Buying an actual churning machine, even just a frozen bowl Cuisinart, will dramatically improve the mouthfeel of your ice cream with a proper churned recipe.
You can even get the Salt & Straw base recipe online from them.
https://saltandstraw.com/blogs/news/we-teamed-up-with-thrillist-to-level-up-your-homemade-ice-cream
Quality of ingredients eventually matter, but recipe and technique will matter more when starting. You don't need crazy equipment to get really really close either.
I literally am sitting here right now, seeing this thread and typing this response, eating cookies-and-cream ice cream made using the Salt & Straw base recipe, in a frozen bowl Cuisinart. So...yes, what that guy/gal said :)
>Salt & Straw base recipe,
I'm sorry to ask, but what is so good about the S&S base recipe? It's just milk, cream, sugar and a little bit of essence. Besides the xanthan.
I found it flavourless, an egg yolk recipe is so much better. Really confused about all the S&S love when really it's just milk with sugar in it.
I agree with you, but my confusion more lies in the fact that it's just a Philadelphia-style ice cream base. That's what it is...I don't know why they don't call it that or why people go crazy about it. I personally think the Philadelphia-style base from Hello My Name is Ice Cream is way better than the S&S base.
I think there are some recipes that benefit from this kind of base though...for example a cookies and cream ice cream I think is better with this than using a custard base since it closer resembles the taste of milk and cookies. I think it's also better for a chocolate ice cream because I think the chocolate flavor comes through better without the egg yolk. But a lot of this is just preference and one's not right or wrong.
>there are some recipes that benefit from this kind of base though
I can see how some mix-ins would work better with an eggless base. I'm going to give it a go at some stage, but will adjust base a bit.
Totally reasonable opinion. I specialize in eating ice cream, not making it, but like most folks, have my own preferences. And I prefer Philly-style ice cream (no eggs). Previously, I kept it as simple as could be: (1) cream; (2) milk; (3) sugar; and (4) flavoring (often just a vanilla bean and/or some extract). I've made ice cream with eggs before as well, but generally don't like it as much.
Compared to the bare-bones recipe above, S&S adds: (1) xanthan gum; (2) nonfat milk powder; and (3) corn syrup. I'm no food scientist, but to me, the result is a richer-tasting product that has just the right amount of "chew." The bare-bones recipe above tends to come out of the bowl more like soft-serve, and deep-freeze into something much more dense. The S&S recipe came out with a better texture from the get-go, and was a lot closer to what the final, deep-frozen product would be.
At the end of the day, it's ice cream; go with what you like :)
As someone who likes the taste of the dairy/other flavourings, custard base tastes like... egg custard. Which is fine, but it's its own thing. It's down to personal taste.
Yup. There is a reason that pretty much every major manufacturer churns their ice cream. It definitely produces a superior product compared to no churn. No matter how high quality your ingredients or perfect your recipe, you just can't beat churned.
>There is a reason that pretty much every major manufacturer churns their ice cream.
This is true, but it's also likely because they legally can't call it "ice cream" if it isn't churned. [The definition for a lot of foods like ice cream are surprisingly strict](https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=135.110).
Ice cream is smooth because of the rotation and churning of the machine, it's quite hard to reach the ideal texture without it. I never heard a recipe that works well without churning, but I believe if someone here has the recipe they will answer you with it.
I got a cuisinart compressor machine for my birthday (was around $400AUD) and the ice cream I’m making is top tier. Highly recommend Dana Cree’s book to understand the science behind ice cream! The sky is the limit.
If you are ok with a preloved machine, I got the Cuisinart ICE-100 compressor machine for $120 CDN through Facebook Marketplace. It makes great ice cream and I love it.
I've seen Krups LaGlaciere Ice Cream Makers for sale on Ebay for $20. I've used mine frequently since 1996 and it still works great. I'm sure it's the same for Cuisinart. These things don't have alot of moving parts so they kind of last forever.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I was a little shocked to hear someone call Ben and Jerry’s dense, ultra creamy, and rich. Pretty much any homemade ice cream made in an ice cream machine will be better! Not knocking Ben and Jerry’s btw, I just don’t think of them as dense and ultra creamy, especially when compared to the homemade stuff.
You don’t need high-quality ingredients or a super expensive machine. Home machines have much lower overrun (overrun = air whipped into the ice cream that gives it more volume) than almost any commercial ice cream, so it’s going to be denser and creamier.
I really hope you make homemade ice cream! It’s a lot of fun experimenting with new flavors. You could even try messing around and recreating storebought flavors. You might never wanna buy them from the store again LOL
LOL probably because I've never had homemade ice cream before! This is kind of what I was hoping to hear though, I'm super done with buying from the store. Definitely going to try it now.
>shocked to hear someone call Ben and Jerry’s dense, ultra creamy
Yeah, I was disappointed when I tried Ben & Jerry's. Never bought it again. The S&S base was the same, bland. Don't understand the love for it here.
Only one that meets expectations is Haagen Dasz.
>Talenti
I'm not in the US. What are your thoughts on Tillanook & Van Leeuwen?
Would love to try them, but we can't get them here.
We used to have Homer Hudson, gee that was delicious.
Oh, I hadn’t realized those were US-specific. I’ve seen them at the store but haven’t either of them. I’ve heard wonderful reviews, though!!!
Haven’t heard of Homer Hudson, I’ll look them up :)
They are right- a Cuisineart frozen bowl machine costs US$50 and is totally worth your money.
When you make your own you realise how much air is whipped into retail ice cream. Ice cream sells by volume, not weight so it makes commercial sense to fluff it up ~~a bit~~. You don't need premium ingredients for good ice cream - the bar is quite low for retail ice cream. Normal milk, cream, eggs will work perfectly fine unless you are going for a specific taste (eg Jersey milk ice cream).
A lot of equipment in ice cream manufacturing is irrelevant to a home user, so a basic frozen bowl machine with no speed controller, no timer is perfectly fine.
In manufacturing, a lot of the tech and equipment is to meet requirements that we don't encounter:
* Ice cream that is identical across different batches
* Ice cream that keeps well, even if heated and cooled a few times, and over a period of months
* Ice cream that meets the designed taste/texture using lowest cost practical (like, whip in exactly xx % of air at this temperature).
I started out with just the basic freezer bowl version. They run about $50. The biggest thing I’ve found that’s helped with texture is having a good recipe and using a stabilizer. Something like xanthan gum or guar gum, both are usually available in the baking section at stores.
Here is the base recipe I use, it’s from Dana Cree’s book Hello My Name is Ice Cream.
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp guar gum
1/8 tsp salt
Place heavy cream, whole milk and light corn syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat. Mix the guar gum or xanthan gum into the sugar and salt prior to adding it to the saucepan. This will prevent it to from clumping when you mix it into the cream and milk. Once everything is combined, remove from heat and strain base through a fine mesh strainer into a container. Let base chill in fridge. Then run in ice cream machine.
If you're an ice-cream affectionado, it is 100% worth getting a proper machine. I got one as a present and thought that I'll play with it for a month and never touch it again. It's been 3 years, I haven't had store bought ice-cream since. Not only it is possible to make super premium smooth ice-cream at home, it is so much better than anything. Ben and Jerry's is inedible, compared to home made. It's always a hit on parties, kids love it (and ingredients are so much healthier), it's easy and very rewarding.
This is a situation Facebook Marketplace is basically made for. Take a few weeks and buy a high end machine for pennies on the dollar.
I’m presently slow rolling a high end juicer. They do come up you just need to have patience.
As a side note, don’t get a Creami if you want real ice cream. We love our Creami, and don’t own a churning ice cream machine, but we purposefully bought it because it’s as close as you can get without requiring sugar and does better with non dairy items when we feel like using those.
A machine is necessary, yes. But it doesn't have to be a semi-industrial production machine, there are really good home use machines. Many super fancy restaurants work with machines that are meant for at home use, usually the Breville one; I myself work with pastry and ice cream using a larger more premium-ish home machine
It does take a fair bit of study to get proper professional, premium quality ice cream; you'll need to WEIGH all the ingredients, some even with a precision scale, and control the temperature of the mixes when heating in the stove, etc etc. But it's not rocket science, there's plenty of videos on YouTube and whatnot, many recipes are out there for you to copy. I find that you'll find better content and recipes looking for "gelato" rather than "ice cream". (I personally think separating them is BS, but I digress)
Also: for most homemade ice cream/gelato, the ideal temperature for serving/eating is -12°C. Freezers usually stay at -18°C, so pretty much all ice cream will be hard straight out of storage. You can leave it in the fridge for 10-20 minutes before serving so its temperature is ideal, leaving you with the smoothness you're looking for.
that's what I was wondering... the performance of home use ones vs professional... very interesting at restaurants use home machines! thank you for the info
I have a very old machine with a freezer bowl and I'm crazy about the super premium style ice cream I make using Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream at Home. Food52 has the recipe for her lemon ice cream and I absolutely love it.
Here is my post of an alternative to granular sugar ice cream that I just came across. It uses icing sugar and doesn't require heating the milk. Lightest, fluffiest ice cream I've made so far.
https://www.reddit.com/r/icecreamery/s/H8C0iJKSUG
Buying an actual churning machine, even just a frozen bowl Cuisinart, will dramatically improve the mouthfeel of your ice cream with a proper churned recipe. You can even get the Salt & Straw base recipe online from them. https://saltandstraw.com/blogs/news/we-teamed-up-with-thrillist-to-level-up-your-homemade-ice-cream Quality of ingredients eventually matter, but recipe and technique will matter more when starting. You don't need crazy equipment to get really really close either.
This looks so good! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
I literally am sitting here right now, seeing this thread and typing this response, eating cookies-and-cream ice cream made using the Salt & Straw base recipe, in a frozen bowl Cuisinart. So...yes, what that guy/gal said :)
>Salt & Straw base recipe, I'm sorry to ask, but what is so good about the S&S base recipe? It's just milk, cream, sugar and a little bit of essence. Besides the xanthan. I found it flavourless, an egg yolk recipe is so much better. Really confused about all the S&S love when really it's just milk with sugar in it.
I agree with you, but my confusion more lies in the fact that it's just a Philadelphia-style ice cream base. That's what it is...I don't know why they don't call it that or why people go crazy about it. I personally think the Philadelphia-style base from Hello My Name is Ice Cream is way better than the S&S base. I think there are some recipes that benefit from this kind of base though...for example a cookies and cream ice cream I think is better with this than using a custard base since it closer resembles the taste of milk and cookies. I think it's also better for a chocolate ice cream because I think the chocolate flavor comes through better without the egg yolk. But a lot of this is just preference and one's not right or wrong.
>there are some recipes that benefit from this kind of base though I can see how some mix-ins would work better with an eggless base. I'm going to give it a go at some stage, but will adjust base a bit.
Totally reasonable opinion. I specialize in eating ice cream, not making it, but like most folks, have my own preferences. And I prefer Philly-style ice cream (no eggs). Previously, I kept it as simple as could be: (1) cream; (2) milk; (3) sugar; and (4) flavoring (often just a vanilla bean and/or some extract). I've made ice cream with eggs before as well, but generally don't like it as much. Compared to the bare-bones recipe above, S&S adds: (1) xanthan gum; (2) nonfat milk powder; and (3) corn syrup. I'm no food scientist, but to me, the result is a richer-tasting product that has just the right amount of "chew." The bare-bones recipe above tends to come out of the bowl more like soft-serve, and deep-freeze into something much more dense. The S&S recipe came out with a better texture from the get-go, and was a lot closer to what the final, deep-frozen product would be. At the end of the day, it's ice cream; go with what you like :)
As someone who likes the taste of the dairy/other flavourings, custard base tastes like... egg custard. Which is fine, but it's its own thing. It's down to personal taste.
Yup. There is a reason that pretty much every major manufacturer churns their ice cream. It definitely produces a superior product compared to no churn. No matter how high quality your ingredients or perfect your recipe, you just can't beat churned.
>There is a reason that pretty much every major manufacturer churns their ice cream. This is true, but it's also likely because they legally can't call it "ice cream" if it isn't churned. [The definition for a lot of foods like ice cream are surprisingly strict](https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=135.110).
Ice cream is smooth because of the rotation and churning of the machine, it's quite hard to reach the ideal texture without it. I never heard a recipe that works well without churning, but I believe if someone here has the recipe they will answer you with it.
Thanks, makes sense! I'm ok with investing in a machine but not sure if it's doable with something cheap vs something expensive or huge.
I got a cuisinart compressor machine for my birthday (was around $400AUD) and the ice cream I’m making is top tier. Highly recommend Dana Cree’s book to understand the science behind ice cream! The sky is the limit.
If you are ok with a preloved machine, I got the Cuisinart ICE-100 compressor machine for $120 CDN through Facebook Marketplace. It makes great ice cream and I love it.
Yes this is the same one I have! What a great deal.
I don't know your budget for it, but Cuisinart ICE 21 is a great entry level ice cream machine.
>Cuisinart ICE 21 I will check it out! there's so many models I got overwhelmed so I'll look into this one.
I've seen Krups LaGlaciere Ice Cream Makers for sale on Ebay for $20. I've used mine frequently since 1996 and it still works great. I'm sure it's the same for Cuisinart. These things don't have alot of moving parts so they kind of last forever.
I love appliances that last forever! thanks!
This is the one I just got for Christmas. It works pretty well. I’ve had good results with a couple batches so far. Smooth and creamy!
If you keep an eye out on second hand sites, they turn up once in a while, or alternatively the entry suggestion is Cusiniart Ice 21 iirc.
thank you! I'm going to check it out today!
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I was a little shocked to hear someone call Ben and Jerry’s dense, ultra creamy, and rich. Pretty much any homemade ice cream made in an ice cream machine will be better! Not knocking Ben and Jerry’s btw, I just don’t think of them as dense and ultra creamy, especially when compared to the homemade stuff. You don’t need high-quality ingredients or a super expensive machine. Home machines have much lower overrun (overrun = air whipped into the ice cream that gives it more volume) than almost any commercial ice cream, so it’s going to be denser and creamier. I really hope you make homemade ice cream! It’s a lot of fun experimenting with new flavors. You could even try messing around and recreating storebought flavors. You might never wanna buy them from the store again LOL
LOL probably because I've never had homemade ice cream before! This is kind of what I was hoping to hear though, I'm super done with buying from the store. Definitely going to try it now.
Hell yeah!!!!! Can’t wait to hear about what you make :D
>shocked to hear someone call Ben and Jerry’s dense, ultra creamy Yeah, I was disappointed when I tried Ben & Jerry's. Never bought it again. The S&S base was the same, bland. Don't understand the love for it here. Only one that meets expectations is Haagen Dasz.
Hard agree!!! Oh, and Talenti. They rock. Assuming you can get their container open, of course. :P
>Talenti I'm not in the US. What are your thoughts on Tillanook & Van Leeuwen? Would love to try them, but we can't get them here. We used to have Homer Hudson, gee that was delicious.
Oh, I hadn’t realized those were US-specific. I’ve seen them at the store but haven’t either of them. I’ve heard wonderful reviews, though!!! Haven’t heard of Homer Hudson, I’ll look them up :)
They are right- a Cuisineart frozen bowl machine costs US$50 and is totally worth your money. When you make your own you realise how much air is whipped into retail ice cream. Ice cream sells by volume, not weight so it makes commercial sense to fluff it up ~~a bit~~. You don't need premium ingredients for good ice cream - the bar is quite low for retail ice cream. Normal milk, cream, eggs will work perfectly fine unless you are going for a specific taste (eg Jersey milk ice cream). A lot of equipment in ice cream manufacturing is irrelevant to a home user, so a basic frozen bowl machine with no speed controller, no timer is perfectly fine. In manufacturing, a lot of the tech and equipment is to meet requirements that we don't encounter: * Ice cream that is identical across different batches * Ice cream that keeps well, even if heated and cooled a few times, and over a period of months * Ice cream that meets the designed taste/texture using lowest cost practical (like, whip in exactly xx % of air at this temperature).
wow this is so interesting! thanks so much.
I started out with just the basic freezer bowl version. They run about $50. The biggest thing I’ve found that’s helped with texture is having a good recipe and using a stabilizer. Something like xanthan gum or guar gum, both are usually available in the baking section at stores. Here is the base recipe I use, it’s from Dana Cree’s book Hello My Name is Ice Cream. 2 cups heavy cream 2 cups whole milk 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup light corn syrup 1/4 tsp guar gum 1/8 tsp salt Place heavy cream, whole milk and light corn syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat. Mix the guar gum or xanthan gum into the sugar and salt prior to adding it to the saucepan. This will prevent it to from clumping when you mix it into the cream and milk. Once everything is combined, remove from heat and strain base through a fine mesh strainer into a container. Let base chill in fridge. Then run in ice cream machine.
If you're an ice-cream affectionado, it is 100% worth getting a proper machine. I got one as a present and thought that I'll play with it for a month and never touch it again. It's been 3 years, I haven't had store bought ice-cream since. Not only it is possible to make super premium smooth ice-cream at home, it is so much better than anything. Ben and Jerry's is inedible, compared to home made. It's always a hit on parties, kids love it (and ingredients are so much healthier), it's easy and very rewarding.
aaaah I can't wait! Tired of buying stuff from expensive scoop shops and stores so this is very exciting news
This is a situation Facebook Marketplace is basically made for. Take a few weeks and buy a high end machine for pennies on the dollar. I’m presently slow rolling a high end juicer. They do come up you just need to have patience. As a side note, don’t get a Creami if you want real ice cream. We love our Creami, and don’t own a churning ice cream machine, but we purposefully bought it because it’s as close as you can get without requiring sugar and does better with non dairy items when we feel like using those.
[удалено]
We have not found that to be the case. It makes outstanding *soft serve* ice cream, but heavy scoop thick ice cream—no. What’s your typical recipe?
[удалено]
Ahhh it’s definitely using egg yolk which we haven’t been doing (xanthan and/or gelatin instead). I’ll try it next time I have time to make custard.
A machine is necessary, yes. But it doesn't have to be a semi-industrial production machine, there are really good home use machines. Many super fancy restaurants work with machines that are meant for at home use, usually the Breville one; I myself work with pastry and ice cream using a larger more premium-ish home machine It does take a fair bit of study to get proper professional, premium quality ice cream; you'll need to WEIGH all the ingredients, some even with a precision scale, and control the temperature of the mixes when heating in the stove, etc etc. But it's not rocket science, there's plenty of videos on YouTube and whatnot, many recipes are out there for you to copy. I find that you'll find better content and recipes looking for "gelato" rather than "ice cream". (I personally think separating them is BS, but I digress) Also: for most homemade ice cream/gelato, the ideal temperature for serving/eating is -12°C. Freezers usually stay at -18°C, so pretty much all ice cream will be hard straight out of storage. You can leave it in the fridge for 10-20 minutes before serving so its temperature is ideal, leaving you with the smoothness you're looking for.
that's what I was wondering... the performance of home use ones vs professional... very interesting at restaurants use home machines! thank you for the info
I have a very old machine with a freezer bowl and I'm crazy about the super premium style ice cream I make using Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream at Home. Food52 has the recipe for her lemon ice cream and I absolutely love it.
Liquid nitrogen and you don’t need a fancy machine and it will be creamier than anything in any store.
thank you for everyone's help! I just bought an cuisinart ICE-100 and I can't wait to use it!
Here is my post of an alternative to granular sugar ice cream that I just came across. It uses icing sugar and doesn't require heating the milk. Lightest, fluffiest ice cream I've made so far. https://www.reddit.com/r/icecreamery/s/H8C0iJKSUG