Houjicha ice cream, sour cherry sorbet

Ice cream makers, ideas, recommendations

Thank you for reading! I see that it has been three months since my last dispatch on Japanese milk bread. I have been immersed in trying to regularly lead 5.11s, reorganizing the kitchen cabinets using Yamazaki shelf organizers, and making batches upon batches of ice cream.

The shelf organizers (from a Nara company!) freed up shelf space that was promptly filled with an extremely large Breville ice cream maker and I have now made at least six batches of ice cream (houjicha, vanilla x2, mint, earl grey, corn) one batch of frozen yogurt (honey x cardamom), one batch of gelato (milk), and two batches of sorbet (sour cherry, cucumber x lime). Possibly a terrible acquisition for two people with very prominent sweet teeth, but it was a reaction of sorts to one too many scoops of bland and oddly gritty ice cream from shops of good repute¹. More importantly perhaps, is the ability to realize an ice cream out of every flavor and mix-in combination. Corn with corn cookie and jam? Matcha with white chocolate stracciatella? I have been soliciting suggestions and will be making them all. I also now squirrel away bits of pastry for potential mix-in. Today’s acquisition: rainbow and black and whites from Orwasher’s.

I love love love the cookies (and the olive bread) from Orwasher’s

To backtrack on the ice cream. The first recipe that I made was a houjicha ice cream based loosely on a matcha ice cream recipe from David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop. I adjusted the recipe to a ratio of 1:1 whole milk and heavy cream, but have since been making batches of ice cream with a 1:2 ratio. I haven’t yet recreated the houjicha ice cream with this higher cream ratio, but was very happy with the clarity of the houjicha with less cream. I do understand that the lower fat ice creams tend to turn icier when stored longer, which of course makes sense, but I love the fresher taste of ice creams made with more milk². Not to be too Ina Garten, but using Ronnybrook cream and milk makes such a difference when you are making something that is mostly dairy. Ronnybrook being the dairy recommended by Petee’s and also the most accessible local product, as it is available at multiple farmer’s markets and at Whole Foods.

Houjicha Ice Cream

180g (3/4 cup) whole milk

180g (3/4 cup) heavy cream

3 egg yolks

35 g (3 tablespoons) dark brown sugar

35 g (3 tablespoons) granulated sugar

15g (3 tablespoons) looseleaf houjicha

pinch of salt

1. Not much to this. Steep houjicha in milk; make a creme anglaise; churn.

Machine Observations

So obviously, I am extremely enthusiastic about this ice cream maker - there is nothing quite like bringing home made pints of ice cream as a dinner party gift or churning up a batch when friends visit, but wondering if there is a better alternative to this Breville machine?³

1. GOOD: The pre-chill option is amazing, as it chills down any ice cream base that is hot from the stove to a churnable temperature, so that a batch of ice cream will come together within an hour;

2. GOOD: No need to pre-chill the canister. We once made two batches of ice cream for a single dinner party (excessive perhaps); but

3. BAD: Why is the churn made out of plastic? I feel that this makes the ice cream melt so quickly when you are removing it from the machine;

4. BAD: A layer of stiffly frozen ice cream along the sides of the canister (i.e., uneven freezing);

5. BAD: Why must it be so loud; and

6. BAD: Why is the ice cream so difficult to remove from the canister when done?

David⁴ is now eyeing this Whynter model with stainless steel blades and a yogurt function. Is two ice cream makers excessive for a NYC apartment? An apartment that also has a 5 quart KitchenAid and many many plants? TBC.

Sour Cherries!

Last summer in the Berkshires, I became obsessed with sour cherries. I hadn’t known that cherries could be floral and tart and sweet. The pints that I hunted down at Grand Army Plaza last weekend were not quite as good, but prompted David to purchase an OXO cherry pitter (an absolute uni-tasker that I would generally not condone, except that the alternative of pitting cherries with a paper clip or a single chopstick strikes me as absolutely insane).

Summer fruit! Grand Army Plaza

Gripes about kitchen tools aside, the cherry pitter made quick work of the cherries. I emptied one jar of nearly empty Luxardo cherries and filled it with pitted sour cherries and Maraschino liqueur. I simmered the other pint with black and red currants (also from the market), prosecco, and honey to simmer before straining in preparation for sorbet⁵. The cherry stones are steeping in vodka, as this supposedly becomes something like kirsch over the coming months. When I opened the jar the other day to top off with some additional stones, I had a bit of a flashback to my grandmother’s jars of umeshu - sour plum liqueur. Which brings me to thinking, in a city where ume are not available, if I could make a New York version of umeshu with sour cherries? Sakuranboshu?

Miscellaneous

It’s humid and sticky and so so crowded, but New York summer is so lovely. Even had I not spent July 4th with the smollest and most adorable kittens.

OMG OMG OMG

On a very random, very quick trip to Pittsburgh, was able to stop into Bar Marco and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Gnocchi, Bar Marco

Very grateful for all of the amazing croissants in New York these days. Recent stops at Radio Bakery, Bourke Street Bakery, and Librae. Thinking about the chocolate and halvah croissant from Librae is a reminder to make a halvah ice cream.

Grass jelly and sweet tofu, Fong On

Multiple stops at SOMA, Toronto

Realizing that nearly every item listed thus far has been sweet, I would also be remiss. not to mention the new Mama Lee in Williamsburg. It felt as if Barb had ordered everything on the menu, so I feel confident in my recommendation that Everything Is Good, but do order the radish chicken soup.

1. I can be found buying ice cream in New York from Sundaes and Cones, Davey’s, Malai, and Van Leeuwen, and I would never turn away gelato from Anita’s. Where does everyone like to get their ice cream? Aside from the access to amazing snow, I was charmed by the plethora of ice cream in Denver, especially the Earl Grey and shortbread from High Point Creamery - a flavor I recreated last week by adding three Earl Grey tea bags (acquired from various airport lounges) to the Petee’s vanilla ice cream recipe and crumbling in some Alison Roman shortbread.

2. To that end, I am currently freezing a batch of corn ice cream with: 240g half and half; 120g whole milk (I had been meaning to use up some local heavy cream but found that it had gone sour); 1 cup frozen corn kernels; 2 egg yolks; 65 grams granulated sugar; pinch of salt. Once frozen, I layered in some quick compote that I made from two diminutive and shriveled peaches quickly cooked with water, lemon juice, and sugar. It tasted delicious out of the machine, but not sure if it will be too icy.

3. Checked out some lists before ordering and the Breville did quite well, but I do see the observation about the “layer of un-spun, hardened ice cream base.”

4. Not his name, but it feels an appropriate alias given the current state of David Lebovitz appreciation

5. I ordered the Petee’s Pie book, but didn’t feel up to baking a pie, especially as I don’t actually know how to improve upon the Petee’s fruit pies, which are perfect, if possibly a bit sweet at times.