When Grade B Is Better Than Grade A

After all this time, you think I would have learned about the delicate nature of ice cream making. Alas, it is a lesson I seem doomed to learn over and over again. This week I tried making maple ice cream. Most of the recipes I looked at online called for using Grade B Maple Syrup, but all I had in my refrigerator was Grade A. Eager to make maple ice cream, I thought why not? I'll tell you why. Grade A Maple Syrup is too delicate to use in ice cream. In fact, Grade B Maple Syrup is used in almost anything you would bake with maple syrup (ex: maple cookies, candies, etc).

For those of you who may be confused as to why this is, a brief tangent on the "rankings" of syrups. Unlike many other things, such as meats or school, in the case of syrups, grades do not refer to the quality of the syrups. Thus, Grade A Maple Syrup is not better than Grade B Maple Syrup. Rather, the grades refer to the darkness and thickness of the syrups. Grade A are lighter syrups, while Grade B are thicker, more syrupy syrups. When eating something like waffles or pancakes, Grade A syrups are usually better because you do not want to be overwhelmed with a thick, syrupy taste in your mouth. However, when baking, when you have to contend with other flavors, such as flour or creams, that will be changing as the items cook, so you want a thicker syrup that allows the maple taste to stand out.

Maple Ice Cream

Ingredients

2/3 cup Grade B Maple Syrup

1 3/4 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup whole milk

4 large egg yolks

Preparation

Heat the maple syrup in a small saucepan until it is reduced by a quarter, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the cream and milk in a separate saucepan until simmering, about 5 minutes

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg yolks for about 2 minutes.

Pour about half a cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly to temper the egg yolks.

Add the egg yolks to the cream mixture. Stir constantly until the mixture is thick, about 3 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add in the maple syrup. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight to chill.

Churn mixture in your ice cream maker. Enjoy!

The consistency of this ice cream was great. Unfortunately, the Grade A Maple Syrup I used does not pack enough of a punch to stand out against the cream and the milk. The result is not bad, but does not really taste like maple. Use some Grade B Maple Syrup and let me know how it turns out.

Note: After leaving this ice cream in the freezer for a couple days, it tasted much better. The maple flavor was richer and tastier. Sometimes ice creams just need a couple days to sit and that seems to be the case with this flavor. Grade B Maple Syrup may still make a tastier maple ice cream, but Grade A will work as well.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.

Coconut Curry Ice Cream

For dinner one night this week, my husband and I took a trip out to Jackson Heights and ate at Tawa. Tawa is a traditional Nepalese "restaurant." I put restaurant in quotations because it is more like a shack with folding tables and three different vendors selling you things. The food is delicious, however. We both ordered thali, which is a plate of rice with lots of little dishes of lentils, curries, pickles, veggies and other things surrounding it.  As you eat, you can watch these old women in the back making roti and chaptai by hand. The roti and chaptai is so delicious that we may be going back this weekend just to buy some more. If you are in New York, I definitely recommend going to Tawa now!

I give all this back story, as a way of explaining the flavor of the week:

Coconut Curry

Ingredients:

4 cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Preparation:

Bring the coconut milk, sugar and curry powder to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer for 10 minutes. Cover and chill overnight.

Churn mixture in your ice cream mixture. Add the coconut flakes 1 minute before the ice cream is done.

This ice cream was definitely interesting, as its name promises it will be. It is not that the ice cream was bad, in fact, I would say it is pretty tasty. It just does not taste exactly the way you would expect ice cream to taste. Coconut Curry ice cream is more savory than sweet. It tastes like a mild curry sauce that you may use as a dip for bread. In fact, it reminds me of a recipe I used to make back in the day before I was a vegetarian. In this recipe, I smothered chicken in a curry sauce made of vanilla yogurt and curry powder. Tasty, but not what you expect when you bite into an ice cream cone. Nonetheless, if you are in the mood for a non-sweet dessert, this ice cream may be right up your alley. I think I will try making it next week with just the coconut milk, and no curry, for a nice coconut ice cream.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.

The Most Disgusting Ice Cream Flavor in the World

Happy New Year!

One of my resolutions this year is to try to update this blog more frequently. When I originally started this blog, I said I would update it weekly, so I am going to try to stick to that. So far this year, I have already missed a week, but who knows, maybe I can keep up with the other 51 weeks. I hope the rest of you are fairing better than I am with their New Year's Resolutions.

This week I did not have a lot of ingredients just lying around, so I decided to make olive oil ice cream. All you need is milk, cream, salt, sugar, eggs and olive oil. All of these are ingredients that are a staple in my kitchen. Before you say anything, I know exactly what you are thinking, Olive Oil ice cream sounds disgusting. I tend to agree, but I had many friends who told me that it could be quite good. Guess What? My friends may have had good Olive Oil ice cream somewhere, but mine came out every bit as disgusting as it sounds. Hence the title of this post, The Most Disgusting Ice Cream Flavor in the World.

I made this ice cream using Equal Exchange Fairly Traded Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but I think any will work (or not work, as the case may be). I just like to give you a scoop of political correctness with your ice cream. The olive oil was a Christmas gift from my mother. Unfortunately, while wonderful with a variety of other recipes, the olive oil does not hold out in ice cream. For your brave souls who would like to try the most disgusting ice cream flavor in the world, the steps are below.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups whole milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

• Bring milk, cream, salt, and ½ cup sugar just to a simmer in a medium saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar.
• Whisk egg yolks and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a medium bowl for about 2 minutes. 
• Whisk ½ cup hot milk mixture into yolks. Whisk yolk mixture into remaining milk mixture in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 2–3 minutes. 
• Strain the mixture into a clean bowl and set it in the refrigerator to cool. 
• Once it is cool, churn it in your ice cream mixture. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
• Hopefully, I can give you a better recipe next week. Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on (just not olive oil ice cream)!

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