edible how-to
THE PERFECT SCOOP
How to make the ultimate, soul-satisfying, warm-weather treat.
WRITTEN BY ERIN MEYERING
PHOTO BY CANDICE NYANDO
Although we all scream for ice cream, have you tried preparing the sweet treat yourself?
Making your own actually isn’t that difficult. With the basic ingredients of milk, sugar, and cream, you’re almost there.
Steve Cordes of Steve’s Homemade Ice Cream in Fernley brings more than 20 years of ice cream parlor experience to the table, and he firmly believes in using the freshest ingredients possible.
“Put the good stuff in, and you’ll get the good stuff out,” Cordes says.
He also cautions against dumping loads of sugar into the mixture, insisting that it not only won’t improve the taste, but it also actually can mask the desired ice cream flavor.
“Experimenting with different flavors is what makes creating your own ice creams so much fun,” says Lara Ritchie, culinary director at Nothing To It Culinary Center in Reno.
Try anything, but keep in mind that adding different ingredients may affect the ice cream’s final texture.
Ritchie and Cordes both recommend using a high-butterfat base, especially when making a fruit ice cream.
Having a higher fat content in the cream (north of 16 percent) does not make the ice cream heavy. In fact, it makes it taste fresh, velvety, and smooth … as all ice cream should.
One final note, especially if you’re going creative: Adding alcohol, which is sometimes added to an ice cream base for flavoring, can take longer to freeze, and the final product will be softer.
“[The key is to] tweak everything to make it your own,” Cordes says.
Erin Meyering recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno’s journalism school and thinks ice cream is best served when fresh, on her patio, in the end-of-a-summer-day’s heat. Her favorite flavor is strawberry, and she definitely will be trying her ice cream scoop hand at creating her own ice cream soon.
Basic Vanilla Bean Base
(courtesy of Lara Ritchie, of Nothing To It Culinary Center in Reno. Makes 1 generous quart)
2 cups whole milk, chilled
1 vanilla bean
6 large egg yolks, cold
¾ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
Using a small, sharp knife, cut the vanilla bean in half, lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pod and place the seeds and bean into a medium saucepan. Add the milk, and bring the milk and vanilla bean mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover and let the mixture stand for 30 minutes.
Return the pan to the heat and bring it to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a metal bowl, whisk the sugar, salt, and yolks together. Gradually add the hot milk to the bowl, whisking it constantly. Return the mixture to the same saucepan, and place over medium-low heat. Cook slowly until the custard thickens and leaves a path on the back of a spoon. Be careful not to boil this mixture.
Remove custard and slowly mix in the cream. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a clean bowl. Refrigerate until cold, about one hour. Then transfer to ice cream maker and proceed per the manufacturer’s instructions. Cover and freeze mixture until firm, then serve. This will keep for up to three days in the freezer.
Lavender-Honey Ice Cream
(courtesy of Lara Ritchie, of Nothing To It Culinary Center in Reno. Makes 1 generous quart)
2 cups whole milk
½ cup honey
l teaspoon dried lavender
4 strips lemon zest
6 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon sea salt
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a medium saucepan, combine milk, honey, lavender, and zest. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the honey. Remove from heat and allow mixture to steep for 30 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and set it aside.
In a stainless steel bowl, whisk egg yolks with sugar and salt until they are pale yellow. Gradually mix in milk mixture and return it to the saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove custard from heat and stir in cream, lemon juice, and vanilla.
Chill mixture for one hour, then pour it into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
Resources
Steve’s Homemade Ice Cream
1360 U.S. Highway 95A N., Ste. 5, Fernley, Nev.
775-575-0500
Steve’s is one of the only shops left in the area that creates its own ice cream. The shop has about 28 flavors on any given day, all made freshly with the most natural ingredients possible, including a white mint chocolate chip and a strawberry.
IceCycle Handmade Ice Cream Bike Business
http://www.Icecyclecreamery.com 775-303-5787
Imagine a bicycle cart roaming around Reno, carrying handmade ice cream and using all local ingredients when possible. Sound heavenly? It’s right here in Reno, and up-and-coming IceCycle is getting creative with its flavors, including Earl Grey, Maple Bacon, and Chocolate Salted Lavender.
Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States is a new book dedicated to revealing the best, most natural, and freshest ice cream in each state — all from local ingredients found in hole-in-the-wall ice cream parlors. For details, visit Scoopadventures.com.
Coolhaus Ice Cream Book: Custom-Built Sandwiches with Crazy-Good Combos of Cookies, Ice Creams, Gelatos, and Sorbets is a new book based on a popular California ice cream truck. The book offers recipes for inventive, architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches and other treats such as Frank Behry (strawberry gelato with snickerdoodles), bourbon Manhattan, fried chicken and waffles, and vegan lychee martini. For details, visit Eatcoolhaus.com.
Strawberries and Cream Gelato
(Excerpted from COOLHAUS © 2014 by Natasha Case and Freya Estreller. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Photos by Brian Leatart. Makes about: 1½ quarts. Active time: 20 to 25 minutes)
You have a bowl of the freshest, ripest, juiciest strawberries. Sprinkle just a bit of sugar on top, and drown the berries in rich cream. Taste. Die and go to heaven. That’s what this gelato is like.
12 to 14 strawberries
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
Gelato Base (see below)
In a blender or food processor, puree strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into Gelato Base. Mix well.
Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Scrape into an airtight storage container. Freeze for a minimum of2 hours before serving.
Add-ons from the book: Suggested Cookie: Snickerdoodle (page 194)
Coolhaus Sandwich Creation: Frank Behry: Snickerdoodle Cookies + Strawberries & Cream Gelato (see Building the Perfect Sandwich, page 25)
Spicy Pineapple-Cilantro-Chile Sorbet
(Excerpted from COOLHAUS © 2014 by Natasha Case and Freya Estreller. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Photos by Brian Leatart. Makes about: 1 quart. Active time: 15 to 20 minutes)
Reminiscent of a pineapple slushy, but with a sophisticated edge, this is a lighter spin on a zippy, fruity, herbal ice cream (on page 58 of the book). Its flavor is more like a fiery and fruity Mexican salsa than a piña colada.
1 very ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, and chopped
6 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 Serrano chile, stemmed and seeded
Sorbet Base (see below)
In a food processor or blender, purée pineapple, cilantro, and serrano. Transfer pineapple purée to a bowl and stir in Sorbet Base.
Process in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Scrape into an airtight storage container. Freeze for a minimum of 2 hours before serving.
Add-ons from the book: Suggested Cookies: Snickerdoodle (page 194), Vegan Ginger Molasses (page 217), or Vegan Carrot Cake (page 212)
Sorbet Base
(Excerpted from COOLHAUS © 2014 by Natasha Case and Freya Estreller. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Photography by Brian Leatart. Makes about: 2½ cups; 2 cups simple syrup. Active time: 10 minutes)
The first step in making sorbet is simple syrup.
FOR SIMPLE SYRUP
2¼ cups granulated sugar
FOR BASE
2 cups Simple Syrup
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Pinch kosher salt
Make Syrup: in a 4-quart saucepan, combine sugar and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and chill, about 30 minutes. (Syrup keeps, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 3 months.)
Make Base: Combine simple syrup, ½ cup water, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl. Stir well. (Base keeps, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 3 months.)
Plain Custard Base
(Excerpted from the COOLHAUS ICE CREAM BOOK © 2014 by Natasha Case, Freya Estreller with Kathleen Squires. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Photos by Brian Leatart. Makes about: 1½ quarts. Active time: 10 to 15 minutes)
Use the freshest eggs available for best results. If possible, refrigerate the base for a full 24 hours — the longer, the better. We like to chill our bases in plastic or stainless-steel pitchers with airtight lids for easy pouring into the ice cream maker after chilling.
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1¼ cups granulated sugar
8 large egg yolks
In a 4-quart saucepan, combine milk, cream, and half of sugar. Set over high heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk yolks and remaining sugar until smooth, heavy, and pale yellow, about 30 seconds.
When cream mixture just comes to a boil, whisk, remove from heat, and, in a slow stream, pour half of cream mixture over yolk-sugar mixture, whisking constantly until blended.
Return pan to stovetop over low heat. Whisking constantly, stream yolk-cream mixture back into pan.
With a wooden spoon, continue stirring until mixture registers 165 to 180 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes. Do not heat above 180 degrees F, or eggs in base will scramble. Mixture should be slightly thickened and coat back of spoon, with steam rising, but not boiling. (If you blow on the back of the spoon and the mixture ripples, you’ve got the right consistency.)
Pour base into a clean airtight container and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours before using.
Use base within 3 to 5 days.
