1.9 KiB
Ice Cream Making
Churning
Storage
Churned ice cream needs to be stored in an airtight container, otherwise ice crystals will form and ruin the texture.
Recipes
Churn Time
Recipes frequently say to churn "according to manufacturer instructions" which is funny because my Cuisinart's instructions say to churn according to the particular recipe.
The secret is that it doesn't matter. The ice cream is done churning when it sticks to the hook and visually stops circulating. That is, it's done churning when it's done churning.
Recipe Scale
Recipes rarely mention what volume churn they're intended for (although they might provide an Amazon affiliate link)
I have a Cuisinart ICE-21P1, a 1.5 quart model. Cuisinart does not give direction on maximum volume of un-churned ingredients. When making mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream, using three cups milk/cream and about a half cup of mix-ins, there was exactly enough capacity.
Half and Half
Ice cream recipes use a ratio of milk and cream in order to control the fat content of the result. Usually just milk and heavy cream, but some evil people prescribe half and half.
I rarely consume milk or cream, and they spoil quickly, so I'd prefer not to keep on hand any more milks of varying fat content than necessary. Luckily (as might be surmised from the name) half and half can be made at home, but not from half milk and half heavy cream (which are the dairy solutions I keep stocked).
Half and half is half milk and half light cream. light cream has about half the fat of heavy cream, so one part heavy cream to three parts whole milk is the correct ratio.
Sugar
The source I referenced while writing mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream directs one to pre-whisk the sugar into the dairy, but other recipe sources, including mine for strawberry-ice-cream, just have you dump everything in the churn and hit go. I feel like this ought to be sufficient.