorite flavorings this time of year are pear (poach very ripe peeled pears until super squishy, smoosh them through a fine mesh strainer and discard what gets left behind in the mesh) and pumpkin spice (add half a can of pumpkin when heating the base, and some allspice just before churning).

Yes! I mostly do store bought, but found a recipe based on a vegan cream which was too delicious.

It's become the go-to dessert for me to make for events.

Vegan cream, maple syrup, peanut butter, salt, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, and salted peanuts. A wonderful snickers-like ice-cream.

Man, I havent made one in a long time. My uncle would make it frequently though. Even started selling it. But he did it old school, churning in a big garbage bin full of ice and his tub of ice cream in it.