Perhaps surprisingly for those who know us and the extent to which food and its procurement dominate our life, we had never made our own ice cream. This, despite the fact that every single member of our family (and yes, I include Charlie in this--start ´em young, I say) loves ice cream with a deep devotion.
However. I have had no complaints with my Perry´s White Lightning (except when I can´t find it, and then I complain loudly and publicly). And I have not been very motivated to make ice cream at home.
A. was, though. Specifically, he was motivated about a month ago when I went into the kitchen right after dinner to find him improvising a double boiler on the stove so he could make a vanilla custard base. He had apparently decided during dinner that he wanted to make the ice cream. He used the hand-crank ice cream maker that belonged to his grandparents. It had been languishing in our upstairs back hall for about, oh, five years now. God knows how old the thing is, but it was there, and A. wanted ice cream. So he made some.
And you best believe Cubby was on hand to lick off that extra-large paddle. And drip ice cream all over his pajamas.
It worked, and the ice cream showed great promise. There was just one teeny-tiny problem: a literal teeny-tiny hole in the bottom of the ice cream canister that allowed the salty ice water outside of it to leak in.
Not that salty ice cream is a deal breaker, but it´s not ideal. So the MiL, inspired by the fact that A. was willing to do all the work, decided to buy a brand-new ice cream maker. It arrived a few days later and A. put it to work making peach ice cream.
Cubby, of course, was again on hand for clean-up duty. With Mia's able assistance.
A. and the MiL were in ecstasies over the homemade ice cream. Cubby and Charlie made no complaints. I thought it was . . . okay.
I´m going to be stoned by every foodie in the world for saying that, I know, but the truth is that homemade ice cream is best with things like fruit. And I´m not a huge fan of fruit ice creams. Know what I AM a fan of, though? Ice cream with maple syrup. And know what´s about the best thing ever? Homemade maple ice cream.
We made a batch for a big family party we had here on Friday. With so many people, each person only got about half a cup. Which is of course plenty with ice cream as rich as this, but not really because I could eat a gallon of that stuff.
Over time, of course. A gallon all in one go would make me really sick. But it would be a satisfied kind of sick.
So before it gets too cold to eat ice cream here, we´re going to have to make more maple ice cream. And I'm going to eat A LOT of it. So there.
7 comments:
Ooo. I am totally with you. Ice cream is with chocolate. But I agree maple is pretty amazing. Fruit? Eh.
Must be a family thing.
-moi
Those hand-crank ice cream makers are just the best. I remember that so well when I was growing up--fun to make the ice cream, and more fun to eat it!
We've made it in the past, but have been making ice cream a lot this summer - I actually have a post coming up next week, but you beat me to the punch! Try mixing in 1/2 cup cocoa powder - it tastes just like a Frosty, if you're into that kind of thing.
Just for taste, I totally agree that bought ice cream is better than any homemade I've tried. Like you said, it's all about the ingredients. Nuts, peanut butter cups, chocolate fudge. Can't really get that in homemade. Oh my, now I have to go buy my favorite. And it's slow churned for less calories to boot. Awesome!
I was all into the homemade ice cream a couple of summers ago but not so much lately. But reading your post is making me want some.
Oh yes. I'm with you on the fruit thing - stay out of my damn ice cream, jerk fruit!
I made a frozen custard this summer in our ice cream maker that was THE MOST and then didn't exercise your same restraint and made myself satisfyingly ill eating it all (well almost all - Bubba had a bit).
I'd do it again, too. But this time with maple because that sounds badass.
Maple syrup in ice cream. That sounds wonderful. I made peach ice cream tonight, so the maple will wait. A little maple ice cream when the weather turns cool will be just about perfect.
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