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mark_asphodelSo, I finally made the blackcurrant ice cream I'd been pondering for weeks.
It was hard as hell to select a recipe. I wanted to meet the following criteria:
1) Custard-based
2) Not homogenous in texture
3) No weird ingredients like apple juice
I really didn't find any; blackcurrants seem to be a jumping-off point for some very weird recipes for things that are not, technically, ice cream. And the ones that seemed promising were all no-churn... which seemed suspect, but also kind of a relief given I also have doubts about the integrity of my current ice-cream maker. Anyway, I went with this one, which encouraged more use of Creme Yvette in the cooked blackcurrant mixture. The ingredients all sound like a custard-based ice cream but an inspection of the recipe shows it's really more of a frozen mousse or semifreddo. The egg yolk "custard" isn't cooked; it's folded into both whipped cream and whipped egg whites and then the whole thing is frozen in one solid lump. If you're afraid of uncooked eggs or can't eat them for other reasons this is not the recipe for you. I'm a cookie dough fiend and I figured my eggs were decently sourced and I plowed on ahead with this three-bowl recipe.
Anyway, seven hours later I tried it. It's beautiful, especially if the idea of magenta swirls against a creamy yellow base is pleasing to your eye. The blackcurrant ribbon is a bit icy-flaky but the plain "custard" base is wonderfully velvety. It's not ice cream, exactly, but it's a delicious frozen dessert that more or less fits what I wanted from the whole blackcurrants 'n' custard idea.
So, where's the "misadventure" part come into this one?
Well, before I started up the ice cream, I brewed up some tea. My normal brewing vessel is a 2-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup, which I've owned for years. I made two cups of tea and then, as I was using good tea leaves, set the Pyrex aside on the counter for later. By the time I was cleaning up the my work area, I was anticipating a second brewing of those pretty-good Chinese tea leaves. My dairy-crazy kitty was stalking through the kitchen hoping for bowl scrapings. As I reached for a cream-coated blackcurrant stuck to the counter, I heard a sound like the crack ice cubes make when they're dropped into water-- only about five times louder.
Followed a split-second later by the sound of shattering glass. I turned around to find the Pyrex measuring cup had exploded. At room temperature, with nothing so much as touching it, it had gone completely to pieces and continued to disintegrate with audible hisses and cracks as I stood there gaping at it. Fortunately no pieces hit either me or the cat, but glass was all over the damn place. The solid glass handle had dropped down into the bin where we keep recyclable stuff. Pieces had gone straight up and come back down to land in mixing bowls the same height as the shattered cup. Sand-like grains of silica were all over the cutting board.
I have no idea what the hell happened but you can bet both the Pyrex parent company and the Consumer Protection board heard about this.
It was hard as hell to select a recipe. I wanted to meet the following criteria:
1) Custard-based
2) Not homogenous in texture
3) No weird ingredients like apple juice
I really didn't find any; blackcurrants seem to be a jumping-off point for some very weird recipes for things that are not, technically, ice cream. And the ones that seemed promising were all no-churn... which seemed suspect, but also kind of a relief given I also have doubts about the integrity of my current ice-cream maker. Anyway, I went with this one, which encouraged more use of Creme Yvette in the cooked blackcurrant mixture. The ingredients all sound like a custard-based ice cream but an inspection of the recipe shows it's really more of a frozen mousse or semifreddo. The egg yolk "custard" isn't cooked; it's folded into both whipped cream and whipped egg whites and then the whole thing is frozen in one solid lump. If you're afraid of uncooked eggs or can't eat them for other reasons this is not the recipe for you. I'm a cookie dough fiend and I figured my eggs were decently sourced and I plowed on ahead with this three-bowl recipe.
Anyway, seven hours later I tried it. It's beautiful, especially if the idea of magenta swirls against a creamy yellow base is pleasing to your eye. The blackcurrant ribbon is a bit icy-flaky but the plain "custard" base is wonderfully velvety. It's not ice cream, exactly, but it's a delicious frozen dessert that more or less fits what I wanted from the whole blackcurrants 'n' custard idea.
So, where's the "misadventure" part come into this one?
Well, before I started up the ice cream, I brewed up some tea. My normal brewing vessel is a 2-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup, which I've owned for years. I made two cups of tea and then, as I was using good tea leaves, set the Pyrex aside on the counter for later. By the time I was cleaning up the my work area, I was anticipating a second brewing of those pretty-good Chinese tea leaves. My dairy-crazy kitty was stalking through the kitchen hoping for bowl scrapings. As I reached for a cream-coated blackcurrant stuck to the counter, I heard a sound like the crack ice cubes make when they're dropped into water-- only about five times louder.
Followed a split-second later by the sound of shattering glass. I turned around to find the Pyrex measuring cup had exploded. At room temperature, with nothing so much as touching it, it had gone completely to pieces and continued to disintegrate with audible hisses and cracks as I stood there gaping at it. Fortunately no pieces hit either me or the cat, but glass was all over the damn place. The solid glass handle had dropped down into the bin where we keep recyclable stuff. Pieces had gone straight up and come back down to land in mixing bowls the same height as the shattered cup. Sand-like grains of silica were all over the cutting board.
I have no idea what the hell happened but you can bet both the Pyrex parent company and the Consumer Protection board heard about this.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 04:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 11:03 am (UTC)The question is whether this was legit boro-silicate glass that happened to bear the modern PYREX logo (which I'd believed it to be based on color) or the current formulation of soda-lime glass. Even Pyrex ain't what it used to be.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 07:11 am (UTC)I still want to make blackcurrant ice cream at some point. I found an online that sells frozen whole blackcurrants at a reasonable-ish price (although the smallest amount you can buy is 5 pounds - if I do buy them, I'll have to make preserves or something with what's left after the ice cream), but I'm a bit hesitant to have frozen stuff shipped in the summer. It can be something to look forward to in the cooler months ahead, I suppose.
That recipe does look nice. I don't really care for frozen fruit pieces, so I figured I'd just make it as I do when I make strawberry ice cream (by pureeing the fruit and the ice cream base together, that is). But swirling a fruit compote with custard sounds like an interesting way to do it too.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-12 11:02 am (UTC)My husband looked into it and apparently World Kitchen LLC has a track record of suing people who complain to the media about it. Well, I complain to the gov't, so we'll see.
But swirling a fruit compote with custard sounds like an interesting way to do it too.
I think the trick is doing what they do here and whomping some custard into the compote so the fruit mixture doesn't go totally icy in the freezer.