Any ice cream experts?

[Wynn]

I love ice cream.

As a Christmas gift this past Christmas, I received an electric ice cream maker. I quickly made a batch of simple vanilla, using milk, sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream.

Worked great, texture was fantastic, tasted wonderful.

Trouble is, it left a weird coating in my mouth, it felt like I had just ingested a bowl full of fresh whipping cream.

Anyone know what might have caused that and how to avoid it? I am a little gunshy to try again, I made some sorbet that was really awesome, but am scared to try the ice cream again.

 

[college_cook]

I'n guessing that you didn't scald your cream. You can make ice cream that is truly ice cream by combining flavors and dairy, but I am a fan of ice creams that are actually stirred custards, though they don't taste at all like custard.

Whenever I make ice cream, I start with the same base; Creme Anglaise.

My ratios are pretty high because the recipe comes from a restaurant, but feel free to try to reduce it. Alternatively, you could use the full amount and have yourself about 3 quarts of some pretty great ice cream.

Creme Anglaise

30 Egg Yolks (I'd recommend large size, not med. or x-large)
pinch of salt
2 qt. heavy cream
2 qt. milk (we always used vit. d milk)
6 T vanilla extract (get good stuff, if possible)
3 cups sugar

Combine your milk and cream in a very large pot and scald. Whisk egg yolks, salt, sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl ( do NOT combine sugar and eggs before dairy is scalded). Temper your eggs by slowly adding about 1/3 of the dairy mixture to the egg mixture, whisking rapidly and constantly. Add egg mixture to pot and return pot to high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Cook until mixture reaches a temp. of 184.5 degrees, or until it reaches nappe' consistency. Immediately strain with a chinois or fine mesh strainer into a large container in a large ice bath. Chill completely in the fridge.


From the above base, all you need to do is add flavoring to achieve any ice cream flavor you want. For berry or fruit flavors, simply make a coulis. For chocolate, heat some of your anglaise enough to melt chocolate in while whisking, and then combine with the rest of the anglaise. For coffee flavor, brew about 10 cups of very strong coffee, and then reduce it slowly until it has reached a syrupy consistecy, and add it to your anglaise. If you want to mix in chunks of things like cookie dough or chocolate chips, it's best to do so b/w 5-10 minutes before the ice cream is done churning.

 

[Andy M.]

I love ice cream.

As a Christmas gift this past Christmas, I received an electric ice cream maker. I quickly made a batch of simple vanilla, using milk, sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream.

Worked great, texture was fantastic, tasted wonderful.

Trouble is, it left a weird coating in my mouth, it felt like I had just ingested a bowl full of fresh whipping cream.

Anyone know what might have caused that and how to avoid it? I am a little gunshy to try again, I made some sorbet that was really awesome, but am scared to try the ice cream again.

I suspect you churned the mixture too long, causing some of the fat in the cream to turn into butter. That is what gives you that greasy feeling in the mouth.

Churn the ice cream mixture just until it has expanded to the top of the container and stop. No more than 20-25 minutes.

Also make sure the bowl and the mix are fully chilled. The bowl must be chilled overnight.

 

[Alix]

Well you already got both answers I would have given. I too prefer the custardy type of ice cream recipe where it needs to be cooked before churning. If you are going to stick with the basic recipes where there is no cooking done, you must be careful as Andy says not to over churn. It can happen VERY easily and quickly. Blech.

 

[jabbur]

You can use half the amount of heavy whipping cream and replace with half and half. You will still get some of the richness of the heavy cream but lighten it some with the half and half. You can make a nice ice cream with only half and half but the texture won't be as rich.

 

[aguynamedrobert]

What was your ratio of whipping cream to whole milk? So basically what was your fat percentage? A high end ice cream will have about 16% butterfat. If you continue to go higher than that the fat will always coat your tounge and you will mis out of the nice flavors you created.

Fat Percentages:
Heavy Whipping Cream: 35-40% butterfat
Whole Milk: 3.5% butterfat

So what did you end up using for your liquids? All cream? some milk? what was the ratio?

Have a great day,