It's Getting Hot In Here…So We're Making Ice-Cream!

Summertime is here, and albeit that we're still experiencing more cold days than hot days right now, I still think that we should be prepared for hotter days to come, by making and eating ice-cream all summer long! 

Making ice cream is relatively easy. The following tips and facts I've laid out below make it seem complicated and very involved. But I promise you, it is not!  My verbosity is to simply give a full spectrum of all that is involved in making the delicious frozen dessert that we love so much.  I can’t help it, it’s the teacher in me!

The Anatomy of Ice-cream:

The first thing one should know about ice-cream is that there are many types from many parts of the world, including the gelato from Italy or Philadelphia-style ice-cream. But the one I like to use is the:

French Style Ice-cream

• Cooked creme Anglaise base (containing egg)
• Richer mouthfeel
• More stable at room temperature

With ice-cream, the creativity begins in the flavors! And the best way to add flavor to your ice-cream base without adding other elements to the base is by infusion.

Here’s how to infuse your base:

• When using porous agents (i.e. coffee beans, nuts, mint leaves, fresh herbs, etc.) - steep in dairy for up to 40 minutes.
• When using powders (i.e. cocoa powder), spices, etc. - steep in dairy for up to 20 minutes.
• When using tea bags (or other highly tannic agents) - brew tea accordingly making sure not to over-brew, then steep in dairy for up to 15 minutes.

NOTE:

• After adding infusing agent to base, make sure to cover base to seal in the flavors. If not infusion will be lost.
• You're also going to have to re-measure the cream just before using it to form your base to replace any lost or absorbed liquid in the cream.
• If you're adding any mix-ins like nuts or spices, you should try toasting them before infusing, to help release their oils in cream.
• If you've flavoring with oils, pastes or compounds, be careful to adjust the amount of sugar you're using as these flavor agents are more concentrated without much added sugar.  For example; if you're flavoring your base with olive oil, you might need to increase the amount of sugar called for in the ice-cream recipe so as to balance the olive oil flavor throughout the ice-cream.
• For extracts and alcohols, try reducing the alcohol levels in these flavor agents by flaming or heating to evaporate the alcohol.

Here are some examples of various flavoring agents that should be added to the cream (dairy) base after the base has been chilled:

• High acid sugars: maple, brown sugars, raw sugar, organic sugar, honey, malt, molasses, and/or fructose based sugars like stevia and agave. DO NOT steep high acid sugars in dairy as acidic levels in sugar with react negatively in dairy.
• High acid dairy: buttermilk, crème fraiche, yogurt, cultured cheeses. DO NOT steep high acid dairy as it may curdle.
• High acid liquids: citrus juice, the above high acid dairies, molasses, fruit purees, vinegars, etc. DO NOT steep high acid liquids in the cream base as it may curdle.
• Inverted sugar: inverted sugars exist in nature as a liquid. Examples: corn syrups, glucose, honey, agave syrup/nectar, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, treacle, etc. DO NOT steep in dairy as the inverted sugars will lower the freezing temperature of ice cream base. Meaning- ice cream base will not set or freeze due to high sugar density and alcohol present within the base.
• Alcohol, alcoholic liqueurs and extracts: brandy, grand marnier, framboise, vodka-based (vanilla) extract, etc. As mentioned above, alcohol lowers the freezing temperature of ice cream base. So to stop this from happening, you can reduce the alcohol levels by flaming or heating alcohol to evaporate out the alcohol before adding it to base.

Once the base is made to satisfaction, the next step in the process is to chill it to 40 degrees F (fridge temperature).

If the base is too warm when trying to spin, it will spin unevenly and have a grainy texture. For best results, base should be chilled for up to 8 hours or overnight. At this point, after the base has been properly chilled, it can be spun or churned and frozen or cured.

Quick spinning tips:

Do you have an ice-cream maker? If not, you'll need one.  We use the KitchenAid ice-cream attachment.  I've also used liquid nitrogen and dry ice in some ice-creams I've made for various catered events. But unless you know what you're doing and how to handle dry ice, I strongly do NOT recommend using them.  I have to admit, the process of transferring the base into a frozen dessert with the liquid nitrogen is pretty cool!  But in the end, and for all of the trouble in procuring and handling the liquid nitrogen, I was not impressed with the end results. I really did not like and couldn't get used to the taste it rendered in the cream base.  So for me, it was much ado about nothing!  Stick with the conventional ice-cream maker method.  

Quick ice-cream machine tips:

• Fill the ice cream machine halfway with the base to allow for expansion.
• Spin until the base is soft-serve consistency. Over-spinning the base will give/render a buttery texture (especially in Philly-style ice cream). The expansion is air which is also known as OVERRUN. Overrun is the amount of air spun into the ice cream.

NOTE: Less overrun equals more dense, creamy mouthfeel.  More overrun equals lighter, fluffier mouthfeel and diluted taste.

• Mix-in additions and/or swirls go in after spinning so that:

• prepare mix-ins before hand - i.e., toast and cool nuts; poach fresh fruits in heavy syrup; or soak dried fruits in alcohol to rehydrate.

Quick deep freeze/curing tips:

• when transferring ice-cream out of machine, have a pre-chilled bowl ready
• deep freeze or cure ice-cream for up to 8 hours or overnight in freezer

There!  That's about it!  Now go off and make yourself this delectable coffee agave ice-cream!  Enjoy!

Coffee Agave Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

Anglaise base

• 16 oz heavy cream
• 16 oz whole milk (or water)
• 10 yolks
• 8 oz sugar

Flavor agent

• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 cup coffee beans (use whatever bean you desire)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar

Directions:

1. Place cream, milk, cocoa powder, coffee beans, vanilla exact and salt into a stainless steel pot and bring to a simmer and cover pot with lid.
2. With lid still on pot, let the cream steep for 40 minutes or overnight. 
3. Using a sieve, strain the beans from the cream. Re-measure the cream. If the cream is less than what you started off with (in the case of this recipe, we started off with 32 ounces of liquid, combining 16 ounces each of cream and milk), you might have to replace any lost liquid with milk or water to bring the liquid measurement back up to 32 ounces. 
4. Place the strained cream back into the stainless steel pot and bring it back up to a simmer and set aside.
5. Crack the eggs and separate the yolks in a separate mixing bowl.
6. Add the sugar to the yolks and whisk until well combined.
7. Temper the cream into the sugar-yolk mixture and mix well.
8. Transfer the custard base back into to stainless steel pot and return under medium to low heat. Cook and stir continuously in figure 8 pattern until cream begins to thicken and cream heats up to between 165 - 180 degrees F and can coat the back of a wooden spoon.
9. Pass the custard through a sieve into a clean mixing bowl (doing this helps strain the custard of any cooked eggs, etc.)
10. Place strained custard in an ice bath and let it cool down to 41 degrees. Then chill in refrigerator for up to 4 hours or overnight.
11. Remove from the refrigerator and pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturer's instruction. 
12. While the machine is still running, add the agave nectar to the ice cream in a slow drizzle.
13. After the ice cream is made, transfer into an airtight container. Cover tightly and keep frozen until ready to serve.