Custard bases, flavoring methods, choosing an ice-cream maker
Expanding my repertoire of awesome cooking endeavors, I’ve recently started making ice cream. But to be more technical, I use more milk than heavy cream in my recipes so I’ve exclusively been making gelato. Research suggests that more cream (ratios vary) makes the smooth, rich, fatty ice creams that we’re used to in Ben and Jerry’s or Breyers. Using the gelato ratios is healthier in terms of frozen cream consumption, but that shouldn’t be the one reason you choose gelato over ice cream recipes. But it is one good reason.
I have found experimenting with flavors that gelato (less butter fat) allows for your fresh ingredient flavors to shine. I still choose to shoot for a creamy custard base which takes practice to get right. Tempering eggs can be difficult and egg-spensive if you’re just practicing. But if your chosen flavor compliments the creamy custard well, then you can barely tell a difference between higher heavy cream ratios compared to higher milk ratios.
As an example, my creamiest gelato thus far has been lavender-honey flavored. For reasons I am not 100% sure about, this flavor produced the highest quality ice cream mouth feel yet, even though I wasn’t completely thrilled about how much the lavender infusion came through. My biggest failure was a simple vanilla (using the same cream to milk ratio) that I must have not tempered correctly or didn't re-freeze fast enough. The resulting gelato came out icy and hard.
Tempering eggs is the process of mixing the hot milk base with egg yolks in a specific effort to not scramble your eggs. This means being patient when adding the hot milk to the yolks while ensuring a thorough mix of those ingredients. You can go through a dozen eggs pretty quickly just practicing the custard base so I suggest using inexpensive eggs in your first attempts, holding onto the egg whites for omelettes, fried rice, breakfast sandwiches or other delicious eggy meals.
You can then further elevate your gelato game by using organic milk, expensive heavy cream, and if you’re lucky enough to have the source, fresh eggs. Experiment with interesting flavor combinations after you’ve mastered the custard base and you’ll be rewarded with gelato that can make you proud.
A while ago I made a simple vanilla extract using Tahitian vanilla beans steeped in Kettle One vodka. It has a wonderful aroma that imparts a more natural experience than regular store bought vanilla extract. I used this homemade vanilla extract on all my early inexpensive custard bases and was able to hone in on the skill needed to temper the eggs, learn the nuances of a Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment and figure out where my skills needed to improve. All the while still producing an amazing gelato that I am proud of.
Below are my chosen custard base ingredients used for Gelato. This is not a step-by-step instruction for making gelato, so be sure to read “Step 2 - flavoring” before you choose to get started based on my experiences:
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
Step 1 - making your custard base
In a medium saucepan, mix milk and cream. Warm until foam forms around the edges. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until frothy (I do this directly in my stand-mixer bowl using the paddle attachment or the whisk attachment). Gradually pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture gels slightly and coats the back of the spoon. If small egg lumps begin to show, remove from heat immediately.
At this point, while the mixture is still hot, I will strain the hot custard base through a strainer (not a big mesh, but also not a sieve-size mesh) to capture any bits of scrambled eggs you may have accidentally formed. And from here, your options are nearly limitless!
Step 2 - flavoring
As I described above, this is where you would add your vanilla extract to make vanilla gelato. I strain the custard base directly into a bowl that already has my vanilla extract in it; I go with 2 ½ teaspoons for the ratios listed above.
Other flavors, based on milk infusions, would require you to add the flavor during the final heating process but before the straining. For example, you can add matcha powder to make green tea ice cream - the heat helps incorporate the powder and straining after helps remove any lumps that have formed.
In my lavender-honey example, you add the oil-based infusion ingredient during the first heating and mixing of the cream and milk. I loosely followed a recipe which called for 2 tablespoons of dried lavender but if I were to do it again, I would reduce it to 1 tablespoon instead - it came out a little overpowering in the aroma and flavor, perhaps because of the freshnes of my dried lavender.
Chocolate gelato requires a step of incorporating unsweetened cocoa powder and melting milk chocolate prior to the tempering. This makes a thick, delicious chocolate milk which is then used to temper the eggs, then following the rest of the custard-base steps. Chocolate is by and large my favorite to make since you can dictate the severity of your sweetness (I would still use the sugar in the custard base if shooting for a dark chocolate gelato, rather than a milk chocolate gelato where i omit the refined sugar step) by choosing from countless brands of sweet milk chocolate. I’ve used cheap Hershey bars and expensive rain-forest supportive dark chocolate and never been disappointed with either.
Step 3 - freezing the custard base using an ice cream maker
You can find an ice cream maker at a second hand store, borrow your neighbor’s that has been sitting unused in the top shelf of the closet, or try to get a fancy one through a marriage registry listing. Either way, you’ll want to research one best for your price range - I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer so I went with the attachment for about $75.
Cuisinart brand ice cream maker seems very popular and even hard to find in some cases, but those range from about $70 for the basic to $250 for the one that has the freezer built in. If you’re not willing to pay +$200 then you’ll be freezing your ice cream bowl for 15 hours prior to the day you make and cool your custard base, which can be cumbersome by taking up space in the freezer as well as ensuring it’s cold enough to function correctly. I did see a Cuisinart ice cream maker at a thrift store for $20 so keep your eyes peeled for something like that. It’d be a steal, as long as it has all the pieces and the ice cream bowl still appears to have all it’s liquid-freezing agents locked in.
The last part to ensuring you make a good ice cream is to work swiftly after the mixing to get the ice cream in an air-tight container and into a very cold freezer - I usually pack mine into the ice maker to make sure it’s as cold as can be. If it re-freezes too slow, you can get the rock-hard icy situation that I described with one of my failures.
