Gourmet Ice Cream

[ThunderSpook]

In case anyone near Portsmouth is unaware of the ice cream van on Portsdown Hill next to Mick’s, the guy who operates it has been doing it for over 30 years and makes the ice cream fresh every morning. It’s amazing! And no, it’s not vanilla I’m afraid, it’s just plain and delicious.

[Armchair_Expert]

Amazing post - so you approve then? How does the make up on the lid sit with your knowledge?

Am I buying a decent product? Certainly tastes like it!

[loskie]

I made ice cream the other week. I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker

Milk
Cream
Skimmed Milk Powder
sugar (obscene amounts)
dextrose powder (Brewing Sugar seems to be the same stuff it's all I could find)
7x egg yolks

and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

First time I've used a recipe with milk powder and dextrose it turned out the best I'd made so far

[Bill]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

Fascinating stuff.

My wife makes it without a machine, just beaten and frozen. (600ml cream, a tin of condensed milk (caramel or normal) and some crushed crunchies) So possibly I'm too much of a peasant to be able to comment.

[loskie]

I think that's similar to Kulfi that's made in the UK although traditional stuff is milk simmered for hours.

Ronaldo's Ice Cream in Ayr, I've loved since I was a kid always reminded me of ambrosia creamed rice flavour

[LeadFarmer]

If nothing else, this thread has highlighted that we have an ice cream expert amongst us, which is brill.

[Halmyre]

Mackie's Madagascan Vanilla is my go-to for shop-bought ice-cream.

For home-made it's eggs, sugar, full-fat milk, cream and vanilla extract. Nothing else!

Mr Whippy style ice-cream is an abomination.

[LeadFarmer]

Halmyre said:

Mr Whippy style ice-cream is an abomination.

I love it, but Im prepared to disregard it as actual ice cream

[Morvan]

Bill said:

My wife makes it without a machine, just beaten and frozen. (600ml cream, a tin of condensed milk (caramel or normal) and some crushed crunchies) So possibly I'm too much of a peasant to be able to comment.

Yes, there is no need for a machine.


A few years ago I was on a historical food course with Ivan Day,
I did the roasting and broiling course but during the first day we made ice cream (to be used for our meal at night) using the wooden bucket in the photo lots of ice and salt with the metal container. Ingredients in the container, keep stirring and it turns into ice cream.
https://www.historicfood.com/roasting.htm
https://www.historicfood.com/portal.htm
https://www.schoolofartisanfood.org/our-teachers/i...

[Bill]

loskie said:

I think that's similar to Kulfi that's made in the UK although traditional stuff is milk simmered for hours.

Interesting, thanks. The recipe came from a friend who seems obsessed with condensed milk, so I hadn't looked any deeper than that

[steviegunn]

Partial to a bit of Mackies myself, my current favs are:

[RobbieTheTruth]

LeadFarmer said:

Halmyre said:

Mr Whippy style ice-cream is an abomination.

I love it, but Im prepared to disregard it as actual ice cream

Same.

I'm a big Ice Cream fan.

Happy to disregard Mr Whippy but I LOVE it and would love it if someone brought out a machine for home use.

[hyphen]

loskie said:

I think that's similar to Kulfi that's made in the UK although traditional stuff is milk simmered for hours.

Ronaldo's Ice Cream in Ayr, I've loved since I was a kid always reminded me of ambrosia creamed rice flavour

Had some Kulfi ice cream earlier from a local shop, had never actually checked where it was made.

It's from Halifax. Learn something every day.

[LeadFarmer]

RobbieTheTruth said:

Same.

I'm a big Ice Cream fan.

Happy to disregard Mr Whippy but I LOVE it and would love it if someone brought out a machine for home use.

It's the kind of thing you might expect to see on Aldi Special Buys. They would see out quicker than their Kamado bbq's.

[DodgyGeezer]

RobbieTheTruth said:

Gourmet stuff like Haagen Dasz Vanilla is around 40% cream.

don't know as I'd call HD gourmet (though I do like it)

[Louis Balfour]

I am not sure whether you'd call it gourmet, but outside of Italy some of the nicest ice cream I have had has been Movenpick.

[Miocene]

Bill said:

Miocene said:

I'd thoroughly recommend Purbeck ice cream too, but I admit at what looks twice the price delivered (if you're local anyway) of the New Forest option, it's a tough ask.

https://www.purbeckicecream.co.uk

They used to do a stilton / blue cheese (can't exactly remember) ice cream which was pretty interesting!

+1 And Fortes gelateria under the Mowlem in Swanage is fantastic. The same couple run Swoon: http://www.swoononaspoon.co.uk/

Good shout with Fortes.

There is, or at least was, Barford Farm, just outside of Wimborne (north of Bournemouth) who make their own ice cream from their own cows and you can't buy it elsewhere. Incredible ice cream, but unfortunately they seem to have retired this year - hopefully someone picks it up, but given you can eat the ice cream in their gardens, I'm not sure if that'll come back.

[PugwasHDJ80]

LeadFarmer said:

If nothing else, this thread has highlighted that we have an ice cream expert amongst us, which is brill.

If this is directed at me, then i'd have to defer- I'm definitely not an expert!

[PugwasHDJ80]

Armchair_Expert said:

Amazing post - so you approve then? How does the make up on the lid sit with your knowledge?

Am I buying a decent product? Certainly tastes like it!

Well that's a complex question

the fat content at 11% isn't actually "premium" as ice cream would be defined- normally you'd need to be 14-15%

However- its dairy ice cream, so it only has milk solids in it.

I don't know the weight, but it doesn't look like it has a huge amount of over run- 120% maybe-

What they may have done is found the perfect combination of recipe and technique- the latter is SO critical here- its particularly easy in ice cream making to make really good ingredients taste mediocre.

The important point is this- if it really tastes good to you then you've got a decent product- certainly the ingredients list only tells half the story in my experience

[PugwasHDJ80]

LeadFarmer said:

RobbieTheTruth said:

Same.

I'm a big Ice Cream fan.

Happy to disregard Mr Whippy but I LOVE it and would love it if someone brought out a machine for home use.

It's the kind of thing you might expect to see on Aldi Special Buys. They would see out quicker than their Kamado bbq's.

Unfortunately its also a really quick way to kill people- ice cream mix seems to have magical powers for growing bacterial infections! You'd have people dying from E.Coli all over the place....

Someone mentioned earlier that some Mr Whippy is better than others- its all to do with the base mix. Really good Mr Whippy uses fresh, unfrozen mix and it tastes AMAZING- you just never come across it- often people use pasteurised or dried. Neither taste great.