We All Scream

A couple of posts have mentioned homemade ice cream. This is something that goes in the "you gotta try this" category; it's really worth it. What you need is a Donvier, which makes the whole process easy and convenient. I believe that there are other, similar gizmos out there now, but this is the original. The key component is a metal cylinder that has its hollow walls filled with a freezer gel. You just store it in your freezer until you want to make ice cream. The whole process is simple- you make up a custard (brewers are allowed to think of this as 'ice cream wort',) pour it into the assembled Donvier, and stir every couple minutes for around 20 minutes. Easy!

The custard is usually cooked and cooled before freezing, although a 'quick and dirty' ice cream can be made by just mixing ingredients and going right into the Donvier. Sherbet, sorbet, gelato, etc, all can be made with this gizmo, as well. We once made a delicious sorbet based on Duchesse de Bourgogne beer. Ice cream made this way is the real deal. Readers my age and older may remember when Breyers was an independent company, and made real ice cream, you know, the stuff that freezes HARD, and melts into liquid, not a gooey semisolid. That's what we're talking about, here.

What it is not, is economical. By the time you add up the cost of the cream, eggs, sugar, milk, and flavorings, it can be an expensive quart of ice cream. You can buy some damn good chocolate or pistachio or the like pretty reasonably. However, if you want chocolate malt, red bean, green tea, baci, Mexican chocolate, chestnut, or some such, you may have to make it for yourself. Go ahead, live a little....