Ice cream

French vanilla ice cream

Anyone who knows anything about my food preferences (perhaps that's not very many people as I tend to be a rather private person) knows that I frequently profess my love of ice cream.  I could eat ice cream everyday -- I could live on ice cream -- I never tire of ice cream -- and so on.  It's too bad that too much ice cream is not truly a good thing health-wise.  If it were, well ...

cream, sugar and vanilla bean and seeds on the stove

Last week was quite fun in that I got to make several batches of French vanilla ice cream.  And that means I got to sample every batch as it came out of the ice cream freezer.  I have to do that.  I have to make sure that every batch is just right.  *chuckling*    It's a great excuse to indulge in a spare spoonful here and there.   It was a nice couple of days.  

I always make a custard-based ice cream, often called a French custard-style ice cream.  This means it is a made with an egg-rich custard as it's base.  An ice cream made without eggs (or at least without a significant amount of egg) is called Philadelphia-style, or sometimes New York-style, or American-style ice cream.

I always find a custard-based ice cream to be vastly superior.  It's creamier, has much less potential for ice crystals to develop which mar the texture, and it's really not so hard to do once you learn how to make the custard.  The custard has to be cooked to a temperature of at least 160 Fahrenheit, but you have to be careful because if it heats up too fast, too much, the closer you get to 180 - 185 Fahrenheit, well, you start getting into the realm of scrambled eggs.

zoom in for vanilla bean seeds

I always use fresh vanilla beans in my French vanilla ice cream.  There is something really nice about about looking at a fresh carton of ice cream and seeing all the little specks that are the vanilla bean seeds.  They add so much flavor.  Can it be made with vanilla extract?  Of course, but while it's still good, it's not quite the same as with actual vanilla beans.  Vanilla beans have become rather expensive the last few years, but it's still worth the cost.  I keep them around for a few different desserts, and I always will.  Vanilla paste also has seeds in it, so I keep a jar of that around as well.

peppermint milkshake

I am going to be adding more ice creams in the near future to the Bruce Bakery and Bistro menu.  Specifically, mint chocolate chip will be added next, and then others will follow.  Fresh ice cream made in your own kitchen with excellent ingredients is wonderful to have stashed in the freezer.  As I said, I could eat it every day.  There is no more enjoyable food in the world for me.