How many ways can you make a basic ice cream?

[wolram]

I have never bothered much about ice cream, sort of yes i will eat one just for a change,
i bought one from the ice cream van tother day and it changed my mind, either his ice cream is different or my taste buds have changed, any ways up, question is how many ways are there to make a basic ice cream?

 

[mgb_phys]

[open]can of worms[/open]
From the presurissed vegatable oil emulsion in ice cream vans to, made on the farm in the Yorkshire dales with real cream, to genuine italian Gelato - quite a few!

 

[Borek]

A lot. I have eaten ice creams in many places in Europe, some are awfull, some are perfect.

 

[turbo]

There is a family that owned a local dairy, and about 25 years ago, they couldn't sell enough butter to get rid of all the milk-fat that they removed from milk to make reduced-fat milks. They opened a small ice cream shop, and started making ice cream to sell locally. It became a huge hit, and they shut down all other dairy operations and are getting milk-fat from other dairies and are supplying regional supermarkets and a large chain of family-owned and franchised ice cream shops. Theirs is about the best ice cream I have ever tasted. They put Ben and Jerry's to shame - easily.

 

[WarPhalange]

I made ice cream in high-school chemistry once.

 

[lisab]

One of the many jobs I held as a college student was in an ice cream shop. They made their own right there.

My favorite: pistachio. Not the green stuff you buy at the grocery store - the real thing is just white. Yummy!

Another big favorite: plain. No flavor at all, not even vanilla. Great with fresh berries.

 

[turbo]

One of the many jobs I held as a college student was in an ice cream shop. They made their own right there.

My favorite: pistachio. Not the green stuff you buy at the grocery store - the real thing is just white. Yummy!

Another big favorite: plain. No flavor at all, not even vanilla. Great with fresh berries.

When I was in HS, I was a distance runner and could eat anything I wanted without gaining an ounce. About once a week, I would treat myself to a banana split made with all French vanilla ice cream, lots of sauces and nuts. No frou-frou ice creams or flavor combinations for me - just 3 scoops of French vanilla. Then I would run home 1-1/2 miles after my treat (after running probably 5+ miles earlier). I never broke 125# until college.

 

[wolram]

I guess it just pot luck then if you get a good ice cream from a van, the one i had was creamy without being icky sweet creamy.

 

[Evo]

The best ice cream I've ever tasted was home made (by me), ice and rock salt in a wooden bucket, hand cranked. People that had never tasted home made ice cream before were going nuts. I have never found a mass produced ice cream that could match that flavor. Egg yolks, cream, sugar, rennet, cocoa and vanilla. That's it. Anything else other than those first four ingredients (except flavoring like cocoa and vanilla) and it's not the "real deal".

 

[turbo]

I guess it just pot luck then if you get a good ice cream from a van, the one i had was creamy without being icky sweet creamy.

Commercial ice creams are often made with ingredients that would never have been contemplated 100 years ago. If an ice cream has a slimy texture as it melts or leaves a cloying sweet taste in your mouth, it is crap.

 

[Moonbear]

We made homemade ice cream when I was a kid. I didn't like it at all.

But, I think I need to make another trip to Columbus to get more Graeter's ice cream! I found out that the IT guy returning from a year of working remotely from another state (family issues) used to live in OH too and knows all about Graeters. Maybe I'll get him to do a road trip with me. He didn't know there were shops in Columbus, he thought they were all in Cincinnati. We might have to cart back more for some other faculty too, though, since we were talking about it with them and telling them how much better it is than any other ice cream they've ever tried.

 

[turbo]

When I was a kid, there was a nearby dairy that kept only Jerseys and Guernseys (both VERY high-fat milkers) and the mild was unpasturized and unhomogenized, leaving us with about a cup of cream/quart of milk. We would make butter, of course, but in the summer, we would toss salt and ice in the ice-cream maker and crank up some REAL ice-cream. The best ones were made with fresh wild strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc, with some vanilla flavoring and a minimum of sugar. We'd have some bananas, chocolate syrup, etc available on really big days, like holidays, but normally, it was just "make a nice batch of ice cream" and everybody enjoyed it.

 

[fourier jr]

I was surprised to find out that Margaret Thatcher was one of the people who invented soft-serve. I didn't think she needed to make ice cream though; she's always been sweet enough.

 

[Evo]

We made homemade ice cream when I was a kid. I didn't like it at all.

Since you said your parents couldn't cook, I wouldn't give up on trying real homemade ice cream yet.

 

[wolram]

I was surprised to find out that Margaret Thatcher was one of the people who invented soft-serve. I didn't think she needed to make ice cream though; she's always been sweet enough.

Yes maggie iron milk maid.

_________________________________________________________________________

Hang about, you guys salt in ice cream?

 

[GeorginaS]

The best ice cream I've ever had, bar none, hands down, was from a little ice cream shop in Baden Baden in Germany. They served the ice cream on little silver pedestal platters with the balls of ice cream arranged in a pyramid shape. The stuff was ohmygosh-fall-over-sideways good. I have no clue who they were.

 

[lisab]

The best ice cream I've ever had, bar none, hands down, was from a little ice cream shop in Baden Baden in Germany. They served the ice cream on little silver pedestal platters with the balls of ice cream arranged in a pyramid shape. The stuff was ohmygosh-fall-over-sideways good. I have no clue who they were.

I've been to Baden Baden, too! My parents were living in Germany and my family and I went for a visit - we all loved the trip, and especially Baden Baden! Aaaaahhh, the spas...!

Didn't have any ice cream, though . Guess we'll have to go back !

 

[BobG]

One of the many jobs I held as a college student was in an ice cream shop. They made their own right there.

My favorite: pistachio. Not the green stuff you buy at the grocery store - the real thing is just white. Yummy!

Another big favorite: plain. No flavor at all, not even vanilla. Great with fresh berries.

I worked in an ice cream parlor in high school. I was the guy that made the ice cream (we were named best ice cream in Summit County that year). That was a fantastic place to work. The night managers were college freshman or sophomores and the rest of us were all high school kids (from 5 different high schools, no less). Didn't pay a lot (not even minimum wage), but that was a great gang.

Now, I make my own ice cream in a wooden bucket with the ice and rock salt. Strawberry ice cream made with real strawberries is just incredible.

I still have to play with the chocolate. Just like in high school, that seems to be the hardest to get just right. In high school, a little extra vanilla flavoring in the chocolate seemed to do wonders. With my home made chocolate, the best seems to be if the chocolate bars don't quite dissolve all the way (the flavoring comes from the unsweetened bars of chocolate plus some cocoa). If there's still tiny specks of undissovled chocolate left in the ice cream, the final product is really good.

The best is when you pull the beater blades out of the can. You can only freeze the ice cream so far before you can't turn the crank anymore. You pull the blades out of the still soft ice cream and finish by freezing the can for another couple hours (if you left the blades in, you'd have a real hard time scooping the ice cream). Since you can't ever get all of the ice cream off the beater blades and into the can, you have to clean the blades, somehow. I just hand out spoons and ask for volunteers. Eating soft ice cream off the beater blades - that's summer.

Kids love it, especially if I make chocolate. The parent that has to clean chocolate stains out of the kids' clothes - maybe not so much.

 

[Moonbear]

Since you said your parents couldn't cook, I wouldn't give up on trying real homemade ice cream yet.

Oh, probably. That wasn't really my point, but rather that just because it's homemade doesn't automatically make it good. People can make really bad homemade ice cream too.

 

[brewnog]

Wolram, find yourself some Bradwell's. Made in the middle of Derbyshire. Yum.

 

[vincentm]

I have never bothered much about ice cream, sort of yes i will eat one just for a change,
i bought one from the ice cream van tother day and it changed my mind, either his ice cream is different or my taste buds have changed, any ways up, question is how many ways are there to make a basic ice cream?

Ice Cream is my weakness, especially Cherry, Mint Chocolate chip, Pineapple, oh i could go on and on.

 

[Monique]

You should go to Merida, Venezuela, as they have over 831 flavors of ice cream.

Pumpkin, smoked trout, black beans, rice, avocado, fried pork rind
http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/news/06-28-06csm.html

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Hang about, you guys salt in ice cream?

The salt does not go into the ice cream. You surround the container of cream with ice and salt. My daughter and I made some using a small tin can inside of a larger coffee can. Fill the inner can with ingredients and the put it into the ice and salt bath, close it up, and roll it back and forth between the two of you.

 

[binzing]

Oh, probably. That wasn't really my point, but rather that just because it's homemade doesn't automatically make it good. People can make really bad homemade ice cream too.

Prolly mixed the ice and rock salt IN the ice cream ;)

 

[DaveC426913]

The salt does not go into the ice cream. You surround the container of cream with ice and salt. My daughter and I made some using a small tin can inside of a larger coffee can. Fill the inner can with ingredients and the put it into the ice and salt bath, close it up, and roll it back and forth between the two of you.

How long does that last step take?

 

[NeoDevin]

I believe the salt allows the water (ice) to be liquid at less than 0C, thus improving the cooling process.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

How long does that last step take?

About 7 years I think. But if you only count the time we spent rolling the can, I think it was 15 minutes. Here is an example of instructions. They can be found all over the net.
http://homeparents.about.com/od/recipesandcrafts/r/icecream.htm"

 

[BobG]

How long does that last step take?

In an ice cream maker, somewhere between 20 minutes to half an hour (very roughly), depending on how much you make. I have a gallon can, but 3/4 of a gallon is the most I can make if I really want a good consistency to my ice cream. I only make 3/4 of a gallon if it's a large group. Half a gallon would normally be the most you want to make.

The more salt you add, the lower the melting temperature of the ice and the faster the ice cream freezes. Too low of a temperature, though, and you start to get ice chunks in your ice cream - crystallized ice chunks of the mixture, not water. You want a nice creamy texture which means the entire mixture has too cool at about the same rate, hence cranking the beater blade through the mixture. You can shorten the time it takes to freeze by adding more salt, but you better crank faster, too. You don't want the mixture at the outside of the can to be much colder than the mixture in the center of the can.

If it doesn't get really hard to crank no matter how long you crank, it's because you didn't add enough salt. You need to add some more. Provided you didn't waste all of your ice using too high of a temperature, starting out with too little salt doesn't hurt the ice cream - it just makes it take a lot longer. Running out of ice because you didn't add enough salt means the ice cream is still too soft to put in the freezer. The ice cream will settle and you'll get some ice chunks.

I can understand Moonbear's comments about all homemade ice cream not being very good, because there's a lot of ways you can mess up the texture, especially when you first try getting the feel of just how much salt you need.

I mean, let's face it, some people can't even handle toasting a marshmallow. They get impatient and char the outside while leaving the inside raw.

 

[fourier jr]

I believe the salt allows the water (ice) to be liquid at less than 0C, thus improving the cooling process.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason. I've seen Heston Blumenthal make ice cream in a regular Kitchenaid stand mixer using chunks of dry ice.

 

[turbo]

BobG is right. My family would make ice cream in pretty large batches, with low temps, but they would also hijack us kids to crank the mix as fast as we could, and get relieved by fresh kids eager to make a high-quality product (and eat the same!).