For my last birthday, a (very generous) friend got me the ice cream maker that fits onto a Kitchen Aid mixer. I was thrilled to receive it, but then tucked it at the top of my kitchen cabinet and left it to languish for more than a month. My excuses were many, included the fact that life got busy, I didn't have room in my freezer to chill the bowl and I just didn't have any good recipes for ice cream.
However, in my travels through the many food blogs out there, I kept hearing about a book that contained fantastic and tasty recipes. The pictures and tales people posted tempted me out of my ice cream apathy, I ordered the book (David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop) and started my own experimentation with the wonders of homemade ice cream. My most recent batch was the Fresh Ginger Ice Cream (on page 43), and let me tell you, it was fantastic. I took it to dinner with friends, and at the end of the night I ran my finger around the bottom of the container in a vain attempt to grab the last few drops. The recipe is after the jump.
photo by Marisa McClellan
3 ounces of unpeeled ginger
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
Cut ginger into thin slices. Place the ginger in a medium, nonreactive saucepan. Add enough water to cover the ginger by about 1/2 inch and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, then drain, discarding the liquid.
Return the blanched ginger slices to the saucepan, then add the milk, 1 cup of cream, sugar and salt. Warm the mixture, cover and remove from the heat. Let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
Rewarm the mixture. Remove the ginger slices with a slotted spoon and discard. Pour the remaining cup of cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice maker according to instructions.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-25-2007 @ 10:53PM
bdw said...
Ice cream machines are only scary until you try them. Easy easy easy easy. I can always impress my in-laws with my ice cream machine; it's almost impossible to screw up. Face it, have you ever had BAD ice cream? Mediocre, yeah, freezer burnt, maybe, but BAD? Even the pistachio jalapeno gelato was edible. Even the avocado/broccoli wasn't that bad.
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7-27-2007 @ 12:33PM
Nick said...
I love ginger ice cream, but I see a few problems with the recipe:
The time-tested "will the custard hold a line scraped clean with your finger on a wooden spoon" test is probably a better choice, because some heat-proof spatulas simply won't get coated.
Is there a reason for the "boil all the flavor out of the ginger" step? Slicing it up and throwing it in works well, and you can save a step by letting the strainer catch them instead of fishing each piece out.
Another thing you can do with the ginger is to fire-roast it: stick the whole chunk onto a skewer and hold it over the flame from a burner until the skin turns completely black. Let it cool a bit, and scrape the skin off with either a spoon or the rough part of a scrubby sponge, rinsing if necessary. Then slice and use as normal. It deepens the flavor and mellows out the sharpness.
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7-27-2007 @ 12:43PM
Marisa McClellan said...
Nick, those are some great tips. This wasn't my recipe, although I did make it once and found it to be pretty tasty (I also questioned the boiling of the ginger slices in water before steeping them in the milk/cream). However, I like the idea of fire roasting the ginger, that sounds amazing.
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7-31-2007 @ 8:26PM
Foodie Pam said...
If you are interested in seeing another recipe from Perfect Scoop you can see "Tin Roof Ice Cream" at http://www.projectfoodie.com/spotlights/cookbooks/perfect-scoop-tin-roof-ice-cream.html
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8-01-2007 @ 2:33PM
MJ said...
Who would have thought of ginger iec cream? Any homemade ice cream should be heavenly. I dont bother with store bought.
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8-01-2007 @ 2:33PM
MJ said...
Who would have thought of ginger ice cream??? Any homemade ice cream is going to be heavenly!
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8-02-2007 @ 12:35AM
Marisa McClellan said...
David, thanks so much for leaving a comment and clearing up our confusion about the ginger-blanching part of the recipe!
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8-02-2007 @ 4:11AM
David said...
So glad you liked the recipe! It's particularly good with chocolate sauce too.
btw: The ginger for the recipe is blanched since it contains a protein-digesting enzyme which can prevent custards from 'setting' (pineapple has it too), but the cooking destroys the enzyme.
Happy churning!
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8-02-2007 @ 5:06PM
MJ said...
I was reading on a site about recalls and they mentioned a ginger recall. Anyone else hear of this?There have been many recalls lately. Sara lee bread. chilli and many others that have not been made public in the news.
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8-02-2007 @ 5:07PM
Marisa McClellan said...
I haven't heard anything about a ginger recall. Do you mean minced ginger? I can't imagine they'd recall fresh ginger root, as there's no way to track it.
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8-06-2007 @ 2:42AM
J Cutting said...
I made ginger ice cream the first time recently. I added chopped crystalized ginger to the recipe while freezing. Amazing! A huge hit at home!
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8-08-2007 @ 10:39AM
Mini said...
Ginger ice cream sounds great and really refreshing! I just took out my ice cream maker and am looking for some non-traditional flavors. I usually make green tea (http://crossfood.blogspot.com/2007/08/green-tea-ice-cream.html), but was thinking of experimenting with some other asian ingredients. I think I'll hit Chinatown today so I can make this one.
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