Ice cream making

[Jackamus]

Thanks for the warning! I usually fill the cup/spoon and then weigh it in grams.

 

[taxlady]

Thanks for the warning! I usually fill the cup/spoon and then weigh it in grams.

I forgot to mention that the metric recipe makes slightly more. They mostly tried to keep the proportions correct and the quantities close. So, just because a conversion is a bit off, it might be fine. It was just that cream that I noticed that was way off.

 

[Jackamus]

I adjust my recipes so that they will make 1L of ice cream. I stated by making a mixture of 1.5L which after churning slightly overfilled the machine and could get a bit messy. Now I will only make a mixture that will produce 1L of churned ice cream.

 

[dragnlaw]

I too have the Cuisiart. The recipe for the Mango Ice Cream is marvelous and I don't have a problem with the measurements. I've only used the "cups" measurements so I can't comment on the ml. Browsing thru the booklet, I now realize the Mango one is not in there (there is a Yogurt one) I don't know where I got the recipe from, I handwrote it and sticky-stuck it in.

I have made the Vanilla Ice Cream (divine),
Using the Vanilla recipe I've added 1.5 Tablespoons of Instant Expresso Coffee Ice Cream. Wonderful!
I've also made the Chocolate Ice Cream. I did not care for this one it is too much like store bought Chocolate Milk which I find way too strong and sort of gaggy.

I also might mention that I use Lactose Free heavy cream (35% or Whipping Cream, if you will) and Lactose Free Milk. I will say that I generally use 2% milk and do not buy Whole Milk just to make ice cream. There may be a difference but I honestly don't notice it.

As for being too hard - I make sure to take it out of the freezer a good 15 minutes before serving.
If it is to be a "wowser" dessert for company, I prepare all ingredients either the night before or the morning of and then pop out to the kitchen halfway thru the main and get it started. It is a perfect softness for serving. I do however admit I didn't do this too often.

 

[Jackamus]

The vast majority of ice cream recipes do not include corn starch/flour. It's a thickener and not necessary.

Try this recipe.

Vanilla Ice Cream​

2 C Heavy Cream
2 C Whole Milk
6 Lg Egg Yolks
7 Tb Corn Syrup
¾ C Sugar
1½ Tb Pure Vanilla Extract

Place the cream and milk into a 3-quart saucepan, over medium heat. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the corn syrup and sugar and whisk to combine.

Gradually add the cream/milk mixture to the egg/sugar mixture in small amounts while whisking constantly.

Return this mixture to the pan. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 170ºF. Maintain this temperature for 5 minutes.

Pour the mixture through a strainer into a container and allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Place the mixture in the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store until the mixture is fully cooled.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 minutes.

Transfer the ice cream to a suitable container for freezing and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream and add the cover. Place the container into the freezer for several hours until it is fully hardened.

Thank you for this recipe.
I very carefully followed your cooking instructions. I never let the teperature go above 70ºC (170F) and kept it stirred for 5min. However it looked like it had curdled! I passed it through a strainer and forced it through with a spoon. See my photo. this doesn't seem right! Is this the reason you suggested a strainer?

 

[Jackamus]

Also I don't understand you cooling instructions. Where do you store until fully cooled if not in the fridge?

 

[dragnlaw]

are you referring to the following?
Place the mixture in the refrigerator *and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid*, cover and store until the mixture is fully cooled.

I read that as Place the mixture in the refrigerator uncovered long enough not to form condensation on the lid then cover and continue to store in the fridge until the mixture is fully cooled.

I believe the idea is covering it to protect it but also first uncovered so as to not have condensation drip down onto the mixture. IMHO

Did you finish the recipe and continue on with the mixing and freezing? What did the mixture then look like?

 

[Jackamus]

Hi,
Yes that now makes sense! I've actually just moved it from the machine to the freezer now. It looks OK but I will wait until its frozen to check it.
However what the curdling? Was that to be expected and if not what is the purpose of putting it through a strainer/sieve?

 

[dragnlaw]

I believe the sole purpose is to ensure that none of the beaten egg got turned into scrambled egg, purely on the chance the liquid was too hot when first added.
If there were slight "lumps" the sieve would remove them.
... again, JMHO

 

[Andy M.]

Looking at the photo you posted it's clear the mixture got too hot and cooked the egg in the mixture. I suspect your thermometer may be off a bit. The straining is to catch any solids that came from the heating.

 

[Jackamus]

Thank you for the suggestion. I checked the thermometer against my own body temp which was 36ºC. This is normal. I then checked against my freezer thermometer and it is also the same -10ºC. So my laser thermometer is accurate.
Maybe I let it cook for too long.
Is the object not to cook the yolks completely? What would happen if the yolks were not cooked at all?

 

[dragnlaw]

As to cooking eggs... Health Canada says that eggs must reach a temperature of at least 74°C (165°F) to be safe to eat. Further I'm reading different calculations of temperatures above ...
70 degrees Celsius = 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
170 degrees Fahrenheit = 76.666y degrees Celsius.
160 degrees fahrenheit (71.111 c) is consider safe for egg custards, eggnog, ice cream bases (according to the Egg Safety Center)

Just trying to confuse the matter a bit more.

 

[Jackamus]

LOL don't worry I'm pretty good at confusing stuff myself!
I'll go with 72ºC next time although I was using 70ºC!
I have a gas hob and I was using the smallest hob with a simmer plate on top! So I don't know what went wrong. I'll persevere and try again. The main thing is that the ice cream is still edible!

 

[dragnlaw]

perhaps you reached the temperature too fast?
Doesn't sound like you went over but getting there too fast might do it as well.

 

[Jackamus]

That's quite possible because I turn the gas up high to quickly bring it up near the correct temp then turned it down. I think next time I will set the it so the simmer plate is just a little above the target temp and then just leave it to gradually warm up. It will take a while to do that.

 

[Jackamus]

I think I have found a way to accurately maintain the correct temperature. I'm using a 1.2L Bain Marie and I can control the temp to 74ºC. I'll let you know if it works OK.

 

[Jackamus]

I just tried using my Main Marie and it worked well. However a word of caution! I was using my laser temp gun to measure the temp on the top of the mix which was quite frothy. I thought that may be the froth is a lot cooler than the liquid. So I checked with my meat temp probe and found it was almost bang-on 74ºC. There was a 20º difference! Next time I will use this prob to measure the temp.

 

[dragnlaw]

Well done!

 

[Andy M.]

Success!

 

[Jackamus]

Now that I making ice-cream I'm accumulating egg whites!
What else can I use egg whites for apart from lemon meringue pies?