Recipe: Classic Baked Mac & Cheesy

 I adapted this recipe from Murray’s Classic Mac & Cheese and the Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe from Joy of Cooking.  My version is a little more rustic; I simplified the instructions and techniques and made a few substitution suggestions. I also provided metric conversions for those who use it.

This recipe uses a LOT of cheese, but it makes 8-10 servings. It's delicious and decadent, and I tend to think of it as a celebration food, made for a feast day or a birthday dinner.

Pasta:

• 1 lb / 450g  elbow macaroni (Feel free to substitute anything bite-sized that has nooks and crannies that can trap the cheese sauce. You shouldn’t have to cut the pasta or twirl it around your fork)

Cheeses:

• 6 oz / 170g Gouda
• 10 oz / 285g Cheddar
• 6 oz / 170g Fontina (or Gruyère, Swiss, or Provolone)
• 8 oz / 225g Taleggio, rind removed (or Muenster).

• Or: 30 oz / 850g of your favorite cheese(s).  Steer clear of non-melting cheeses.

Rustic Mornay Sauce:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 qt / 950 ml milk
• 8 tbsp / 113g  butter
• 1/2 cup / 65g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Toppings:

• 1 lemon, zested
• 3 tbsp / 42g butter
• 1 cup / 55g panko breadcrumbs
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme (minced) or scant teaspoon dried thyme
• Black pepper (to taste)
• Paprika, optional (either sweet or smoked).

Instructions:

1. Grate all cheeses and combine, and divide the mountain of cheese in half. Pre-heat your oven to 350°F / 175°C.
2. Melt 1 tbsp / 14g of the butter in a pan and saute the onion until it is slightly browned. Add the bay leaf, garlic,  and milk, and heat until milk is hot, but not boiling. Turn off the heat.
3. In a separate saucepan, melt the remaining 6 tbsp / 98 g of butter and slowly add the flour, whisking to combine, and cook for 2 minutes. Ladle in the warm milk mixture into the roux, whisking constantly, until combined and smooth. Discard the bay leaf.
4. Add the nutmeg, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.  Add half the grated cheese, and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat.
5. In a separate pan, cook the macaroni according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Aim for slightly al dente. Drain and place macaroni in a bowl. Add the remaining grated cheeses and toss to combine.
6. Pour the Mornay sauce over the macaroni and toss to combine. 
7. In a small pan, melt 3 tbsp / 42g of butter and add the panko breadcrumbs, thyme, and lemon zest.  Add black pepper and/or paprika, if using.
8. Place the macaroni & cheese mixture into a shallow baking dish (a lasagna pan works well) and top with the breadcrumbs.
9. Bake for 20 minutes and the breadcrumb topping is browned and serve immediately.

Reheating:

• Microwaving works, but the bread crumbs will not be crisp.
• Oven bake again, but it takes a long time to get hot through. Cover with foil for the first half, then remove the foil for the last 5-10 minutes.
• Best way: Microwave until warm, then in a small, oven-safe dish, airfry at 350F/175C for about 5-10 minutes (convection should be on).  

Recipe: Maroilles Cheese Tart (Tarte au Maroilles)

When I was researching my grandparents' experiences in WW2, I came across descriptions of this traditional dish from northern France. It sounded so good, I wrote it into the story. I researched recipes, did some conversions, and cobbled together this recipe, which I think is reasonably authentic.

Maroilles is hard to find in the US - I had to order it from a cheese shop in New York City that imports it, and have it overnighted to me (yes, that was expensive, and so we offset the shipping cost by buying a LOT of cheeses, which was a lot of fun, but my arteries are probably not thanking me). I've provided substitution suggestions below (Muenster is probably the closest widely available cheese on this side of the Atlantic).

Prettiest dish I've ever made

Dough Ingredients:

• 2.25 teaspoons or 1 packet of active dry yeast
• 4 fl ounces (120 ml) of milk
• 2.25 cups (280 g) flour
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp (60 g) butter
• 2 tsp sugar

Filling Ingredients:

• 10-12 ounces (280-340g) of Maroilles cheese (or a Muenster or maybe Sharp Cheddar. Look for a local pungent, soft-ripened, washed-rind cow's milk cheese.  Any not-too-hard, slightly creamy/funky cheese will be delicious in this tart)
• 8 fl oz  (240 ml) of crème fraîche*
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2 generous pinches ground cumin, or 1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.
• Sprinkle of paprika (preferably smoked), optional

1. Leave the milk and butter out until it is room temperature.  The butter should be very soft.

2. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the milk, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Beat the eggs into the milk.

3. Place the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a standard mixing paddle, and make a well in the center. Pour the milk mixture into the well, and mix well.

4. Work butter into the dough. 

5. As soon as ingredients are well combined, switch to a dough hook or knead by hand for 5 minutes. The dough should be sticky and stretchy.

6. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes or until doubled in volume.

7. Butter and lightly flour a 10” (25 cm) diameter baking dish, springform pan, or even a cast iron skillet. Ensure the sides of the dish are well buttered/floured.

8. Reserve a ping-pong ball-sized ball of dough (no bigger than 1.5" or 3.75 cm). On a floured surface, roll out the remaining dough until it’s big enough to cover the bottom of the dish.  According to French sources, it should not climb the edges, but should sit flat in the bottom of the dish. Place the ball in the center (it's to prevent the cheese custard from pooling in the center).

9. Let the dough rest another 30 minutes.

10. Preheat oven to 375F (190C).

11. Beat the egg, egg yolk, and creme fraiche together, season with black pepper and cumin or nutmeg.

12. Scrape off the thickest/hardest parts of the rind, and slice the cheese thinly.  Spread nearly all of the cheese on the dough in the tart pan. The remaining cheese should be cut into smaller chunks.

13. Spread the egg mixture over the cheese, and place the remaining cheese chunks on top (it creates a nice texture).

14. Sprinkle with paprika if using.

15. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top is bubbly and browned.

Serve with a local craft beer (or cider or wine), and a fresh salad.

Variations: You could try including asparagus, sauteed leeks, or caramelized onions under the cheese. I've also seen suggestions for crushed walnuts.

* Crème fraîche can be hard to find in the US, particularly if you don't live near a major metropolitan area. It's VERY easy to make. Place a pint (470 ml) of heavy cream and 2 tbsp of buttermilk with active cultures into a canning jar and give it a good stir. Screw the lid on, and place somewhere warm for 12-24 hours (aim for about 80F (27C). Inside the oven with the light turned on is a good place to try. Check after 12 hours, and if it's not nice and thick, leave for another 4-12 hours until it's got the consistency of sour cream, then refrigerate. It lasts about a week in the fridge. It can be frozen, but freezing makes it grainy, so it should only be used for cooking after thawing.

Recipe: Maple Bourbon Ice Cream with Raspberry Ripple

This recipe is pretty special because we made the maple syrup and raspberry jam ourselves from trees/canes in our own yard.

I adapted Max Falkowitz's Maple Ice Cream recipe from Serious Eats, but used my own base recipe and substitutions.  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup real maple syrup (Grade A or B)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp bourbon (optional)
• 1/2 cup (or so) of old-fashioned raspberry jam (preferably seedless). Can substitute store-bought, but look for one that has as few ingredients as possible (ideally just berries, sugar, lemon juice or ascorbic acid. Avoid low sugar varieties as they might freeze too hard).

Custard Instructions:

1. Place cream, milk, yolks, and maple syrup in a saucepan with a cooking thermometer.
2. Stirring frequently/constantly, raise the custard to 175-180F. Remove from heat immediately upon reaching 180. 
3. Chill until very cold (if using a compressor ice cream maker, this step may be omitted or shortened).
4. Place the custard in the ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add bourbon at the end when the ice cream is the consistency of soft-serve.
5. Remove the dasher from the churn and dollop in jam and barely stir. Pack in freezer containers and transfer to the freezer for hardening off.

Substitutions for raspberry jam and other flavors:

• Candied pecans or walnuts
• Broken pieces of ginger snaps
• Peach preserves/jam ripple
• Candied ginger
• Omit the bourbon
• Increase the salt to one full tsp for a salted maple ice cream.

Recipe: Banana brown sugar ice cream with peanut brittle chunks

    This was just such a revelation, I decided to share the glory that is fresh banana ice cream. It's wonderfully smooth and delicious, and tastes like bananas and not like yellow Laffy-Taffy. 

I adapted Dana Cree's Banana Ice Cream in Hello, My Name is Ice Cream, but used my own techniques and substituted brown sugar for regular sugar. I got the idea for the flavor from Ice Creams, sorbets, and Gelati: The Definitive Guide, but I didn't follow their recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 very ripe bananas (yellow with lots of black marks), peeled and cut into 1" chunks
• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup liquid sugar (tapioca syrup, glucose, corn syrup)
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-1.5 cups of peanut element, broken into small pieces (see below for recipe)

Instructions:

1. Peel and slice the bananas and set aside.
2. Place cream, milk, yolks, and sugars in a saucepan with a cooking thermometer.
3. Stirring frequently/constantly, raise the custard to 175-180F. Remove from heat immediately upon reaching 180. 
4. Quickly add the banana chunks, and weigh them down with a plate or lid, to keep them submerged.
5. Cover and let steep for at least two hours, but up to overnight.  If leaving for more than 2-3 hours, place custard in the refrigerator after 2 hours.  Give custard a jiggle every so often.
6. Using a slotted spoon, remove the banana chunks, or pour custard through a mesh strainer.  Add vanilla and salt.
7. Freeze ice cream according to manufacturer's instructions. 
8. Add peanut brittle at the end of the churn.
9. Enjoy!

    Bananas: Once you remove them from the custard, you might consider making them into banana bread, or cut them smaller and add to pancakes.

    Peanut elements: 

• Peanut Brittle: you can use any recipe that you like. Break enough of it into small pieces to make 1.5 cups. The remaining should be devoured because it's delicious when it's fresh.   I made a half recipe of Spruce Eats Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle. 
• Candied peanuts: This is a little easier to make, and less messy, and there's no need to break them up. I use this recipe.
• Mazapan: This Mexican candy is a great addition to ice cream. If you overprocess it (as I do, as we prefer it that way), it's a little like the center of a Reece's peanut butter cup.

Adventures with Tlayudas

 Ever since I saw this video ...

... I have had a hankering for tlayudas.

    However, I live a long way from Los Angeles and even farther from Oaxaca. There are very few places in Minnesota that work with fresh masa, let alone make large-format corn tortillas.  In fact, burrito-sized corn tortillas are so unusual in the United States that most recipes direct you to substitute a flour tortilla, which is wrong, wrong, wrong.

    Tlayudas at 12"-14" in diameter (30-36 cm) seem to be a cross between a giant quesadilla, a tostada, and a taco, but it's cooked over open flames. It's sometimes described as "Mexican pizza" but the comparison seems too simplistic -- that's like describing avocado toast as a mini pizza.

    Anyway, there's not a lot of guidance about making Tlayudas from scratch, but here's what I know:

• Instead of a ball of masa that is ping-pong ball-sized (as for a regular corn tortilla), you use a ball of corn dough the size of a tennis ball.
• You make it a little thicker than usual (about 3 mm thick)
• You cook it until it's semi-toasted, harder than a soft taco, but softer than a tostada.
• It's cooked over a charcoal fire and flames
• Toppings include a thin layer of asiento (unrefined lard), black bean refried beans, cheese and salsa, but also anything else you might like.

    There seem to be two main ways of serving it: folded over (it's just soft enough to fold), topped with a slab of pounded-thin meat, which is served as a meal for one person, or open-faced, crisped up like a giant tostada, and topped with more goodies, which is most often shared. 

    One: the tortilla. I had to buy an extra-large press, and I found this one on Amazon. Note: it weighs 18 pounds. I'm more interested in this one from Masienda, but it's so big and heavy (40+ pounds) that I wanted to see if I liked tlayudas well enough to invest in one.

    Two: the masa. I've got the setup for nixtamalizing my own corn and starting from fresh masa, but a good masa harina, such as Bob's Red Mill, or Masienda brand, would work fine, as would the old standby Maseca (not the kind for tamales, though), which is available in most grocery stores.

    Three: the asiento.  Yeah, as a vegetarian, that's not happening in my kitchen. I've learned that to adapt meaty recipes, you can't just leave out the meat; you have to replace the flavor with something else.  So I decided to make a mixture of a good olive oil and enough butter to make it solid but soft at room temperature, infused with roasted garlic. Basically, it's a spreadable Mojo de Ajo.

    Four: the smoke.  Masa, particularly after you press it, is delicate, and the bigger the tortilla, the esier it is to munge it up.  You have to be pretty careful with it until it's cooked slightly, which makes it much stronger. So, I'm planning to par-cook the tortillas, just to the blanda stage (blanda is what you call a giant tortilla when it's cooked to be soft like a soft taco) on my griddle or comal, just long enough so it can survive the trip outside to the grill, where I will take it to the tlayuda stage (semi-crisped). That will infuse the giant tortilla with a bit of a smoky flavor.  I'll freeze them, and when I want a tlayuda, I'll take the tortilla out of the freezer, heat it up briefly on my stove, top it, and then serve.

I will keep you informed on how things go.

Bibliography

• Netflix Street Food: Latin America, episode 3: Oaxaca.
• Gaviria, Jorge, Masa, p 209
• Overa, Enrique. Tu Casa Mi Casa, p 26

Mojo de Ajo (Garlic Oil Sauce)

I found this recipe in a vegan taco cookbook, and it adds fantastic flavor to a wide range of dishes. It's not a vegan recipe, per se, just a normal recipe that happens to be vegan.

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups of a good, fruity olive oil
• 2 cups of peeled garlic (this is a LOT).
• 2 tsp of coarse salt 
• 1 cup lime or orange juice

Instructions

1. Pour the oil, garlic, and salt into a saucepan
2. Boil the garlic until it turns golden and is soft enough to mash.
3. Mash the garlic with a potato masher.
4. Carefully stir in the citrus (it may bubble and sizzle).
5. Boil for another 10 minutes, stirring regularly (the garlic will sink after it's mashed)
6. Let cool, stir, and transfer to a jar. 
7. Store at room temp (3 months) or in a cool dark place (6 months)

To make a spreadable version: substitute ghee/clarified butter for half of the olive oil. Here's how you clarify butter (it's very easy).  At room temperature, it will be very thick, but still liquid, and the garlic will still sink, so once it's cooled to room temperature, transfer to the fridge (still in the pan) and chill overnight. Remove from the fridge, stir the now solid mixture to distribute the garlic, and transfer to a jar. Keep refrigerated.  If you let it come to room temperature, it will re-stratify, and you'll need to chill and stir again, if so.  

If you need it to be spreadable at room temperature, increase the percentage of ghee. 

To keep it vegan, use refined coconut oil.

You can add other yummy flavoring agents like black pepper, cumin, or chili flakes to taste.

Recipe: Roma's Neighborhood Soup (AKA: Chicken noodle soup with egg drops) - Meaty and Meat-free Versions

     My grandma, Roma Lubinski, was a fabulous cook, and when my mother and aunts were growing up, Grandma Roma often found herself with a bunch of neighborhood children running through her house. Having gone through the deprivations of WW2, she simply couldn't allow a child to go hungry.

    So, she invented an inexpensive, fast, and easy soup that someone dubbed "Neighborhood Soup" (because she was feeding the neighborhood!), and the name stuck.  My mom, her sisters, and all of their friends loved it, often requesting the soup if they happened to be visiting. It is also great when you're feeling under the weather.  

I emailed my mom and aunt and got the recipe, and now I'm sharing it with you. 

Note: I'm still refining the recipe, so it might change a little over the next few weeks.

Egg Drops (both versions below):

My grandmother's recipe was based on the Austrian dish Eierflockensuppe, or "egg flake soup," in that she mixed flour into the eggs before dropping them into the boiling broth.

Beat 2 eggs thoroughly. Add 1 tbsp of water, and 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour into the egg mixture, and beat well.

Bring the soup to a gentle boil, and drizzle the egg mixture into the broth, stirring slowly and occasionally. For chunkier egg drops, spoon them in without stirring.  If it gets crowded, just push the already hardened egg drops aside to make room. Simmer for 3 minutes and serve.

Instant version (meaty):

Prepare egg drops (see above) and set aside.

Make Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup according to the manufacturer's instructions.  After the soup has simmered for 1-2 minutes, add the egg drops. Simmer until the noodles are cooked, and then serve.

Homemade version (meat-free or meaty):

I've been a vegetarian for 25 years, so when I got a hankering for Neighborhood Soup, I developed a meatless version, which is a little more involved since pre-made vegetarian chicken noodle soup mixes don't exist.  So, from scratch it is. However, for those who eat meat, use real chicken and chicken broth, where the substitutes are listed: 

• Chicken substitute of your choice, preferably one that doesn't have breading (I like Gardein chicken products, but small cubes of tofu will do in a pinch). 
• Carrot, 1 large, sliced
• Celery, 1-2 stalks, sliced thin
• Onion, 1small, roughly diced
• Frozen peas (optional) - 1 cup
• Garlic, sliced - to taste (lots!)
• Fat (butter or olive oil) - 2-3 tbsp
• Umami flavor to taste (about 1/4-1/2 tsp of MSG, or 1+ TBSP of miso, or 1 tsp mushroom umami seasoning blend)
• Seasoning to taste (1/4 tsp - 1 tsp of some or all of the following: turmeric, rosemary, thyme, red pepper flakes)
• Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base
• Fine egg noodles - 6 ounces
• Parsley, finely chopped - 1/3 cup fresh, or 1 tbsp dried
• Chives, chopped - 1/4 cup (optional)
• Fresh ground black pepper - to taste
• Lemon - squeeze a tsp or so over the top of each bowl before serving (optional)

1. Prepare the chicken substitute as per the manufacturer's instructions. Cut it into small chunks and set aside.
2. Prepare egg drops (see above) and set aside.
3. Place carrot, celery, onion, and fat into the bottom of the soup pot, and saute until slightly browned. 
4. Stir in umami flavoring and seasonings, and 4 tsp of Better than Bouillon (this is about 1/2 the amount called for on the jar, but it's very salty). Add the peas if using.
5. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Taste the broth - if it's not flavorful or salty enough, add additional Better than Bouillon base, 1 tsp at a time, until it tastes right. Bring to a simmer, and cook until carrots are almost soft.
6. Add egg noodles and cook at a full boil for 1 minute.
7. Add egg drops (see above) and cook for 3-4 minutes (the noodles should be slightly al dente). 
8. Add the chicken substitute, black pepper to taste, parsley, and chives.
9. Ladle into bowls and squeeze a little lemon over the top of each bowl.

Note: You can use whatever size or style of noodles you like, but you will need to adjust the timing somewhat - add the egg drops about 3 minutes before the end of the noodle cooking time.

The Nixtamatic - A review of the Ford F150 of the corn grinder world

My freshly-unboxed Nixtamatic

    As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been making tortillas in various forms for nearly 15 years.  

Coincidentally, it was twelve years ago today, that the very last bites of food my Dad ever ate were from a taco I made for him on a homemade tortilla.  I will always remember seeing his eyes widen as he chewed and hearing his raspy, "Oh, it's good!"  He died four days later of a long-term illness, and that dinner remains a treasured and bittersweet memory. But I digress.

    So, anyway ... the hardest part of making tortillas (or any corn-based product) is grinding the corn. Turning partially-cooked corn into a meal is a lot of work. When I started experimenting with making tortillas from actual corn (instead using a dried corn flour product called Masa Harina) I immediately rejected using a metate - I just knew it would kill my back. Besides, where would I keep a very large stone mortar and pestle? 

    For those curious about metates, here's a longish video demonstration if you'd like to see it in use. Skip to about the 4-minute mark and watch for a few seconds to see the motion:

    Pretty cool, huh?  But definitely not for me.

    For my first attempt at fresh masa, I milled the corn with my food processor, but it's a terrible way to grind masa - it dulls the blades and results in a wet concoction that is more batter than dough, and you have to amend it with masa harina to soak up all the excess water. That felt like defeating the purpose of making fresh masa, and I really wanted my food processor blade to remain sharper than a butter knife.

    My next grinding tool was an inexpensive Victoria Molino ($50) that I ended up using for the next six years.  But hand-cranking partially cooked corn is enough work that it limited the amount of masa that I was willing to make.   I tried out the Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe, and while it's a very nice dry grain mill, no amount of retrofitting makes it actually good for masa-making (it's even more work than the Victoria!).

    Amazon has tons of electric wet mills for sale, but they were $200-$300 and had terrible reviews, so I doubted their durability.   There were a few mills intended for dosa- and idli-making that looked like good products, but they had a very small capacity, requiring grinding in waves or produced a very wet dough requiring masa harina to dry it out.  

    The next step up was the Nixtamatic. One thing I liked about that unit was that it was specifically designed for masa.  It was just expensive enough at $500 that I questioned whether it was a good idea for a hobbyist like myself. Plus there were no US-based distributors, so I would have to import it myself by purchasing it directly from the company and having them ship to me. But, due to the distance and language barrier, support for the product would be limited and expensive. But they've been in business for many years, so if I do need support, it's there.  But the price was high enough that I hesitated, and kept making do with the Victoria.

    Then my beloved Masienda released the Molinito, an $1800 grinder with stone burrs. The damn thing weighs 100 pounds (45 kg) and is about the size of a really large microwave, but taller.  I really wanted one, but that was just a huge amount of money, and really out of our budget, and I'd have to give up a lot of counter space. And, the shipping from Los Angeles to Minnesota was pretty expensive - about $200 all by itself.  Here's a little video (skip to about 7:00 to see it in action):

    The Molinito is rated for commercial use, so ... overkill. I could sell it if I didn't end up using it, but still... it was huge. And heavy. And expensive.   I hesitated even more than with the Nixtamatic, and years slipped by while I continued to use my Victoria.

    Then came time for this year's bonus, and I suggested using it to upgrade the Victoria.  My husband also likes masa-based food, so we decided to go for it, and I started researching molinos yet again. I found out that Masienda was discontinuing the Molinito, and I had strong misgivings about buying an expensive discontinued product - how would they support it once they ran out of replacement milling stones, for example?   

    I decided that the Molinito was not in my future, and went back to the Nixtamatic.  There are very few of them in the United States, and the reviews are mixed.   Steve Sando (of Ranch Gordo beans) got one back in 2008, but says he doesn't use it much anymore.  At least two guys on Reddit deemed it crude, and stated that the grinding burrs were made of badly-cast aluminum (they are wrong - more on this later). Others complain that it doesn't grind finely enough. 

    Some people seem to like it, but no one is raving about it.  But it's been around for at least 20 years (if not much longer), and it's still being made and sold, so it's probably a decent product, right?   It's also a mere 31 pounds (14 kg), so if I need to move it myself, I can.   

    So, I ordered one. The shipping was painfully expensive (almost as much as the unit itself) because transporting a 40-pound (18 kg) package from Southern Mexico to the Northern US is just not cheap. UPS got it to me in only two days, and I don't have an unboxing video, but Nixtamatic did a GREAT job packing it - it was double-boxed, with sturdy baffles between the layers of cardboard.

    Now, let's talk about what it is, so any of my readers who are considering one have their expectations set appropriately: it's basically a Victoria Molino, but with POWER. If the Victoria is a 1-speed bicycle, the Nixtamatic is a Ford F150.  It has a hopper with an aggressive auger ("worm") that pushes the corn between two grinding plates, and the output is exactly the same quality as what comes out of the Victoria. If you want it more finely ground, you must put the masa through again, and you have to kind of push it through that second time. It's easier to clean than the Victoria, and it's FAST. It grinds 2 pounds (about a kilo) of nixtamal in less than ONE MINUTE.  Holy sh-t.

    Yes, the hopper is made of sand-cast aluminum, but that's not a bad thing - it's massive and would be very heavy if it were steel or iron. But the grinding plates themselves are made from cast iron (a magnet sticks nicely to it).  I'm not going out on much of a limb when I assert that they've always been made from cast iron.  No one would ever use aluminum to grind, well, anything - it simply isn't durable enough.  

It lives on a wheeled stainless-steel table.
Out of the way when not in use,
easy to get it to an electrical outlet when it is.

    You can make tortillas with one pass of the Nixtamatic, but you'll get a puffier tortilla that has more pliability upon reheating if you grind the masa a second time.   But if all of the tortillas will be eaten in one sitting, I wouldn't bother running it through again.  A single grind results in tortillas that are delicious and pliable enough to not break when served immediately.   

    Here's a short video we made showing it in use. Yes, it's just as loud as it seems in the video (though you can keep the sound off if you like):

        One of the benefits of easy nixtamal-grinding is that I'm making a lot more masa-based recipes. In the month we've had the Nixtamatic, we've made tamales, tetelas, empenadas, tortillas, and arepas.  Before we got that beast, I made tortillas maybe once a month.  Now I'm grinding corn every week.

    And yeah, I love it.

    If you want to acquire a Nixtamatic of your own and don't live in Mexico, reach out to the company directly and fill out their online contact form here: https://www.nixtamatic.com.mx/contacto.php. They will provide the price and shipping estimate (based on your zipcode). I paid via PayPal, though they may be take other payment methods.  You can also call them directly, but if you are calling from within the US, you will need to append "011-52-" in front of the phone number listed on their site.   If you don't speak Spanish, when they pick up, say "Buenos días. ¿Hablas inglés, por favor?" and they will transfer your call to someone who speaks English.

Grocery Store Tortillas are like Chevettes

     For aficionados of corn tortillas, I offer this analogy:  eating a grocery store tortilla is a bit like driving a Chevette*. It'll get you where you are going, but it's uncomfortable and not much fun to drive.  And here's the weird part - people are driving Chevettes around but think they are behind the wheel of a BMW.

    I've been making my own tortillas for nearly fifteen years, and early on, I used masa harina (corn flour made from nixtamalized corn that has been dried and milled to a very fine consistency) to make the dough, and tortillas made from masa harina offer quite an upgrade over commercial corn tortillas (think a nice new Toyota Camry, reliable and pleasant to drive, but not exactly fun).

    But tortillas made from fresh masa, now that's the true BMW of the tortilla world.   They are pliable (you can crumple them in your fist, and when you let go, they flop open again without splitting), and if they are made right they are pliable even when reheated. They also have a wonderfully strong corn flavor and aroma.   But making them is undeniably a lot of work, particularly if you don't have the setup for it.

    I started making my own masa about 6 years ago, after my daughter got back from a school trip to Costa Rica and had tortillas made from fresh masa during a homestay with a Costa Rican family.  She urged us to try making them, because they were just so good (she was right).

    You start by nixtamalizing the corn, and that part's easy - you just cook the dried corn in an alkaline bath (about 1:3 corn to water by weight, plus a couple of heaping teaspoons of cal/pickling lime)  for 30-45 minutes, then let it sit overnight.

    Then you grind it. That's the hard part.   

    Over the years, I used the following methods: 

• The food processor (terrible - it can be used, but it dulls the blades, and to get the masa finely ground enough, you have to add a lot of water, and that results in a watery dough more akin to oatmeal in consistency. To turn it into dough, you have to add masa harina to soak up the additional water.
• An inexpensive Victoria molino (Spanish for mill). This has been my workhorse for the last six years. It's been around forever, and was designed specifically for making masa.  
• Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe, a very nice hand-cranked mill designed for dry grain that claims to handle masa, but it really doesn't work well for wet corn. Yeah, you can swap out the auger for one designed for masa, but the gloopy, cooked corn clogs the narrow throat, and you have to really shove the corn through.  It produces a nice enough masa, but it's much slower and far harder to crank than the Victoria.  Do yourself a favor, and if you want to make masa but don't want to spring for an electric mill, skip the WMJD and just get the Victoria, which is much cheaper anyway. 
• The electric Nixtamatic molino, which I ordered from Mexico.  It's basically just like the Victoria but with POWER, and after 6 years of using hand-cranked mills this thing is a (very loud) delight to use.

    Once the partially-cooked corn is ground, you add water to the masa until it's the consistency of play dough, then you roll it into balls, squish it flat and cook it.  Make a stack of them and keep them wrapped in a dishtowel so they can steam a bit, then you are ready for Taco Tuesday.

    Anyway, not long after I started making masa from scratch, we did a taste test: I bought a pack of grocery store tortillas, made a small batch of tortillas from a masa-harina-based dough, and also made some from masa, and the difference was startling.  

    I once heard that the James Beard award-winning chef Ann Kim tasted masa-from-scratch tortillas that were so good they made her cry, and I believe it.  And here's the weird part: I was one of the people driving a Chevette but thinking it was a BMW.  Even the very best grocery store tortillas, which I loved for so many years, now taste like cardboard - but if you look at the ingredients, they have very nearly the same list as my from-scratch tortillas: Corn, lime, water (plus some preservatives and gums that I don't use).

    * Yes, my first car was indeed a Chevette. It had a four-speed manual transmission and no air conditioning.

Coffee Product Review: Fellow's Electric Atmos Vacuum Cannister

 

Coffee beans are spoiled by oxygen, light, heat, and moisture, so storing them in an opaque vacuum canister is a great idea ... in theory. I've tried several different vacuum storage canisters for coffee over the years, and they all suck (pun intended).

They mostly don't hold a vacuum, and it's just all too common to start your coffee routine by finding that the vacuum canister has equalized overnight, exposing your beans to at least oxygen and humidity.  Some of that can be explained by fresh beans giving off CO2, so the vessel may be filling carbon dioxide (harmless) and not oxygen, but the vast majority of outgassing is done 3 days post-roasting ... and I regularly find broken seals weeks after roasting. Sometimes bits of bean build up on the gaskets, breaking the seal, but even regular cleaning didn't solve it.

So for years, I've used the Airscape canister, which was one of the best solutions inexpensive solutions out there, and it works by using a valved collapsing lid (it's the equivalent of squeezing all the air out of a plastic bag), which reduces the volume of air that comes into contact with the beans. I kept a week's worth of beans in the Airscape and stored the rest of my coffee in canning jars that I vacuum-sealed with a jar sealer.   Canning lids and rings tended to hold a vacuum reasonably (but not perfectly) reliably.

Fortunately, Fellow recently released a coffee storage solution that doesn't suck, their electric Atmos canister (it's battery-operated and only needs charging every couple of months). It's super easy to use. You push a button, and it vacuums itself closed. Push it again, and the vacuum releases so you can get the lid off.  And best of all, it monitors the pressure in the canister and automatically adjusts should the pressure change inside.  

I've been using mine for several months, and I'm delighted with it. It keeps my current bag of coffee fresher than the Airscape, but it's not cheap ($75-$85 depending on size) but it does a really good job. Whenever I put a fresh bag of coffee inside, I brush down the rubber gaskets, and along the inside/top of the canister to prevent bean bits from interfering with the seals.  The top section contains electronic equipment so it's strictly wipe-down only. No running water, and definitely no dishwasher.  But I'm finding that it doesn't need much cleaning anyway.

The bigger size is good if you tend to buy your coffee in 1-pound bags (454g), and the smaller will hold 12-ounce bags (340g).

First impressions: Aeropress Premium Review

Aeropress Premium - Glass and Metal

 I love coffee, and one method of brewing that I fell in love with years ago was the Aeropress, which is an oddball brewer that is basically a giant syringe, but the plunger pushes concentrated coffee through a filter instead of a needle.

It's an incredibly flexible way to brew, and there are thousands of recipes out there. I've created my very best cups of coffee using the Aeropress.

The only problem? It's made of plastic, and I don't like brewing in plastic, because plastic absorbs off-flavors, and I don't believe that even BPA-free plastic isn't leaching something into my coffee.  I do use plastic for food storage, but I try to limit its use to things that are room temperature and below, as chemical leaching happens far more at hot temperatures than cold.

But that means that I decided not to use the Aeropress as an every-day brewer, and limited its use to traveling (it's lightweight and nearly unbreakable), and for a few days each month to mix it up with other methods of brewing.  I've wanted a glass or metal version ever since.

Alan Adler, the inventor (incidentally, he also invented the Aerobie frisbee), resisted the call for a glass or metal version for nearly two decades because he thought it was a terrible idea.  And, to be fair to Mr. Adler, there really are significant downsides. Glass and metal get hot, and are heat sinks, expensive, breakable and heavy.   The AP was also beloved because not only did it make excellent coffee, it was also cheap. They were originally sold for $20 back in 2005. Even today, the basic versions retail for $30-$40. 

But, eventually, Mr. Adler got old and sold the company, and the investment firm that bought the business started releasing new versions left and right (Adler was notoriously cautious about implementing new ideas), but most didn't interest me. But a year and a half ago, they teased coffee lovers with a glimpse of a glass and metal version, which DID, and a few weeks ago (finally!) they released the Aeropress Premium, made of double-walled borosilicate glass, steel, aluminum, and silicon (the plunger disk/seal).  It came with a premium price tag, too, one that rather shocked the world of specialty coffee: $150. Even I think it should have been priced in the $80-$100 range.  I had a coupon, so I got mine for $120, but still.    

I decided to skip the new stand/caddy they were offering to go with the Premium, because it too was shockingly expensive; $100 for the caddy. No thanks. I just hoped my existing stand might work.

The packaging was well-designed to protect the glass

Besides the price tag, am I happy with it? Yes and no, but mostly yes. I can get delicious cups of coffee with the thing, just as good as with the plastic one. But the damn thing feels a bit like a showpiece (it is undeniably attractive) rather than a convenient, practical, everyday piece of equipment for one reason: IT IS NOT DISHWASHER SAFE. What the hell were they thinking?  

The plunger and (I think) also the collar at the bottom of the brew chamber are made out of coated aluminum, and aluminum does ugly things in the dishwasher. Even the brew cap filter holder is made of coated stainless steel, and the coating isn't dishwasher safe.    And in the end, if the coatings aren't safe in the dishwasher, are they safe for coffee brewing?  Hopefully.

So, it is not exactly what I was looking for. I would have preferred they not use aluminum or coat the stainless (which don't need coatings anyway), and make the collar that holds the brew chamber and the plunger out of heavy-duty plastic or hollow stainless steel. I'd have been fine with plastic parts as long as they don't touch the coffee.  We called for a metal/glass version not because we wanted something fancy but because we wanted something that couldn't leach unwanted chemicals into our coffee.

Now, handwashing aside - I'm happy with the fact that they used double-walled borosilicate glass.  The outer diameter is the same as before, so existing accessories might still work.  But the double-walls are MUCH thicker than in the Original, which means they had to make the Premium significantly taller in order to keep the capacity the same (both hold about 320 ml if you are curious). That also means the plunger and stirrer had to be longer as well. So my existing Aeropress caddy only sort of works with the Premium. 

Here it is first with the Original AP, then with the new Premium:

Existing after-market stand holding plastic AP Original.

Premium AP in the existing stand.
Note how the brew chamber extends down over the funnel

Note the changes in shape between the tools.

The stand accommodated the plastic funnel that came with the AP Original, though the AP Premium ditched the funnel entirely. I actually use the funnel and will keep using it.

The new scoop doesn't fit in the scoop spot, but DOES fit in the existing stirrer slot, though I pretty much never use the scoop much anyway (I brew by weight).  The new stirrer is too fat to fit in the stirrer slot, but it can be suspended inside the plunger instead.  The only true problem is the way the funnel is enclosed inside the bottom of the brew chamber. I don't just use the funnel for the AP, but also when I'm brewing with the Stagg dripper - the funnel works way better than the one Fellow included with the dripper.  So the inconvenient access to the funnel (you have to use two hands, one to lift the brew chamber out of the way, and one to grab the funnel) is annoying.

AP Original funnel in use with Fellow's Stagg dripper.

Then it occurred to me that the stand is held together with screws and that we could "just" replace the legs with taller ones.  I talked to my husband who disassembled it, and after spending $11 at Menards, he replaced the legs with 12" (30 cm) threaded steel rods, a few nuts, and 4 plastic feet, and voilà:

$11 worth of materials and
my old stand now fits nicely.

As for how it works ... well, about the same as the original. You have to be a little gentler with the glass, and pre-heating the brewer is a must to avoid dropping the temperature of the water too much.  The new stainless filter cap isn't valved, so I may have to go back to inverted brewing, which is a little annoying (I hope they add a metal valved filter cap later).

Inverted brewing (left), and normal (right)

When using the brewer as intended, you set it on a mug or carafe, and because the filter cap has holes in it, coffee drains slowly out while brewing except when the plunger is in place, and then the liquid stays in the brewer for the same reason it does when you cover the end of a straw: capillary action, surface tension, and air pressure (and yes, I just looked that up).  When you push on the plunger, pressure builds in the chamber as you force the coffee through the grounds and the filter, and into the mug.

Because baristas wanted the coffee to stay in the brew chamber during brewing, they invented the inverted method, brewing upside-down; then when you are ready to plunge, you put the filter/filter cap on, flip it, and plunge. It takes some practice, but it can be done without making a mess.  But it's still a hassle, and I loved my valved filter holder that held the coffee inside even when brewing right-side up.  But it, like the rest of the AP, was plastic, so now that I have a glass brewer, I probably won't use it anymore.

The diameter of the flanged end of the plunger is very slightly wider (maybe 2 or 3 mm?) than on the Original and between that and the added weight, the Premium is actually a little more stable in the inverted position which is a Very Good Thing.  

Between the added height in both the brew chamber and the plunger, it's nearly 4" (10cm) taller when inverted, which puts it roughly even with my breast-bone (I'm on the short side, at about 5'3"/1.6m), which is decidedly less convenient (I prefer to pour 200F/93C liquids into vessels that are a little lower than that). But, it is not the end of the world by any means, and it is probably a non-issue for folks who are taller than I am.  

Most people who have an AP have knocked over an inverted brewer at least once, and I'd hate to do that with this expensive (and breakable!) version, and right now I'm thinking I'm just not going to use inverted brewing anymore, and I'll modify my inverted recipes to work right-side up.

Inverted brewing height:
Original (L) and Premium (R) 

How does it brew?  Fine.  My first brewing was delicious, and there isn't that much difference in quality between what comes from the Premium vs. from the Original, but I didn't really expect it to, as the brewer is essentially the same. Because plastic can absorb odors and flavors, the Premium should remain more neutral-smelling over time. And if you are careful to preheat the brewer, the glass being a heat sink should become a non-issue, with the temperature remaining steady during brewing. I preheat all of my brewers anyway, so it doesn't even represent a change in my brewing habits.

I never upgraded to the AP Clear that the company released a year or so ago, so this was the first time I could actually see the coffee brewing in the brew chamber, and that was really neat.  

The filter cap is easier to screw onto the brewer than with the plastic version, and that is quite nice.

All in all, it is a pleasure to use and felt nice in my hands. It's not perfect due to the ergonomics and lack of a metal flow control filter cap, but really, really nice.  And yes, I think it'll be worth the handwashing hassle, though I hope the company releases a dishwasher-safe version at some point.

I do plan to continue using my Aeropress Original while traveling through. 

Ice Cream Recipe Review: David Lebovitz's Fresh Mint Ice Cream

"Fresh Mint Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• The online recipe can be found here. 
• My other ice cream reviews can be found here.

Mint bed in mid-May (top), and early July (bottom).

I started a mint bed in the spring, in order to make one of life's great joy's: fresh mint ice cream. The mint bed was finally established enough for me to feel comfortable harvesting some of it for ice cream.  I had intended to make Jeni's Backyard Mint recipe today (my family's all-time favorite ice creams), but I was out of cream cheese, so trying a new recipe instead. Most mint recipes don't include eggs, but this one does, so I'm curious to see how it turns out - do the yolks overshadow the mint? (no, it was quite tasty).

Note: The online recipe, the ebook recipe and the older edition of the paper book don't match on the mint.

• Online: 2 cups (80g) packed fresh mint leaves
• eBook: 2 cups (80g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves
• Paper (older edition): 2 cups (40g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves.

Eighty grams of mint leaves without stems is a LOT.  You certainly can fit that much into two cups, but it's definitely packed, and not lightly packed.  Though it doesn't include eggs, Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe most closely matches David's:

• Technique - she also steeps the mint for an hour and not, say overnight as Jeni does
• Amount of mint: Rose also calls for 2 cups lightly packed.  But her "lightly packed" mint weighs only 53 grams.  

Because 53 is way closer to 40 than 80, I used the amount called for in the hard copy of his book (40 grams).

I wrote to David, and he got back to me after I'd made the ice cream - it's supposed to be 80 grams (something he'd corrected for the newer edition), which tells me he intended it to be a more strongly minty ice cream, rather than the more gently minty ice cream that I made (though it's still quite wonderful).  He told me that the difference arose from a conversion error - he's an American living in France, and mostly uses metric units.  I must say that I sympathize.  I've spent the last 10 years making myself use metric as much as possible, and it's just better in every way.  

I think I'd also like to blend some of the mint with the mixture, so that it's a bit more green (and overshadows the yellow from the yolks).

Substitutions and Techniques:

• Turbinado sugar instead of white sugar (always) as I prefer the flavor. Next time I'll use white sugar. The flavor is fine, but between the green from the mint, the brown from the sugar, and the orange from the yolks, the color was kind of an unattractive pale mustard color.
• After the steeping, the dairy mixture was only slightly warm, so I just added the yolks, and whisking constantly, raised the temp to about 175F/80C.

Results:

• Same day: Quite good - silky smooth, but the mint flavor was more gentle and less overly herbaceous than Jeni's recipe, which is both a pro and a con. The adult members of my family love the herbaceousness, but my 7-year-old granddaughter does not.   Because I didn't like the slightly mustardy color of the custard, I churned it on a fast speed to lighten it, and the finished ice cream is much prettier.
• Next day: silky smooth, a bit harder than I prefer, but overall quite delicious.    
• Try #2 with 80g of mint: delicious. The flavor didn't really seem that much stronger with 80 grams vs. 40. Still delicious and smooth.

Uses:

• I added 1/2 cup Oreo chunks and also layered in ribbons of Dorcas's hot fudge which I think gets a little lost. I need to learn how to make a more forward fudge ripple, I think.  
• I've seen recipes that call for chunks of chocolate ganache, and I suspect that would be wonderful as well.  
• Girl Scout Thin Mints would also be a great textural element. I'll have to pick up a box the next time they are selling.
• Second time I made it, I poured melted chocolate into the churn, for a dark chocolate stracciatella. That is very good but note-to-self: turn the churn on the slowest setting, otherwise it makes teeny-tiny freckles of chocolate in the ice cream.  

Book Review: Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook by Tyler Malek and JJ Goode

https://amzn.to/3VlczaS

This has got to be the strangest ice cream book I own. I like daring and unusual flavors, but this one takes the cake (pun absolutely intended). I've read through it pretty carefully and tried a caramel sauce from the book, though not any of the ice creams yet, and well ... it's weird. It's not bad by any means, just unexpected.

Not because of its unusual flavors (of which it has many), but in its combination of flavors. Most ice cream cookbooks include recipes for three things: 1) classic flavors, 2) house specialties, and 3) mix-ins and toppings. 

Every ice cream shop is going to have the classics: vanilla, chocolate, mint, caramel, strawberry, coffee, etc., and most ice cream cookbooks are going to include the author's take on those. S&S on the other hand has only one, a recipe for double-fold vanilla.   All the other house specialties utilize classic flavors (strawberry-honey balsamic with black pepper ice cream, or salted sweet cream ice cream with caramel ribbons). 

In other words, this book leans extremely heavily on the house specialties (which I kind of like), and I love trying new combinations and unusual flavors. But ... ice cream happens to be something that is reliably vegetarian (if not vegan), and this book isn't an exception, not exactly. As a long-time mostly-vegetarian, that is also something I appreciate, but as a pragmatist, I'm fine with the fact that most ice cream books are going to have at least one recipe that includes candied bacon, and there is one such offering here (bacon caramel). 

But it doesn't stop with bacon; the irony makes me giggle a little. It has recipes for/including turkey (turkey skin/stock/boullion/fat), chicken (stock/boullion/fat/skin), gelatin, and …. pork blood. Take a gander:

• Xocolatl De David’s Bacon Raleigh Bar Ice Cream (gelatin and bacon)
• Chocolate "Sardines" Ice Cream (gelatin)
• Creepy Crawly Critters Ice Cream (candied bugs)
• Grandma Dracula’s Blood Pudding Ice Cream (pig blood)
• Buttered Mashed Potatoes & Gravy Ice Cream (chicken stock and bouillon)
• Salted Caramel Thanksgiving Turkey Ice Cream (turkey stock, bouillon, and skin)

Some of the omnivorous recipes actually sound pretty good, and if I still ate meat, I'd happily give them a try (the Xocolatl one is salted sweet cream ice cream with chocolate-covered pecans, caramel infused with bacon, and chocolate marshmallow nougat, and the "Sardines" recipe is chocolate with chunks of Swedish Fish-infused jello). There is one I might learn to like if I could get past the crunchy chitin from bugs (the creepy crawly flavor is tequila, orange, and matcha ice cream with chocolate-covered crickets and coconut-toffee candied insects). But the last three kinda turn my stomach (brandied chocolate pig's blood, mashed potato ice cream with white chocolate/chicken bouillon ripple, and turkey ice cream with turkey skin brittle).  I don't think I'd like those even if I were still omnivorous. 

But those recipes aside, 51 of the 57 recipes are vegetarian, and there are many that sound great, in particular Stumptown Coffee & Burnside Bourbon Ice Cream, Almond Brittle With Salted Ganache Ice Cream, and the Honey-Lavender.  There are many others that sound delicious as well. 

As for the mix-ins, they are pretty standard, including the usual chocolate sauces and brittles, cookies, and brownies.  The caramel sauce is really quite excellent - it remains pliable when frozen (kitchen chemistry to the rescue!), instead of turning hard like stiff taffy the way most caramels do when cold.

It uses a philosophy that I really like, providing three different bases to which you add flavorings: an ice cream base, a sorbet base, and even a vegan ice cream base. 

The vegan base is another area where they get weird.  First of all, the presence of a base suggests that it's neutral-flavored and easily adaptable, but in this case they only use it in a single recipe, and they give zero instructions for using it with other flavors.  In fact, their vegan base probably cannot be widely used as it is STRONGLY coconutty, and the coconut would overshadow most other flavors.  So, this feels (particularly in the context of a meatier-than-usual offering) almost phoned-in, included so they can claim it's vegan-friendly when it really isn't. 

So: if you are looking for dairy-free desserts, look elsewhere (it doesn't even include sorbets which are typically vegan). But if you are interested in interesting flavors, this might be a fine choice.

Ice Cream Recipe Review: Rose Levi Beranbaum's Chocolate Ice Cream

"Chocolate Ice Cream" from Rose's Ice Cream Bliss by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

• The online recipe can be found here. 
• My other Chocolate ice cream reviews can be found here.

This is an unusual recipe in that it includes a little malted milk powder and a tiny bit of instant espresso powder (1/16 tsp for the whole recipe). It's not as deeply chocolate as I prefer, but it's really quite delicious, perhaps the best "regular" chocolate ice cream I've ever made.

It was a little hard getting all the cocoa dissolved, so next time, I think I'd put the salt, espresso powder, sugar, malt powder, and cocoa in the saucepan first and stir it together well, then add the yolks, liquid sugar, milk, and the first part of cream on top of that.  Whisk, then turn on the heat.

Creating the custard went really fast because I set my pan on the scale and used the gram measures from Rose's book, hitting tare between each ingredient.  I also cooked the custard in the pan (as the recipe directs) instead of the double boiler, and it seemed fine.  Once chilled, it was quite thick, but still pourable. 

Substitutions and Techniques:

• Turbinado sugar instead of white sugar (always) as I prefer the flavor.
• Tapioca syrup instead of glucose.
• Nielsen Massey vanilla extract.
• Lake Champlain Unsweetened Organic Cocoa - this really is one of the best ones - excellent flavor and it's finely ground enough that it easily goes into solution with little effort, without imparting a powdery taste.

Results:

• Same day: Wonderfully smooth texture, nice milder chocolate flavor.
• Next day: Smooth, nice texture, slightly less scoopable than I'd like.

Uses:

• I stirred in about 1.5 ounces of crispy toasted sweetened coconut chips/flakes and while the coconut chips are a nice texture element, they are quite delicate, and the flavor gets a little lost against the chocolate.  I think chunks of coconut macaroons (Mounds candy bars?) would be better, or maybe toasted shredded coconut - anything to make the coconut element bigger, and a little more forward.  
• I also stirred in 1/4 cup of toasted slivered almonds because that's all I had on hand.  The toasted almonds held their own nicely against the backdrop of the chocolate, but I think it needed double the amount I used.

Ice Cream Recipe Review: Jeni Britton Bauer's Olive Oil Ice Cream with Roasted Pepitas

  "Olive Oil Ice Cream with Roasted, Salted Pepitas" from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer.

• The online recipe can be found here. 
• My other ice cream reviews of unusual flavors can be found here.

Note: Pepitas are a variety of pumpkin seed with no hard hull and a thin, delicate thin.  They are common in Mexican cooking. 

I've been planning to make this recipe ever since I ordered an award-winning, freshly pressed olive oil (link below) from California two months ago. I know from unfortunate past experience that rancid olive oil is unbelievably nasty, so it was important to me to be absolutely sure that the olive oil had zero hint of rancidity.

But, I must admit this ice cream flavor kinda scares me. Really.  I've had the book for more than a decade, and I've never managed to try it, despite being intrigued by the idea. Olive oil? Seriously, that's for salad dressings and sautéing veggies, right?

So, I finally decided to stop being afraid of the flavor and give it a try. I figured that the worst case is that I end up composting it, wasting 1/4 cup of a very nice olive oil. 

.... And, to my surprise, it's pretty good! I don't think I'll ever be a huge fan, and unless someone in my family falls in love with it, I probably won't make it again, but it's definitely not going in the compost.

There is a faint hint of olives in the flavor, which is decidedly strange (but not bad) but shouldn't be because olives are fruits, and sniffing the chilled (but unchurned custard) it is a little off-putting because it makes me think of sautéed vegetables. But the colder the base got, the better it was. Once it was churned/soft-serve, it was pretty good, and once it was hard frozen, all off-putting notes disappeared, and it's just good.  I think maybe a little lemon zest would be a wonderful note.

Here's something weird: it's an unusually creamy ice cream, which is counter-intuitive, given that it has LESS cream than other recipes (you reduce the cream, and then make up the fat content with the olive oil).  

The real standout though, was discovering that roasted pepitas are insanely delicious in ice cream, and that discovery alone was worth the effort of making an ice cream I may not make again.

Substitutions and Techniques:

• Turbinado sugar instead of white sugar (always) as I prefer the flavor.
• Tapioca starch instead of cornstarch (1:1 ratio).
• Tapioca syrup as the liquid sugar instead of corn syrup (1:1 ratio).
• I only had raw pepitas on hand, so I tossed them into a dry skillet with some fine popcorn salt, and stirred almost constantly. When they started to pop and snap, I removed the pan from the heat and froze them. 
• I used Katz Rock Hill Ranch Estate Grown Chef's Pick Extra Virgin Olive Oil harvested in November/December 2023. I wanted to ensure that the ice cream had zero hint of rancidity, so I made sure to get olive oil I was certain was fresh.

Results:

• Same day: Silky smooth, OK flavor, wonderfully crunchy pepitas.
• Next day: Silky smooth,  nice flavor, wonderfully crunchy pepitas. Nicely scoopable.

Uses: 

• I don't think this flavor is one that lends itself to a float or a sundae. But that's OK - it stands on its own nicely.

Ice Cream Recipe Review: Rose Levy Beranbaum's Vanilla Ice Cream

"Vanilla Ice Cream" from Rose's Ice Cream Bliss by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

• My other vanilla ice cream reviews can be found here.

Since I couldn't find the recipe online, I've included a stripped-down version of her ingredient list with only the imperial measurements (but really, you should just buy her book, which also gives metrics - both weight and volume - and instructions/techniques, and ... it's my new favorite ice cream book). I've also shared my own instructions/techniques which do differ from the author's.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 smallish Madagascar vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped out
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 8 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 3 tbsp liquid sugar (glucose or reduced corn syrup)
• 1 pinch fine salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Place all ingredients except the vanilla extract into a saucepan over medium-low heat, or upper chamber of a double boiler. Whisk ingredients together and then turn on the heat (medium-low) and continue whisking until ingredients reach about 175F/79C and have thickened slightly and coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat, add vanilla extract, and set custard in very cold water and whisk for a few minutes and the custard cools down. Place in fridge and chill overnight and very cold. Before churning, remove the vanilla pods.

I used 2 small Madagascar vanilla beans from Vanilla Bean Kings and Vanilla Bean Project Regenerative Organic Certified Pure Vanilla Extract.  I definitely favor using both extract and beans.  

The custard barely thickened, even though I took it all the way to 180F (dangerous, as eggs do odd things above that temp), even 182 briefly (I hadn't intended to take it above 175F, but I was messing with my new thermometer) 

The vanilla flavor is wonderfully strong and the ice cream is silky smooth. I really like this recipe a lot.

Substitutions and Techniques:

• Turbinado sugar instead of white sugar (always) as I prefer the flavor
• Tapioca syrup 1:1 instead of glucose
• Vanilla pods infused in the custard in overnight
• I didn't follow Rose's techniques, but used the no-temper method (outlined above), which is similar but not identical.

Results:

• Same day: silky smooth and wonderfully flavorful. 
• Next day:  silky smooth and wonderfully flavorful. Scoopable, but only just.

Uses:

• I stirred Mi-Del lemon snap chunks into the ice cream and layered/swirled lemon curd in with the ice cream to make lemon-vanilla cookies and cream.  It was very, very tasty.

 

Ice Cream Recipe Review: Ample Hill's Creamery Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

  “Vanilla Bean” from Ample Hill's Creamery: Secrets and Stories from Brooklyn's Favorite Ice Cream Shop by Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna.

• The online recipe for the base can be found here (for those who don't use metric measurements: here).
• My other vanilla ice cream reviews can be found here.

This was an unusual recipe in that it directs you to steep a few whole coffee beans in the custard, which you strain out just before churning.  It uses only 3 eggs for one recipe, and I found that the custard didn't thicken very much when I cooked it (the recipe has you take it to 165 and ignores the texture).  It also includes a LOT of skim milk powder (1/2 cup!) and it took a lot of whisking to get it fully dissolved.  The coffee beans float which made it very easy to locate them and pull them out the next day.

I used a Madagascar vanilla bean from Vanilla Bean Kings and Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract (which I'm trying to use up). 

I really like this recipe. It is nice and smooth and has a lovely flavor. The recipe says you can't taste the coffee, but I totally could. It's obvious in the soft-serve stage, and still faintly detectible once fully frozen.  As much as I love coffee ice cream, I don't think I'd include the coffee beans again - it limits how the finished ice cream can be used, and I found myself searching for the coffee and wishing it were stronger.

Substitutions and Techniques:

• The recipe in the book calls for 1 vanilla bean and 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract so that's what I did.
• Turbinado sugar (always).
• No-temper technique in a double boiler: I put the egg yolks and sugar in the top chamber of the double boiler and whisked them until well integrated. I added all the rest of the ingredients (except for the extract) and turned on the heat. I whisked constantly until the milk powder dissolved, then frequently after that.

Results:

• Same day: Coffee flavor was definitely detectible. Delicious and smooth.
• Next day:  Coffee was much less obvious in the fully-frozen ice cream. Still smooth and reasonably scoopable (though I wish it were more so).

Uses:

• I used 1.25 cups of homemade chocolate chips and also layered in caramel sauce.  I'd intended to make a vanilla-lemon ice cream but I didn't think the coffee flavor would go with lemon very well.
• I think if the coffee is included, I'd lean toward combining the ice cream with stronger, bolder flavors that don't lean sour.  So chocolate is good, and fruit other than citrus.  Caramels, hot fudge, etc.