The Evils of HFCS

Sorry to report that my idea for an ice cream float has not worked out. I hate that it has been so long without posting a recipe, but this failure gives me a great opportunity to discuss the why you shouldn't use high fructose corn syrup when making ice cream. My recipe idea was for a reverse ice cream float -- cola flavored ice cream in a vanilla cream soda. I did some research and could not find a cola flavored ice cream anywhere. Now I know why.

I've said most of this before, but it always bears repeating. Inexpensive ice cream is filled with short cuts. The cheap stuff in the value tubs at your local supermarket is full of chemicals and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I won't get into the danger of HFCS, there are plenty of experts who can tell you about why you should never eat it, but when it comes to ice cream, HFCS is a menace.

HFCS is much cheaper than sugar. It is sweeter and goes a long way. The problem is that since it is not sugar, it does not behave the same way. It bonds to the other molecules differently and will almost always result in an icy texture. Yet the cheap ice cream that uses HFCS does not feel icy. That is due to their use of emulsifiers and the amount of air that is pumped into the mix to change the texture. Whatever you do, avoid HFCS like the plague. Regular corn syrup is different, it has a lot of home uses, but HFCS is a menace.

It should be business as usual by the end of the week. I will resume my weekly recipes. The next one will be my take on green tea ice cream.

Tuesday Update

Last Friday, June 20, was National Ice Cream Soda Day in the USA. I have not forgotten about it. I am actively seeking an ingredient to make my very interesting ice cream float.

I have to apologize about the lack of new posts. I have been out of town on vacation. The family went to Chicago to visit friends and enjoy some time away from the grind. I have to share one of our meals with you. I am not fortunate enough to be Jennifer Zyman or Cliff Bostock when it comes to describing restaurants, but I hope to do this one justice.

One of the best things that we did in Chicago was have the honor of being the first customers at Marcus Samuelson's new restaurant, the C House. For those of you who don't know, Chef Samuelson is the owner of Aquavit in New York City and appeared on Iron Chef a couple of weeks ago.

Our meal was fantastic. As is his style, Chef Samuelson offers a menu filled with seafood, including an extensive raw bar. His flavors were clean, fresh, and inventive. I had the fluke, which was served in a clear sweet and sour broth that was light and had the most unexpected, yet delicious flavor. Mrs. Fellow enjoyed the lobster club sandwich, which may be one of the best reasons to go to Chicago. Lobster with avocado on a bacon brioche served with some outstanding fries and house made spicy ketchup (if memory serves they use half beef fat and half vegetable oil for frying). One last super delicious thing to note, Chef Samuelson offers a version of macaroni and cheese using goat cheese and chorizo.

Our desserts featured ice cream (no surprise there). I had the warm black forest cake with brandied cherry ice cream. Warm chocolate cake is almost always good and this one was no exception. I really enjoyed the cherries on the top. The accompanying brandied cherry ice cream was very tasty, but really did not have a lot of brandy flavor, which is just fine because I don't really like a lot of alcohol in my ice cream. The pastry chef stopped by our table and gave us a taste of her blueberry sour cream ice cream. It was delicious, but suffered from the same problem as my recipe -- a slight icy texture. Our friends loved it and did not notice the iciness. Maybe I'm just too critical. Mrs. Fellow ordered a trio of house made confections consisting of chocolate covered spiced marshmallows, blueberry biscotti, and the best vanilla cupcake ever. Words cannot describe the softness of the cake or intensity of the vanilla flavor. You have to eat one to believe it.

We also found the staff to be exactly what you want in this caliber of restaurant. They were friendly and knowledgeable. The wait staff did not know the menu inside and out, but that is easy to forgive on opening night. I appreciated that they were not afraid to tell you when they were unsure of ingredients and preparations especially where the Baby Fellow's order was concerned (because of her allergies). Chef Samuelson visited us several times. We found him to be a wonderfully warm and gracious host. Especially surprising was his great rapport with the three kids at our table. The wine steward left Napa Valley to come to Chicago for this job. He has put together a great wine list that definitely leaned towards whites which is a perfect compliment to the seafood heavy menu. He had great technical knowledge and was extremely helpful in aiding our wine selection.

With all the good food in Chicago, it is hard to go wrong, but you would be doing yourself a disservice if you skipped the C House.

Want to do a guest column?

This coming Saturday is the Second Annual Ice Cream Social at the Peachtree Farmer's Market in Atlanta. I was looking forward to competing, but I have another commitment that prohibits my involvement.

Is there a volunteer who wants to do a guest column about it?

If you live in Atlanta and like ice cream, you should go. The social will feature flavors by chefs and amateurs. I think it costs $10 to attend. Click this link to visit the Peachtree Farmer's Market website.

Sorbet Trio

Anita Chu who runs the Dessert First blog inspires today’s recipe. She made a strawberry and mango dessert for her parents’ visit. Mrs. Fellow had bought a lot of gorgeous strawberries from the local farmer’s market. I had a few mangos lying around the house for Baby Fellow who was not interested in eating them. After tasting the two together, I though that a third would better round out the flavor so I whipped a batch of lime-mint sorbet. I made the strawberry sorbet sweeter than I would have liked if it were being served on its own. The mango sorbet was left more tart to provide an interesting contrast. The lime-mint sorbet is subtly flavored with the mint to provide a clean flavor that refreshed the mouth after the sweet tart flavors of the other two.

These recipes are very straight forward so just jump right in. You’ll love them.

Strawberry Sorbet:

I am a bit vague with the amount of lemon juice in this recipe. Depending on the ripeness of your berries, you find that you need more (or less) lemon juice to balance the sweetness. In my version, I used the juice of one lemon, which was just a hair more than 2 tablespoons. Still, I left this a little sweeter than I would like if I was serving it on its own.

1 pound fresh strawberries
1 cup of water
1 ¼ cup of sugar
Lemon juice

1. Put the water and sugar in a small pot. Bring to a rapid boil and hold it there for 60 seconds. Turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat.
2. As the water is coming to temperature wash, stem, and hull the strawberries, place them in a blender.
3. Juice the lemon. You do not have to strain it.
4. Add the liquid to the strawberries in the blender and puree until smooth.
5. Taste the puree and add a tablespoon of the lemon juice, stir, then taste. If it tastes too sweet add another tablespoon of lemon juice. Keep going until the you like the balance. Remember, you are freezing this so leave it a little sweeter than you think it should be because the cold will numb your tongue and make it taste less sweet.
6. Cool to room temperature and chill for at least 4 hours.
7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.


Mango Sorbet:

It doesn’t really matter how many mangos you have or how much they weigh. The general guideline is to add half as much simple syrup as the amount of mango puree. Be sure to make enough syrup to cover the recipe and then some to compensate for less than ripe mangos.

Mangos (I used 1 ½ pounds)
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I used the juice of 2 limes)
1 cup of water
1 ¼ cup of sugar
1. Put the water and sugar in a small pot. Bring to a rapid boil and hold it there for 60 seconds. Turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat.
2. As the water is coming to temperature, peel the mangos, cut the flesh into chunks and place in a blender. Be sure to squeeze as much flesh as possible off of the remaining pit. Puree the mangos and place them in a measuring cup noting the amount of puree.
3. Once the simple syrup is completed, measure half as much as you have of the mango puree. In my case I had 2 cups of mango puree, so measured one cup of syrup.
4. Pu the puree and the syrup back into the blender, add the lime juice. Blend for 10 – 15 seconds to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed.
5. Taste the puree and correct the sweetness if necessary. You may need to add a pinch of salt if the mixture is too sweet.
6. Cool to room temperature and chill for at least 4 hours.
7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.


Lime-Mint Sorbet:

In this recipe lime juice is the star. Using fresh juice as opposed to the bottled stuff will make a tremendous difference. You need the zest of one of the limes, so don’t bother washing all of them. I use a zester that leaves stripes in the rind. It is easy, but only removes half of the zest from the fruit. So I zest two limes to make sure I have enough. Increase the amount of mint and the steeping time if you like yours more minty.

½ cup fresh lime juice (at least 5 limes)
Zest of one lime
15 sprigs of mint
1 cup water
1 ¼ cup sugar

1. Rough chop 5 sprigs of mint.
2. Put the water, sugar, and chopped mint in a small pot. Bring to a rapid boil and hold it there for 60 seconds. Turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat. Allow the mint to steep for 10 minutes.
3. Juice the limes and place in a bowl big enough to accommodate all of the ingredients.
4. Wash one lime and remove the zest. Mince the zest and add it to the lime juice.
5. Mince the remaining mint and add it to the lime juice.
6. Once the syrup has steeped for 10 minutes, strain out the mint and add the syrup to the lime juice. Stir well to blend.
7. Taste the mixture and correct the flavor if necessary.
8. Cool to room temperature and chill for at least 4 hours.
7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.

Happy Chocolate Ice Cream Day

Do they make a card for this?

In honor of today I have included a recipe for milk chocolate ice cream with mini marshmallows. Chocolate and marshmallow is one of this fellow's favorite combinations. Whether it is pinwheel cookies, chocolate snowballs with marshmallow fluff, or today's ice cream recipe I will eat it.

When I was kid, my parents used to take me to the mall to the local Friendly's for ice cream. I always ordered chocolate marshmallow. When Friendly's stopped carrying it, I was disappointed. That Friendly's location went out of business soon after. Let that be a lesson to you. Don't mess with chocolate marshmallow.

Milk chocolate is a wonderful ingredient that creates the most fantastic finished product. It has a creaminess and softness to it that you don't find in the darker varieties. That means that there you can use less sugar to overcome chocolate's bitterness.

It also means that you had better pick a great milk chocolate. Anything less will leave a washed out flavor in the finished product. There are a lot of expensive milk chocolates. Try to find the one that has the boldest chocolate flavor. It may not be the best for eating at room temperature, but it will fare better when frozen. I tasted four milk chocolates at the local Whole Foods on Thursday before making my decision -- Caro, Valrhona, Callebaut, and El Rey.

1. Caro is an interesting one because they caramelize the milk. It makes the chocolate sweeter and although tasty, the chocolate flavor was more washed out.
2. El Rey 41% - As with the Caro, this was good, but is a better candidate for candy making and baking than ice cream.
3. Callebaut 34% - This was the runner up. This was the best tasting bar to eat at room temperature. Consistently ranking high on most taste tests, Callebaut had a great flavor. It was decisively chocolaty and not overly sweet.
4. Valrhona Jivara 40% - The one I chose. As intense as possible in a 40% chocolate bar and it had the best mouth feel -- incredibly silky and smooth. If it weren't for the texture, I would not eat this bar plain. It was not the best tasting one, but it was the most intensely flavored.

I apologize for not having a chart for this one. There is no information about the breakdown of the content of this chocolate readily available. I am in touch with a Valrhona importer to get the specific information. When I get it, I will share it with you.

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallows

6 ¼ oz of milk chocolate
2 cups cream
2 ¼ cups of milk
5 egg yolks
mini marshmallows

1. Combine the cream, milk, and ½ cup of the sugar in a saucepan and heat to a bare simmer stirring occasionally.
2. Combine the egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup of sugar. Beat until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture turns pale yellow.
3. Coarsely chop the chocolate.
4. Once the cream mixture is at ready, remove it from the heat.
5. Temper the eggs by mixing in a small amount of the cream, stir thoroughly, and repeat three times. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.
6. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Remove the pot from the heat. And add the chocolate. Stir until the contents are completely melted. If you are having problems getting the chocolate to melt, you may return the pot to the heat very briefly.
8. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl and let cool to room temperature.
9. Cover the bowl and chill overnight.
10. The next day, freeze the custard in your ice cream machine. During the last minute of the freezing process, add the marshmallows.

What is your Ice Cream Personality?

Forget about the Myers-Brigs test, five questions about ice cream can define your personality.

Your Ice Cream Personality:

You are a bit of a bragger. Your personality is larger than life - and you really enjoy showing off. You are the type of person who likes to throw caution to the wind. You only live once, so you're going to live as large as possible. You are definitely a wild one! You are a very open minded, liberal, and flexible person. You love many things. You tend to have tastes that range from down home to cosmopolitan. You tend to have a one track mind. You prefer not to multitask. You can be a big dramatic and over the top sometimes. You are bold in every way.

The Ice Cream Personality Test

Saturday June 7 is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

Someone needs to start lobbying Congress to get this day listed as a Federal Holiday so we can have the day off of work.

I have a special recipe planned -- milk chocolate ice cream with marshmallows.

It is difficult to find truly great milk chocolate. What is your favorite brand?

June 2 - Happy Rocky Road Day!

I want to apologize for taking so long between posts recently. This week, life has been a bit more inconvenient than normal. Baby Fellow is very ill. As a result, my schedule has been chaotic. Things should be smoothed out soon.

In honor of National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day, I present you with my version of this classic. I did not have time to actually make it, but I know this recipe will work because it is the same ice cream as the Chocolate-Blueberry. The only difference is the add-ins, marshmallows and toasted almonds. Rocky Road does not require changing methods or fancy modern twists. This is a classic flavor that is best left untouched. Below is a copy of the worksheet for this ice cream. While it may appear that the MSNF is a bit low, do not fear. This ice cream base is not icy or lacking in flavor.



Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, known to some as Edy’s Grand, was the company that invented Rocky Road. One of the original partners, Joseph Edy, owned a candy shop that made Rocky Road bars. These confections were a combination of chocolate, marshmallows, and toasted almonds. William Dreyer, the other partner in the ice cream company, got the idea to replace the chocolate candy with chocolate ice cream. An American classic was born. This flavor continues to survive the test of time and be one of the most popular flavors in the USA. Some Rocky Road ice creams have chocolate chips in them. The original recipe does not use chips and I adhere to that policy. I would be inclined to add them, but my chocolate is so rich, that their flavor would be lost.

Incidentally, mini marshmallows were invented for Rocky Road ice cream. Prior to that, large marshmallows were cut with scissors into smaller pieces. This is very time consuming and sticky.

Keeping with my philosophy, I did not define the amount of marshmallows and almonds. Add-in quantities are totally within your control.

Rocky Road Ice Cream

2 cups cream
2 cups milk
¾ cup sugar
6 egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla extract
7 oz bittersweet chocolate cut into chunks
Mini-marshmallows
Toasted almonds

1. Combine the cream, milk, and ½ cup of the sugar in a saucepan and heat to a bare simmer stirring occasionally.
2. Combine the egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup of sugar. Beat until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture turns pale yellow.
3. Coarsely chop the chocolate.
4. Once the cream mixture is at ready, remove it from the heat.
5. Temper the eggs by mixing in a small amount of the cream, stir thoroughly, and repeat three times. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.
6. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Remove the pot from the heat. And add the chocolate. Stir until the contents are completely melted. If you are having problems getting the chocolate to melt, you may return the pot to the heat very briefly.
8. Stir in the vanilla extract
9. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl and let cool to room temperature.
10. Cover the bowl and chill overnight.
11. The next day, freeze the custard in your ice cream machine. During the last minute of the freezing process, add the marshmallows and almonds.