Crazy Ice Cream

[smkit]

I know it is getting into fall, but I started making different types of ice cream in August. So far I have made avocado and sweet corn ice cream, and both have been very good. And this week I am making Iron Chef Morimoto's asparagus ice cream. It was featured in the October Food Network magazine so I thought I would give it a try.

I know in some of these TV cooking shows you will see things like bacon or even tuna ice cream, but what are some different flavor ice creams that I should try? There is a CH post on "best ice cream recipes" but I like the savory foundation.

I am also searching for the perfect ice cream for Thanksgiving. Any ideas? Right now I am leaning towards sweet potato and marshmallow. I am sure I can find some recipe to adapt.

[DBinNOLA]

Tabasco Ice Cream ! ! ! Sold as soft-serve at the Avery Island, LA Tabasco Factory. Sounds weird but taste great. Every time I travel through south Louisiana on I-10 it is a must stop, just to get the ice cream.

[mattstolz]

Jeni's Splendid has some delicious sounding holiday ice cream ideas. i love their seasonal ice creams they are always so unique!

http://jenisicecreams.com/buy-splendi...

also, i know perfect scoop has a sweet potato ice cream recipe in it, you could roast marshmellows and stir those in at the end!

experimenting with you base for the ice cream is one of the easiest ways to make incredibly different ice creams. cream cheese and sour cream work really well, and i have seen recipes with ricotta (canoli ice cream?), marscapone, goat cheese(goat cheese and herbs?), yogurt(curry ice cream?), and creme fraiche(whole grain mustard ice cream?). all of them have their own interesting things you can make with them!

[smkit]

Wow. That is a great site (Jeni's) and some tasty ideas (and ice cream). And that Tobasco Ice Cream below sounds fabulous too. Unfortunately, my holiday ice cream plans are behind schedule. After making peanut butter ice cream, my wife requests it all the time now and because she is pregnant, I am deferring to her tastes these days.

[mamachef]

There's a place close to home that makes what they call "Secret Breakfast Ice Cream" which consists of bourbon and cornflakes, and my G-d, is it good. : )

[smkit]

That does sound great ...and the perfect breakfast. Bourbon and cornflakes.

[mamachef]

Yeah, for one of THOSE days, right? but seriously, have you considered, since you're all about experimentation, trying to use durian and making it palatable? now THAT would be a feat.

[smkit]

Getting durian in small town Minnesota would challenge enough.

[mamachef]

Not at the Mpls. Farmer's mkt. downtown!! HUUUUUUGE Hmong population among other Asian cultures that like the fruit.......(I'm an ex-MN girl, from Highland Park!)

[smkit]

That's a good point. Hmong markets are becoming more common even in mid-size towns. I'll check out that market if I get there before the weather turns, but I am still not sure what I would do with the durian.

[smkit]

I know it isn't such a odd flavor, but I purchased the Perfect Scoop book and made the peanut butter ice cream. It is so easy and tastes amazing. And here is the kicker, I absolutely hate peanut butter.

I was going to make asparagus ice cream, but my asparagus went bad : (

[laurendlewis]

Love corn ice cream! It was one of my first flavors to churn.
Heard about pot ice cream today: http://www.ksbw.com/r/25004784/detail.html

But on a serious note, I have won an ice cream 'competition' with this coconut curry flavor: http://ulteriorepicure.com/2007/06/26...

Enjoy and happy churning!

[csdiego]

Corn ice cream is popular in Brazil. Corn is made into sweets there at least as often as it is savory. It's also a popular pizza topping... but I digress.

Another big favorite of mine from Brazil is brandied prune ice cream--sort of like rum raisin, only richer and more special. That would be a nice one for your Turkey Day.

[julesrules]

I think the Perfect Scoop includes a recipe for prune armagnac ice cream

[honkman]

One restaurant here in San Diego has lardo ice cream which is excellent.

There is also a small ice cream shop in LA which is well known for very unusual ice cream flavors - Scoops. There are a few post on the LA board which drscribe some of their best falvor combination and you could use this as an inspiration:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/431426

[JungMann]

Avocado and corn are both popular flavors of ice cream in the Philippines. You might like also trying mutant coconut (macapuno) or purple yam (ube), which might also be appropriate for Thanksgiving. Cardamom and saffron would also make for a delicious flavor. I could also see a lightly flavored sesame with red bean swirl.

[smkit]

I am at Barnes and Noble now looking through The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. He has some interesting recipes in it. Some that I would like to try are:

* Black Pepper Ice Cream
* Olive Oil Ice Cream
* Orange-Szechwan Pepper Ice Cream
* Pear-Pecorino Ice Cream
* Roquefort-Honey Ice Cream

Others that are making me think a bit are:
* Parsley Ice Cream
* Saffron Ice Cream
* Green Pea Ice Cream

The book is really nice and gives me some ideas for Thanksgiving. Now I think I might do a spiced pumpkin ice cream with a marshmallow topping. And then have a second batch of either sage or black pepper ice cream to put on pumpkin pie.

[Vetter]

Our local ice cream shop makes basil every summer and black pepper vanilla occasionally. They are both FABulous. I say go for sage and black pepper.

Also, have you experimented with pink peppercorns? I've put them with cardamom in jam before, and it's a lovely combo.

[smkit]

Strangely I saw a Chopped episode a couple weeks back where the guy put pink peppercorns in his ice cream. He lost because of it because the cover came off and dumped a cup of pepper in it, but the idea has still intrigued me. That sage and pepper sounds good too.

[morwen]

icecreamireland.com is one of my favorite sources for unusual flavor recipes.

Last Thanksgiving the perfect ice cream for our house was cinnamon. It went with everything on the dessert board.

[smkit]

Thanks for the site, that's a keeper. I

liked their idea of using cheese such as goat cheese ice cream and blue cheese ice cream with caramelized shallot. Also the brown bread ice cream looks great.

[morwen]

I made the goat cheese ice cream this past spring when the cherries were coming in. I macerated 2 cups of black cherries in a sprinkling of sugar overnight, drained the cherries and reserved the juice. Then I added the juice to the custard, and stirred in the cherries when the ice cream finished churning. It was a great balance of tangy and sweet!

[acecil]

Last year I made a cranberry-vanilla sorbet that was fabulous, better than it sounds, and was a nice light way to finish off that over-the-top Thanksgiving meal. Can't remember off the top of my head where the recipe came from (maybe Bon Appetite or epicurious), but I'm sure I saved it. We've enjoyed it several times this summer, too.
Although, sweet potaot and marshmallow sounds great!

[julesrules]

I did sage ice cream last Thanksgiving - served with pumpkin cupcakes, it really was a great combo.
I was inspired by this epicurious dessert but used a ch recipe, with far fewer egg yolks, for my ice cream base.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[smkit]

mmmh. I have been planning on sage ice cream for some time, but have never gotten to it. I bet it would taste good on pumpkin pie too.

[Emme]

tomato with sunflower seeds or choc covered sunflower seeds or dark choc covered edamame

peach with basil or tarragon

for T-day:

carrot with sage and toasted cashews (or almonds or pecans or walnuts) sprinkled with fleur de sel

or, butternut squash with roasted chestnuts

[smkit]

Those chocolate covered sunflower seeds are a good idea. Those sound great. I think peach with tarragon sounds fabulous.

[ipsedixit]

I make ice cream all the time.

Here are some of my previous savory type creations:

- Toasted sesame and peanut butter
- Squash with roasted pumpkin seeds
- Cardamom and ginger root
- Star anise and black sesame paste
- Dark chocolate and licorice

[marsprincess]

Theses sound lovely, especially the cardamom and ginger root. Would you be so kind as to share your recipe. I am inspired!

[ipsedixit]

marsprincess and smkit,

I don't really write down recipes, because I really enjoy experimentation, but from memory this is what I did with the cardomom and ginger root ice cream. You can change and play around with this to incorporate different flavors.

__________________________________________________________

Cardamom and Ginger Root Ice Cream:

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of whole milk
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- about teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of freshly ground cardamom
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 large fresh ginger root (about ½ pound or so), peeled and finely chopped (but not minced).

Directions:

- In a saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the heavy cream, salt, and chopped ginger root.

- Once the mixture is hot and steaming, let it simmer at low heat for a couple of minutes and add in the cardamom at this time, then remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 2-3 hours to infuse the ginger flavor.

- Once cooled, remove the ginger with a strainer, then press down with a spoon firmly on the ginger to extract as much residual flavor as possible. Then discard the ginger.

- Rewarm the ginger infused cardamom milk. As the milk is being heated, beat the egg yolks in separate bowl, and once the milk is rewarmed (warm to the touch but not hot), slowly incorporate the milk into the yolk while whisking constantly. Voila, ginger custard!

- Cook this ginger-custard until the temp reaches 170F. Once it is cooked or reaches 170F, incorporate this into the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream.

- Refrigerate this mixture overnight in your freezer and put it in your ice cream maker per its instructions.

Good luck.

[marsprincess]

Thank you! Will give this a try for my dinner party on Saturday night.

[smkit]

Thanks for the recipe.

[smkit]

I agree. Those are some great combos, though I am not a peanut butter fan. The Squash one and the one with cardamom sound really tasty.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Japanese produce unusual ice cream. I have no idea how to make them, but here is a list from a person who find them to be very odd:

http://www.who-sucks.com/food/101-fri...

[smkit]

Oh my. And sweet potato ice cream is known for flatulence.

[Chemicalkinetics]

To be honest, I know of that list for sometime, but never read through it. I just notice this one:

http://danchanmagic.vox.com/library/p...

[smkit]

Nice.

[MichaelBeyer]

I ate #10 "wasabi ice cream" in Japan when I went to a wasabi (horseradish) farm. It was good!