FoodBanter.com - View Single Post

at Mon, 21 Jun 2004 18:51:14 GMT in >,
(Kate Connally) wrote :

>Alex Rast wrote:
>
>Kate Connally wrote:
>> >Why would you have to chisel it out? If it's kept at the
>> >proper temperature for ice cream it shouldn't be too hard.
>>
>> But any time you use any heating device to "soften" ice cream
>> (including setting it out on the counter), you're going to get uneven
>> heating, and generally some melting.
>
>That does not really happen. If you do it right
>there is no melting, just softening - enough to be
>easily scoopable.

The edges of the container - closest to the place where the temperature is
larger than that of the initial temperature of the ice cream, are
inevitably going to heat faster than the center, and if that external
temperature is above freezing, they will melt. So you'll have a still-solid
center, a soft "jacket" around that, and a melted rim around that.

If you use a microwave, you're going to exaggerate this problem, because a
microwave contains hot spots which will cause differential heating through
the container in rather unpredictable locations.

>> Personally, I prefer no melted ice cream
>> whatsoever. ...

>Me, I actually give my bowl of ice cream some more time
>in the microwave after scooping it to cause some melting
>(it's okay here because I'm going to eat it, but it wouldn't
>be okay if it were the whole carton of ice cream from which
>I was going to take a portion and then put the rest back
>in the freezer). I like to have my ice cream about the
>consistency of frozen custard (soft-serve) which I feel
>to be ideal for texture and flavor. I then sort of mash
>the melted part into the still fairly solid part until
>I get that texture.

My sister says that a lot of people like to do this. To me, however, this
seems like a circuitous method of achieving a texture that you could get
using different formulations. I thought from your previous posts, that you
preferred the very dense, hard consistency of super-premium, but it seems
that this is not so - that you prefer a texture that more closely
approximates that of Italian ice cream (gelato). Given that this is the
case, why not make/buy that? If it's exactly the texture of soft serve that
you like, why not, in turn, make/buy soft serve? Finally, if you want an
even softer consistency, this is a "semifreddo". Same thing applies.

Is there a particular appeal to the process of letting ice cream melt and
then stirring it around? I'd like to know what makes people choose this
method over simply using the product that has the desired texture at the
outset.

>> > Again - don't know or
>> >care about the fat/air ratio.

It's probably not necessary for the average person to know the specifics of
fat/air ratio. But I think it would be helpful for the average person to
understand that the way in which the fat/air ratio interacts in order to
create a range of different textures isn't reducible to a simple linear
formula.

....
>As for the ice creams I make, I know what recipe makes
>the best base and that is what I use.

As I said, I don't believe it's one-size-fits-all when it comes to ice
cream flavours. Thus I don't believe it's possible to develop a
standardised "base" to which you simply add flavourings - you have to tune
each recipe specifically to the flavour being made in order to get the best
results. Have you experimented with different basic formulations for each
different flavour? Or have you experimented with either different
formulations in only one flavour or different flavours in only one formula?
If so, it might be worth giving a shot at experimenting with what effect
each of different formulations have on the outcome of different flavours.

>> >Yeah, if you want to mortgage your house to buy a vanilla bean.
>> >Do you know how much those things cost???? Yikes!!!!!
>>
>> $ 1.59 in the bulk bins at my local co-op. And the beans are
>> super-fresh and plump.
>
>Where the hell do you live????? Vanilla at my local
>co-op bulk foods place is outrageously expensive and
>they are way cheaper than supermarkets. They keep the
>vanilla beans under lock and key rather than putting them
>out in the bulk spices section because people would steal
>them.

Seattle. Pretty much all the co-ops out here keep vanilla with all the rest
of the bulk spices.

>> Even if they were up at $5-6, I would consider this a relatively
>> trivial expense (after all, how much, really, is $5.00?)
>
>Well, to me it's a lot. Must be nice to be rich.

If $5.00 is really so much, why buy ice cream at all? If you are so hard up
for cash that $5.00 is a major expense in an absolute sense instead of just
a relative sense, then it would seem to me that getting ice cream at all is
a luxury you can't really afford to indulge in.

If it's only expensive in a relative sense (i.e. that on a per-use basis
the price of extract is less than that of a bean), my point is that unless
you're making ice cream so routinely and frequently that you'd use up a
considerable number of vanilla beans on a monthly basis, the extra cost of
buying vanilla beans would hardly be a significant fraction of your monthly
income. Therefore it wouldn't be worth much trouble trying to economise on
vanilla.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)