I am starting to recognize, however, that I while I am great at assembling my mise-en-place and still pretty good at the actual, you know, COOKING, I become an absolute spaz the second the heat is off and it's time to actually extract, decant, pour, serve, or store said cooked item.

In this case, my counter was covered with pots, knives, the ends of leeks and celery, carrot peel, and, inexplicably, I think there was a pair of socks. And I had a gallon of simmering broth on my stove. My challenge was to bring the 180 degree liquid down to a reasonable temperature before I chucked it into the Kenmore.

See, a REAL foodie would have had several gallons of ice saved up, split the stock up into smaller vessels, and dipped each of these for a few minutes into an ice bath. One night in the fridge, the "harvest" of the schmaltz, onward to its final destination in individual muffin tins (1 cup each) or in clean, tight-lidded tupperware for larger batches of soup. But this would have been impossible in my case, given that A) I am certainly not a real foodie and B) I chew ice like a beaver.

(Let me clarify that statement. I mean, "I chew ice the way I presume a beaver would chew a hunk of wood".) Just wanted to be clear on that.

Anyway, what I did next should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me: I drained the stock to my smaller dutch oven and spilled poultry viscera all over my counter. I then used the tumbler to my ice cream freezer to barely chill the mix, and then haphazardly chilled and thawed the stock, which I have presumably ruined by now anyway.

My point is: In my haste, I placed the warm ice cream tumbler, unwashed, back into the freezer.

And for most of the spring and most of the summer, the tumbler just sat there. Behind the empty Ikea ice trays, on top of the dish of baking soda that I havent changed in a while, next to the Japanese noodles from Jungle Jims... way in the back.

And, all through the obscenly hot months, i was absolutely certain I would make ice cream. And I was equally certain that I forget to rinse out the tumbler.

Okay. Anyway, in my opinion, strawberry ice cream is the most difficult of all the ice creams, especially if you make "custard-style" ice cream with egg yolks, scalded milk, the back of the spoon thing, etc.

I say this because strawberries just don't taste that great when they are heated. So if you put the strawberries in too late, you will have vanilla ice cream with chunks of frozen strawberry. Too early, and you will have ice cream that tastes like the inside of a Pop Tart.

Consistency also matters. It is important to soften the berries in a little bit of sugar, but if you leave les fraises just sitting there for too long, the sugar will yank all the water out, leaving you with a puddle of red syrup and clumps of lifeless, limp berry. Also not great.

All of which means you have to mind your timing and your temperature somewhat carefully.

Strawberry Ice Cream
3 C Half and Half
1 C Heavy Cream
1 1/4 C sugar + another 1/3 Cup Sugar
8 egg yolks
1 t vanilla extract
1 Quart Fresh Strawberries

Combine the cream and the half and half in a saucepan. Bring just to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Do not allow mix to come to a boil. When the milk reaches a simmer, turn off the burner.

Place the yolks in a large bowl, and beat thorougly until significantly lighter in color. SLOWLY drizzle in the 1 and 1/4 Cups of sugar while whisking the mixture with great vigor. Continue whisking until the mixture falls of the whisk in little ribbons rather than one mass- almost like very thin frosting.

Temper the yolk mixture into the dairy mixture. Combine the remainder.

Place the resulting mixture back on the heat, and bring slowly to 170 degrees, stirring constantly.

If you have followed the steps correctly, you should be able to dip a spoon int o the custard, wipe the back of the spoon with a finger, and the mix should basically stay in place. Try it.

Add the vanilla.

Place the mix in tupperware, cover tightly, and place in the refrigerator for two hours.

When the mixture has cooled for two hours, it is safe to prepare and integrate the strawberries. Trim the tops, core them, rinse them, and place them in a large bowl with the remaining sugar. Set aside for one hour.

After the hour passes, add to the dairy mix, stir, return to the fridge until the mixture is about 45 degrees. This usually takes all night.

Freeze in your ice cream freezer according to manufacuturer's insturctions.

Yes. I washed the tumbler the night before I made the ice cream.

Posted by Jeff at 12:45 AM:: Permalink :: (Comments Closed)

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