We’re back! After a big vacation, tromping up and down the strange lands of the United Kingdoms, we’re back and we’re pushing forward on the next batch of
400 FLAVOURS
Recipe 022: Blue Moon
I’d been interested in trying out this regional flavour for a while. I haven’t had it, being a west coast creature, but it sounded appealing. Really, I just followed the recipe from Serious Eats, so why don’t you check that out.
And the end result:
TASTING NOTES: Interesting! Sort of similar to Fruit Loops milk. It’s got a mix of flavours that keep shifting attention as you taste them, it’s a real kaleidoscope in your mouth. I’d be curious how much shifting the amounts of flavouring would tip the overall taste in a different direction.
WORTH MAKING: Yeap!
Recipe 023: Bay Leaf
The bay leaf pound cake is a delightful subtle baked good, slightly herby, slightly savoury. And this ice cream is an attempt to capture that!
Bay leaf ice cream:
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons corn starch
30g cream cheese (2 tbsp / 1 oz), softened - slightly less than usual amount of cream cheese
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1.25 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp clear corn syrup
5 or 6 dried bay leaves
Instructions:
Take 1 cup of the milk and heat it in a small pot to boiling.
Once boiling, turn off the heat and add the bay leaves to steep.
Let the leaves steep for 30 minutes in the hot milks, then remove the leaves from milk and discard.
Mix the cornstarch with two tablespoons of the milk in a small bowl, whisking to make a slurry. Set aside.
Whisk cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Set aside.
In a large pot, mix the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and corn syrup. Once the mix gets to a boil, let it boil for four minutes.
Remove pot from heat and whisk in the corn starch slurry.
Return pot to heat, have it reach a boil, and stir until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat. Carefully pour a bit of mix into the cream cheese bowl, whisking to make sure the cream cheese is melted into the mix, then add the rest of the mix.
Add bay leaf infused milk. Stir to incorporate.
Let cool, or put bowl into a large bowl filled with ice water to speed cooling.
Once cool, put into fridge for at least 4 hours.
Once chilled in fridge, churn mix until soft serve thick, about 25 minutes.
TASTING NOTES: Subtle. Intriguing. Sly and witty, a sophisticated ice cream for the 80s.
WORTH MAKING: Yes, if you’’re curious.
Recipe 024: Roasted Pineapple
A little while ago, I checked out Costco to see if the ingredients there would be cheapest there for ice cream making. Turns out, no! Real Canadian Superstore was a bit cheaper still, and Costco didn’t even have everything I usually needed (no corn syrup). But they did have a type of dried pineapple I hadn’t seen before, one with a texture similar to dried mango. I was intrigued.
Please note that in this recipe, there is a step to roast pineapple in an oven for 2 hours, so don’t start making this right before you gotta go to dinner or something.
PS: The Korean grocery story Kim’s Market had a ton of corn syrup, in big jugs with handles, for cheap.
Pineapple chunk ice cream:
Ingredients:
Big can of cubed pineapple
Handful of dried pineapple bits, to preference
2 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons corn starch
30g cream cheese (2 tbsp / 1 oz), softened - slightly less than usual amount of cream cheese
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1.25 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp clear corn syrup
Instructions:
Drain the pineapple bits. Drink the juice, that’s got vitamins.
Blend the pineapple bits into a puree.
Put puree into a flat glass oven-safe dish, and put into oven.
Heat puree at 240 F for two hours, until it is thickened and slightly browned.
Mix the cornstarch with two tablespoons of the milk in a small bowl, whisking to make a slurry. Set aside.
Whisk cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Set aside.
In a large pot, mix the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and corn syrup. Once the mix gets to a boil, let it boil for four minutes.
Remove pot from heat and whisk in the corn starch slurry.
Return pot to heat, have it reach a boil, and stir until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat. Carefully pour a bit of mix into the cream cheese bowl, whisking to make sure the cream cheese is melted into the mix, then add the rest of the mix.
Add puree. Stir to incorporate.
Let cool, or put bowl into a large bowl filled with ice water to speed cooling.
Once cool, put into fridge for at least 4 hours.
Once mixture is chilled, cut dried pineapple chunks into small bits, about the size of a pencil eraser, or to size of your preference.
Remove mixture from fridge, churn mix until soft serve thick, about 25 minutes. Near end of churn, toss in dried pinapple bits to incorporate.
Put mixture into container and into freezer, to set overnight.
TASTING NOTES: The roasting really helps bring out the pineapple’s flavour, mellowing the tartness and brining the floral and caramel notes into the spotlight. After freezing, the dried pineapple bits have soaked up some cream and are nicely chewy without being leathery.
WORTH MAKING: Absolutely. This is one of my favourite recipes I’ve made, and I’m going to make it again. Especially now that I’ve got this giant bag of Costco dried pineapple.
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you try any of these recipes. Every week I’ll be posting one (or two, or three) more, until we reach….