Go to the Recipe: Frozen Custard
Say I want to make lemon custard with your recipe, would I substitute the number of eggs in Lemon Curd from the ice cream recipe, or add it to the total? Also, when would I add the curd to the custard for ideal flavor?
If I don't have a stand mixer, can I use a bowl and a hand mixer?
For this particular recipe, may I know the reason for 5 grams of salt? Seems like a lot, but it may be necessary for the outcome. Thank you.
Hey guys at Chefsteps, i been meaning to ask you this. Where did you guys get that little digital thermometer ? lol a bit random but its not as easy to find. Especially in Toronto thanks alot ! oh and if you got a chance maybe just give my instagram pinchofblacksalt a look thanks. Bye !
Hey Giovanni, not sure if we're allowed to post information regarding other products, but this definitely looks like a Thermapen from ThermoWorks. This model is a bit pricier than the competition, but reviews seem to say it's worth every dollars spent. You might have a bit of luck looking it up online.
Hope this helps!
Definitely a thermapen from ThermoWorks. Worth every penny. I have the older model and love it. Would also like the new tweeks they've done on the newer model.
Hi team... no sous vide - so how can we prepare the custard in a stressful manner?
Why does it seem Like a lot? It's less than 0.5%?
Any reason not to use a Vitamin to crush the dry ice up?
Hi, the recipe looks great. However, I can't get my hands on nonfat milk powder. Will whole milk powder with 26% fat work?
I wish you guys would come up with a low carb ice cream recipe, all the ones I try are like eating slightly sweet fat or they're icy and sad.
Definitely a Thermapen. Fantastic device, wouldn't cook without it (now).
How do you get the thermapen mounted to the pot like that? I have been trying to rig something on and off for a little while now. I saw one binder clip on the probe anything on the body?
I thought the point of going from the immersion circulator right to an ice bath was to spend as little time as possible in the "nasty things [c. botulinum?] can grow" temperature range. Is it always just to cool down faster? Can I go right to the fridge with every ChefSteps recipe that calls for an ice bath?!
This looks great, but we have cow's milk intolerant folks. Would it work to substitute coconut cream/ milk or almond milk and a coconut creamer, perhaps? I think it's preferable to avoid soy because the flavor is lousy
I use a vitamix to crush dry ice, it works great - but start first by breaking up the dry ice into little chucks before using the vitamix.
Nonfat milk powder is available in every single grocery store near me in the baking section. Or you can get it on Amazon, they sell every dry goods item you could possibly imagine. Bob's Red Mill is my fav brand, but I use Carnation frequently as well - https://www.amazon.com/Nestle-Carnation-Instant-Nonfat-Milk/dp/B00IAE7ZKG/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1469644245&sr=8-4&keywords=nonfat+dry+milk+powder
I've had horrible results with dry ice while making ice creams and custards, the dry ice always leaves the milk with a carbonated flavor. Any tips to avoid this unwanted side effect?
Did you pre-chill the custard for a at least a few hours in the fridge? Did you crush the dry ice to a fine powder before adding? Did you add it a spoonful a time? You simply shouldn't get any carbonation as it's difficult to dissolve the CO2 in the cold custard and when it's agitated by your stand mixer that should also discourage it from dissolving.
Haven't tried it, but experiences from making sorbets show that the important parts is what you do. Using coconut for other things I think it has reasonably similar temperature characteristics or close enough that you can substitute it, but try to keep the fat content at approx the same level.
As for the dry milk powder it's mostly there to help whisk in a little more air and get a fluffier texture on the frozen custard. I'm not sure what would be the best replacement, but maybe some kind of emulsifier (in lower quantities) would work. You can also omit the milk powder completely, you'll just get a different texture.
Should work. The point of the stand mixer is that you incorporate air as you chill the custard, so any method that works to the same end should work fine.
I find that I can feel the taste of salt at 0.2%, so it's a quite a bit of salt. In moderation salt promotes taste and in custards it depresses the freezing point, much more effectively than sugar. Salt is about 6x more effective at lowering the freezing point than sugar and vodka is about 3x more effective than sugar at lowering the freezing point.
If you fear that it'll become salty you can reduce it without any major problem.
Put it in a pot and whisking constantly you heat it to the prescribed temperature (65°C-80°C).
They're icy and sad because they have too many large crystals. You reduce the crystal size by adding agents that lower the freezing point and egg yolks or replacements also help reduce the crystal size. The main way of achieving this is usually by adding sugar, but something I've done previously is to replace part of the sugar with isomalt. It has just about no sweetness and only half the calories of sugar.
Isomalt replaces sugar at a 1 to 1 ratio and you can also add some vodka or other strong spirit (40% by volume), which is about 3x more effective than sugar at lowering the freezing point.
When consuming large isomalt it can promote flatulence and diarrhea, but this shouldn't be a problem at the amounts you consume with frozen custards.
Hope this helps.
Yes, Evan, you’re right that it’s more about food safety. I'll take that blurb out of the recipe. Thank you for your note!
I've also had the same problem, even with doing all those things. I've even left it in the freezer to allow any remaining dry ice to sublimate, didn't help. Anybody have any idea?
The milk powder acts as a stabilizer, keeping ice crystals as small as possible, giving you that creamy mouthfeel. You can try xanthan gum instead. As for the milk substitute, the most important component in the cows milk is the emulsification and suspension of the fat globules in the water, and the casein. Then there's also the lactose that helps with lowering the freezing point of the water. I'd imagine you would get a very icy ice cream by using coconut milk or almond milk, but haven't tried it myself so I may be wrong.
I had this issue when I first made ice cream. My caramel ice cream came out tasting fizzy! I tried again and, like Grant says in the video, you can't go too slow! I added the dry ice really slowly and it seemed to help.
I have another issue though. All the dry ice seems to sink to the bottom and create a frozen layer. Maybe I need to add it even slower!
This looks great. Anyone have thoughts on how to know if the dry ice that you can buy is "food grade" or not? It looks like I have a local supplier that sells only food grade. Makes me wonder what you are getting if you just find some in a walmart somewhere. Looking forward to trying this
Hi, I have a quick question: why do you use non-fat milk powder as opposed to whole milk powder. Every ice-cream recipe I've come across which makes use of milk powder always uses the non-fat type. Thanks.
Is it possible to substitute milk powder with something else? Xantham gum, for example? Thanks!
I made this yesterday. I made no modifications to the ingredients. I cooked the custard at 170F for 1 hour mixing it up every 10 minutes. Placed it in ice water to stop the cooking and then placed it in the refrigerator for about 8 hours. I then froze it in a Lello ice cream maker. It took about an hour and a half to set. Everyone loves the flavor but the ice cream has an icy texture, not extreme but noticeable.
I note several significant differences with many other ice cream bases I've made.
1. The ratio of cream to milk in my usual recipe is 2:1. Here it is 1 to 4.33. that's a factor of 8 difference.
2. The number of yolks is about twice what I typically use. (12 vs. 6) (probably the flavor difference)
3. A lot more salt in this recipe, 5 gm compared to a pinch (1/8 tsp).
4. No milk powder in the usual recipe vs. 45 gm here.
Any thoughts on the texture? I've got my theories but I'd like to see what others think.
My guess is that it doesn't get the ice cream base cold enough fast enough. I have been unable to find any literature as to how cold any of the Lello ice cream makers get, but it is still cooling from the outside only. The compressor chills the vessel where the ice cream base sits, so only the outside is experiencing the cold. The churning attachment then agitates the ice cream base, so that it all eventually gets exposed to the cold, and eventually solidifies.
With the stand mixer and dry ice, i suspect you're experiencing much colder temperatures. Dry ice is about -109°F/-78°C. I could be wrong, but I'm suspecting your ice cream maker does not get this cold. Second, the dry ice is going directly into the base. You're adding it relatively slowly, but the mixing attachment is distributing the dry ice throughout the ice cream base directly, rather than just the exterior of the bowl.
As I have no direct experience with the Lello ice cream maker, these are just my thoughts from what I've been able to find on the internet regarding the device. I hope you find this in some way useful.
When you're buying dry ice, just make sure that it's intended for food purposes. If you're buying it in a retail story: grocery store, walmart, costco, etc, it's going to be ok to use. Most suppliers of it also sell if for the purpose of food related activities: ice cream vendors and the like. I'm sure it's possible to find dry ice than may have impurities or foreign material in it, however, if you're buying it from a supplier who makes the claim it's food grade, or walmart, etc. you're good to go.
The lack of lactose is no problem. I don't remember the exact amounts off the top of my head, but assuming the milk contains 3% lactose, this will only be equivalent to approx 30 grams of sugar. If you think this is enough to have a significant effect on the iciness, then you could just add a little extra sugar or other ingredient that lowers the freezing point.
The more important part I would think is how the coconut fats freeze compared to milk fats.
I'm not sure food grade is even a relevant term as all dry ice should be "food grade". There shouldn't really be any contaminate and I'm reminded of the difference between buying a CO2 tube for paintball vs a soda stream tube, where the only difference is that the soda stream one was washed before being filled.
The gas will be clean in both cases and dry ice is just the solid of the gas and with the relevant storage used, I don't see it getting contaminated.
For me the decision is much easier as no usual store in Sweden carries dry ice, but any AGA certified welding gas supplier can order a 5/7.5 kg package (pellets vs block) of dry ice. Though this means that they won't agree to split the package into smaller sizes and I have to buy the whole thing.
You control fat content with the amount of cream used and the non-fat milk powder adds milk solids, which fulfill a different function. It simply gives you greater control over what you're adding and what the final result will be.
Yeah, so you're basically just using the isolated emulsifying milk solids without adding more fat. Makes sense, thanks.
The milk powder acts as a solid stabilizer to reduce ice crystals, and it also affects flavor/texture. You could drop the milk powder, but it won't have the same results. I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to use milk powder though, after all your already using milk ;-)
I have chilled my base for 24 hours, gone painfully slow while dropping in dry ice, and I have used powdered dry ice (thank you Vitamix!). I am beginning to think that the dry ice in my region is sub-par for this purpose - the store told me that they never sell dry ice, the store's stock rarely gets refreshed. Perhaps that is my problem?
OK. Who uses the Milk-Bones to top their ice cream?
This sounds great, but do you have a sugar free ice cream?
Something for diabetics?
Try goat's milk.
Tastes the same.
Check the dry milk source, it is probably cow's milk.
You have to add something to lower the freezing point to get the right texture. Something I've done is replace some of the sugar with isomalt, which has about the same effect on the freezing point for a very low sweetness and half the calories.
The store not restocking has no effect on the dry ice, other than some it will have sublimated and you'll get a bit less. If you want a different supplier you can check with your local welding gas supplier as they can usually order dry ice and liquid nitrogen for you.
The only thing I can think of is if you let the machine run for a little while after you finished adding the dry ice and what temperature did you stop at. I usually stop adding dry ice when the mixture reaches somewhere between -5°C and -10°C. It'll then be packaged and into the freezer to be fully chilled.
I have to say, I don't own a sous vide set-up yet and I don't know if I will ever afford one, but I bought my premium membership just because I love watching this guy cook ANYTHING. This is the only cooking site I have ponied up money to be on (because I'm cheap, that's why) and I am never disappointed. I learn so many new ways to cook and they make it all look like so much fun. Looks like a fool-proof way to make custard. Just keep these wonderful videos coming. Thanks, Frank
Hi Guys, I look forward to this week learning what to do with all the egg whites left over... to many for my usual pisco sours.... :-)
Way too much sugar ... I couldn't eat it. Shame because the recipe uses so many eggs too!
I used a proper icecream maker (built in freezer) so didnt have to go through the tedious process with dry ice ... thankfully!
Thank you for this awesome recipe. Followed it step by step and cooked @ 80 degrees and it turned out perfectly. Going to experiment with some different flavors.
What i do so far involves using vegetable glycerin and erythritol to suppress the freezing temp but even after doing the math to what the equivalent sucrose suppression would bring it doesn't end up right.
I made 2 batches (ok I'm a sucker for trying to work out at same time which is better!), one at each temp and have to say that the 80degC one is nicer (the lower temp one will be given away to family members who don't know any better... ;-) ). adding up price it doesn't add up, way expensive, however we have the advantage of using fresh New Zealand milk not the stuff that is reconstituted milk powder most people have to use, but hey what the heck that was a lot of fun. our dry ice comes extruded in 3mm dia lengths so it was just a case of putting 3 big spoons into the mixer and blasting and shaking it till all powder any more and the mixer froze down to much, result not one bit of ice left in mixture. Only problem I had is minimum order here for dry ice is 5kgs and I don't think I used 2kgs at all for both so its been fun finding other uses for the ice... the fruit thing worked for sure, but its either a like or hate affair with people as I found out. The Sous Vide treatment was the easiest I have ever done for a mixture like that, its the way to go. And I still had some to blow things up with... thanks guys
Now find me a use for the mountain of egg white please!!!
Always my problem with Chefsteps is the use of equipment that isn't as easy to locate outside of America.. dry ice.. I'd have to go to an industrial welding store to likely find it. Not found in Walmart or Costco Canada.
In the UK? Try your nearest BOC retailer http://www.boconline.co.uk. For other EU countries check the linde group site to find your local equivalent: http://www.linde-worldwide.com/en/index.html
And even if the local retailer you find doesn't stock dry ice, I would give them a call as they can probably order it within the week for you, without extra charge.
I also have a minimum order of 5kg for dry ice and what I've done is prepare about 5 recipes that I want to make, the chefsteps mint chocolate ice cream is very good and their strawberry sorbet is also nice. Any leftover dry ice can survive a few days in the freezer without sublimating massively, at least when you got in a insulated box, which I assume you received it in.
For me the minimum order is 5 kg Pellets or a 7.5 kg solid block as they're supposed to fit in the same Styrofoam box used to ship it.
I'll usually freeze the egg whites, but you can try making macarons (chefsteps class) or caramel chantilly (google it).
Hi James. We have the same ice cream maker! I'm planning on making this base today, but as I do with all of my ice creams, namely using the microwave oven to form my custard. And I do want to reduce the salt markedly from the 5g. I surmise that I will use 1/4 tsp., which is still more than normal for me....but as others have said, this is a goodly amount of sugar. Thank you for posting. Jeff
Gently heated fresh blueberries with a little lemon juice on the stove top then added a little at a time when the dry ice was being added. I really like it cooked at 80 c, I did add less salt, I think the milk powder I am using has salt.
As another UK resident, personally I'm planning to order from http://www.chillistick.com/all-products/dry-ice-pellets-in-pack-sizes.html - they do rice ice, which I think means I'll be able to skip the crushing step and just use it directly.
You guys should put your FIZZY FRUIT guide under the suggestions for what to do with the extra dry ice leftover from making ice cream:
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tips-tricks-fizzy-fruit
I make the base and cooked it sous vide in mason jars @ 159f for one hour, then cooled in ice bath and refrigerated over night. The base still looks super liquidy and didn't seem to thicken up at all. Have you tested the recipe in the jars for 1 hour cook, or does it just need another hour in the bath?
What size jars were you using? Glass, especially the rather thick glass of canning jars, is a lot better Of an insulator that the bags they recommend. With the jars, you might need anywhere from 1-3 extra hours, depending on their size. You'll have much better luck using a bag, however, if you insist on using a jar, i would give it a minimum Of 2 hours, or more, depending on size.
So, I believed your instructions that finding dry ice would not be stressful, but alas it isn't true and ended up not being able to turn my custard into ice cream goodness this weekend. I tried Walmart, other grocery stores, hardware stores, and even specialty beverage stores and no one had it. The worst is when you try to ask for it and you get someone who has no idea what dry ice is and can't even comprehend what it is. Turns out I have to go to some commercial supply store in the middle of the city that has limited hours. I live in Rochester, NY.
i cooked the custard base with Joule at 176 degrees F fro 60 minutes. However i used a quart and pint mason jar, cuz i was cautioned that ziplocks could leak at this temperature. After 60 minutes, the custard had thickened, but the temperature in the quart was only 168 and in the pint 172. Should i have continued to cook til the custard reached target temp of 176? More importantly, how long does something need to cook at a specific temp Is the food considered done when it reaches said temperature or does it need to cook for additional minutes at that temp to be considered done?
I'm not surprised hardware stores didn't carry it, but most grocery stores carry it in the seafood department. Unfortunately, most employees at grocery stores don't seem to know this, so it's best to call and ask to be transferred to the seafood department directly.
I've yet to find a large grocery store that didn't carry it.
@Tyler Menezes unfortunately, there's a great many supermarkets that do not carry dry ice, even in the meat and seafood departments. It's really dependant on what the demand in the area is. For example, there are only 3 stores in a 50 mile radius that carry dry ice I. my area. The several Krogers don't, the Wal-Marts don't, the meijers don't, the igrs don't, the jewel osco and the hyvee are the only stores I. my areas that have it. And before you ask, yes, I've checked in the meat/seafood. The majority of stores here (and where i used to live in Pennsylvania) don't.
If I lived in upstate NY and had Stewarts Ice Cream available everywhere I wouldn´t waste time making my own. I love Stewarts Ice Cream = best cost/benefit ever.
chocolate icecream?
Worked quite well with a regular prosumer ice-cream maker.
Few comments, it turned out way too sweet for my taste.
Texture and eggyness was great.
One thing to note. The vanilla extract I found in the baking isle was a alcohol solution. Which left a slight off-taste in the end product.
I can get into this, but I had intend to bait the neighbors kids with it.
Next time, real vanilla. Lots of it. I hope the little seeds will work ok with the creamy texture.
I'm hoping that > 8 years, you found dry ice. If not, you might check w/fishing/bait shops as many carry dry ice for transporting caught fish. Or game. Also, be careful working with dry ice in a closed space. I know at one point I was taking a slaughtered & wrapped lamb up to central Oregon (7-8 drive) and was going to use dry ice to transfer the already frozen & wrapped meat. I got a big warning from the store owner about keeping windows vented to avoid suffocation.
