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Ice cream maker follies

Started by Mikko Peltoniem · · Last activity · 6 posts · 2,041 views

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General fitness, health and nutrition
Published
5 July 2004
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5 July 2004
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Mikko Peltoniem
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  1. The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the
    brand, and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd buy
    it. It's the automatic type, where a motor turns the mixture
    over the freezing element.

    Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

    I searched around Google, and found out several people that
    had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
    any answers as to what the fix was.

    Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
    cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar and
    peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter) pinch of
    salt vanilla extract

    Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved
    the preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge
    overnight.

    The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in the
    freezer, upside down as per instructions, since late friday.

    Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's,
    Philips brand, and design was very similar to this one. So I
    pretty much knew what to expect, kind of soft soft serve
    type ice cream. But I churned for over 45 minutes, but the
    ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

    Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still
    definitely liquid.

    What could I have done differently? Couple of things I
    thought.

    1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer
    longer, or maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe
    the freezer isn't cold enough. After churning, it wasn't
    warm by all means, and when washing it, water froze on
    it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

    2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side;
    I'm not sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I
    made a mistake in the amount of sugar, and that's why it
    isn't freezing. It's not inedibly sweet, so it could be
    that it's right, but just a bit too sweet for my taste.

    3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers the
    freezing point even more.

    4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day,
    and the kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove
    or anything.

    Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or
    should I have just kept going on, maybe even past the
    hour mark?

    But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the
    problems are somewhere else?

    --
    Mikko Peltoniemi Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at
    large. editor.is.dreaming.orgeditor.is.dreaming.org

  2. Mikko Peltoniemi said:

    The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the
    brand, and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd
    buy it. It's the automatic type, where a motor turns the
    mixture over the freezing element.

    Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

    I searched around Google, and found out several people that
    had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
    any answers as to what the fix was.

    Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
    cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar
    and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
    pinch of salt vanilla extract

    Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved
    the preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge
    overnight.

    The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in
    the freezer, upside down as per instructions, since
    late friday.

    Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's,
    Philips brand, and design was very similar to this one. So
    I pretty much knew what to expect, kind of soft soft serve
    type ice cream. But I churned for over 45 minutes, but the
    ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

    Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still
    definitely liquid.

    What could I have done differently? Couple of things
    I thought.

    1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer
    longer, or maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe
    the freezer isn't cold enough. After churning, it wasn't
    warm by all means, and when washing it, water froze on
    it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

    2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side;
    I'm not sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I
    made a mistake in the amount of sugar, and that's why it
    isn't freezing. It's not inedibly sweet, so it could be
    that it's right, but just a bit too sweet for my taste.

    3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers
    the freezing point even more.

    4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day,
    and the kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove or
    anything.

    Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or
    should I have just kept going on, maybe even past the
    hour mark?

    But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the
    problems are somewhere else?

    My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough-
    either not long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough (do
    you have a freezer thermometer?).

    My ice cream recipes run about 1/3 c sugar per cup liquid,
    and yours seems to conform to that.

    Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't
    understand why they'd tell you to freeze it upside down.
    You'd think you'd want most of the freezing stuff to be on
    the bottom rather than on the edge.

    Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

  3. Mikko Peltoniemi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

    Quoted message said:

    The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the
    brand, and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd
    buy it. It's the automatic type, where a motor turns the
    mixture over the freezing element.

    Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

    I searched around Google, and found out several people
    that had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't
    really find any answers as to what the fix was.

    Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
    cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar
    and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
    pinch of salt vanilla extract

    Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and
    dissolved the preserves, and then let it cool down in
    fridge overnight.

    The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in
    the freezer, upside down as per instructions, since
    late friday.

    Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's,
    Philips brand, and design was very similar to this one. So
    I pretty much knew what to expect, kind of soft soft serve
    type ice cream. But I churned for over 45 minutes, but the
    ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

    Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still
    definitely liquid.

    What could I have done differently? Couple of things I
    thought.

    1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer
    longer, or maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe
    the freezer isn't cold enough. After churning, it
    wasn't warm by all means, and when washing it, water
    froze on it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

    2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet
    side; I'm not sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but
    maybe I made a mistake in the amount of sugar, and
    that's why it isn't freezing. It's not inedibly sweet,
    so it could be that it's right, but just a bit too
    sweet for my taste.

    3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers
    the freezing point even more.

    4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day,
    and the kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove
    or anything.

    Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or
    should I have just kept going on, maybe even past the
    hour mark?

    But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the
    problems are somewhere else?

    Does it sound like there is broken glass inside it ( the
    cannister)? Did you add the preserves before or after the
    ice cream had gone into the mixer? What was in the peach
    preserves? Some types of preservatives in canning create an
    alcohol type reaction which prevents the ice cream from
    freezing properly. You usually have to add them last after
    the ice cream has frozen, like with nuts and other food
    items. I think your recipe needs more whipping cream, too.
    If you have your heart set on that recipe go for it but here
    is one I usually use, it has never failed me and I have a
    rinky-dink bargain machine. It takes some time but the ice
    cream is soooo good.

    This is a Good Housekeeping recipe for pastry cream filling
    gone wrong then turned right. It didn't set right because I
    didn't whip the whipping cream enough and I thought it would
    make a great ice cream. My family loved it. It's pretty big
    though. I have 2 cannisters and use them both for it.

    2 1/4 cups whole milk 4 large egg yolks
    2/3 cup sugar
    3/4 cup cornstarch
    4/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    5/8 teaspoon salt
    6/3 cup heavy or whipping cream

    7. In 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 cups milk to boiling over
    high heat. Meanwhile, in large bowl, with wire whisk,
    beat egg yolks, sugar, and remaining 1/4 cup milk until
    smooth; whisk in cornstarch and flour until combined.
    Gradually whisk hot milk into egg-yolk mixture.

    8. Return mixture to saucepan, cook over medium-high heat
    until mixture thickens and boils, whisking constantly.
    Reduce heat to low and cook 2 minutes, whisking. Really
    watch this part or you can burn the mixture on the
    bottom and you cannot save it. It'll taste like ashes no
    matter what you do.

    9. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla and salt.
    Pour pastry cream into pie plate or shallow dish. Press
    plastic wrap onto surface of pastry cream to keep skin
    from forming as it cools. Refrigerate 2 hours or until
    cold, or overnight.

    10. When ready to use, with mixer at medium speed, beat
    whipping cream just until peaks form. With wire whisk,
    beat pastry cream custard to loosen. Whisk half of
    whipped cream into pastry cream custard, then with
    rubber spatula, fold in remaining whipped cream.

    Pour this into your ice cream maker. When the ice cream has
    mostly frozen, THEN add your peach preserves or whatever you
    would like. I would just buy a plain ol' can of store bought
    peaches and puree them a little then dump them right in.

    Hope I helped even a little bit, good luck and enjoy
    whatever you make!

    -Bridgett-

  4. Mikko Peltoniemi said:

    Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
    cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar
    and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
    pinch of salt vanilla extract

    Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, ...

    Didn't AB say *not* to boil the mixture, but to bring it to
    170F? (Another thermometer for your list!)

    He also said not to use *heavy* whipping cream (Brit 'double
    cream'😉, but I don't think the problem with that would be
    non-freezing.

    Seems to me the problem is most likely in the freezing
    element not being cold enough.

  5. Curly Sue said:

    My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough-
    either not long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough
    (do you have a freezer thermometer?).

    No, but I think I'll be getting one, along with an oven
    thermometer, which has been on my list for a while. But
    since the amount of sugar seemed OK, I'll probably have to
    freeze the element longer, or make sure the freezer is
    cold enough.

    Quoted message said:

    Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't
    understand why they'd tell you to freeze it upside down.
    You'd think you'd want most of the freezing stuff to be on
    the bottom rather than on the edge.

    No, it's shaped like a disc. It goes on the bottom, covering
    the whole bottom of the machine. And given its shape, upside
    down seems like the best way to freeze it.

    --
    Mikko Peltoniemi Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at
    large. editor.is.dreaming.orgeditor.is.dreaming.org

  6. In article <[email hidden]>,
    [email hidden] says...

    Quoted message said:
    Curly Sue said:

    My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough-
    either not long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough
    (do you have a freezer thermometer?).

    No, but I think I'll be getting one, along with an oven
    thermometer, which has been on my list for a while. But
    since the amount of sugar seemed OK, I'll probably have to
    freeze the element longer, or make sure the freezer is
    cold enough.

    Quoted message said:

    Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't
    understand why they'd tell you to freeze it upside down.
    You'd think you'd want most of the freezing stuff to be
    on the bottom rather than on the edge.

    No, it's shaped like a disc. It goes on the bottom,
    covering the whole bottom of the machine. And given its
    shape, upside down seems like the best way to freeze it.


    Bear in mind that most ice-cream makers don't really
    "freeze" ice cream. Most of the ones I'm familiar with tell
    you that after processing, you scoop the ice cream out into
    containers and freeze for at least two hours to firm up. If
    it's not similar to a soft ice cream when it comes out, it
    could be that indeed your freezer is not cold enough. Twenty-
    four hours in the freezer should be enough for most
    cylinders to freeze.
    --
    Donna A pessimist believes all women are bad. An optimist
    hopes they are.

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