ROAAAAD TRRRIIIIIP!!!!

Ice cream shops seem to be sprouting up all over Melbourne at the moment. Lygon St is starting to resemble a strip mall of Italian style Gelataria's while a certain bouncy sounding chain of ice creameries featuring youthful staff wearing t-shirts emblazoned with double entendres is spreading across the city like a virus. Sure, sure, these places can make a decent ice cream cone, but none of them exactly blow me away in the flavour originality department. Surely there's someone out there who's not afraid to take a few risks, think outside the ice cream container and try something totally out there?

Well there just might be. Some time ago I read about this fellow by the name of Jock, who runs an ice cream shop on Victoria Avenue in Albert Park. I've been wanting to sample his work for a while, ever since I heard that he has created a Black Sticky Rice flavour. Woah! Originality like that puts my crappy little chaicecream experiments to shame!

So, on a grey and windy saturday afternoon, my friend Kat and I made the long trek across the river to visit this famed shop. One entire wall of the store is deveoted to awards received at the Royal Melbourne Show. Interestingly enough, multiple flavours seem to have won exactly the same prize in exactly the same category in exactly the same year. Suspicious, but in any case, paper certificates don't mean much, cos when it comes to ice cream, the proof is, quite literally, in the pudding.

I had:
Black Sticky Rice - A rich custardy affair with chewy black rice grains scattered throughout.
Cinnamon - Deliciously sweet 'n' spicy.

Date - This was good, but incredibly rich - perhaps a little too much, especially in combination with my other flavour choices.

Kat had:
Black Sticky Rice
Lemon Cream - Sweet, creamy, citrussy joy. We both agreed this was the pick of the bunch.
Coconut and Lime - I tried to make this not long ago and it turned out quite well. Jock's is much better.

So it's all round deliciousness really, and at just under $5 for three scoops it can't be beat.

Jock also has a large amount of flavours in take home packs in the fridge as well, not all of which are available in cone/cup form at the moment. I'm hoping he has some sort of circulation thing going on, because I desperately want to try the baked apple and orange with rosewater next time. Oh yes, and there will be a next time. Some things are worth crossing the river for.

Hiatus

The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday will be on hiatus for at least 4 months. I'm off to do some travelling in India and SE Asia, so I don't think there'll be much in the way of Ice Cream production for a while.

The good news is that ICS will almost certainly be back in the summertime, with a whole new exciting range of flavours, some of which will no doubt be inspired by my travels in the east (saffron? cardamon? durian?).

Thanks for your support, Sundaynauts! It's been fun!

Recipe: Wattleseed & Grand Marnier Redux

Well, I pretty much followed exactly the same recipe as last time, but with only 160g of sugar and a little more of the booze. It was good. damn good.

Recipe: Cherry Ripe Redux

Coming in equal third in ICS greatest hits is this interpretation of the chocolate bar of the same name.

400 ml milk
300 ml cream
100g sugar
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean
~350g sweetened morello cherries in syrup
shredded coconut
150g dark chocolate, chopped

- Put a slit down the whole length of the vanilla bean and add it to the milk in a sauce pan.
- Heat the milk until not quite boiling
- Remove the vanilla bean and carefully scrap out all the seeds, stirring them back into the hot milk
- Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then pour in the hot milk while stirring.
- Put the mixture back into the saucepan and heat, whilst stirring, until custard forms
- Put the custard aside to cool
- In another saucepan, cook the cherries in syrup and coconut with a little extra sugar.
- Once the syrup has mostly evaporated and the cherries have lost their formation, set aside to cool.
- Once the custard has reached room temperature, add the cream and refrigerate.
- Pour the custard mixture into the ice cream maker.
- Once the ice cream starts to set, add the chopped chocolate pieces, and small balls of the sticky cherry and coconut.
- Once the ice cream maker stops, freeze for a little bit longer if necessary then enjoy it, goddamn it!

Remarks: Even better than the last time, for sure. To quote James - 'The way the cherries and coconut combined was like a symphony." To quote everyone else - 'This is the best one ever." I will sleep with a smug smile on my face tonight...

Recipe: Mint - Redux

500ml milk
300 ml double cream
3 egg yolks
100g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 bunch mint leaves

Make custard with milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Let cool then whisk in the cream and add chopped mint leaves. Mix in the ice cream maker and enjoy.

Remarks: Oh hell yeah! Better than Mint v1.0, for mine...

Poll results

Well, the polls have closed, the votes have been counted and the allegations of electoral fraud have been dismissed. The top flavours are:

1st - Peanut butter (16 points)
2nd - Wattle seed and Grand Marnier (15 points)
Equal 3rd - Mint / Cherry Ripe (12 points each)

Thanks to all that voted. Three cheers for democracy! And me!

Recipe: Date

250g dates
450ml milk
300ml cream
3 egg yolks
~1/2 cup sugar

Chop the dates and add them to the milk in a sauce pan. Heat the milk, and pour into egg yolks and sugar. Put the whole mess back into the saucepan and stir until you get your custard. Puree the mixture in a blender, then pour through a sieve to remove any chunks. Add the cream and chill, then stick it in the ice cream machine.

Remarks: Well, I kind of stuffed this one up a bit by trying to do a fancy caramel swirl. The caramel sauce was too warm and melted the ice cream, whilst forming itself into a massive chewy lump. So I wouldn't recommend doing that. The date ice cream itself was very tasty however. The blended up bits of date skin gave it a slightly grainy texture, but this could probably be avoided by using a finer sieve.

Recipe: Apple Pie Ice Cream!?!?

As American as baseball, Mom, and extraordinary rendition

1kg Apples (about 6)
450ml Cream
100g sugar
3 egg yolks
1tsp mixed spice
~100g Digestive biscuits

Peel, core and chop your apples. Put them in a saucepan with half the sugar and cook until soft. Blend them into a puree. Heat the cream in a saucepan along with the spices, then mix into the egg yolks and sugar and heat until your creme anglaise forms. Once this and the apple has cooled, mix them together and refrigerate for a while, then whack it in the ice cream machine. Once it's finished, fold in the crumbled biscuits for that pie crust taste.

Remarks: One of the better ice creams I've eaten. Can't think of anything I'd do differently next time, quite frankly....

Vote for your top 5!!

Dear friends of The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday,

Ice Cream Sunday (both the event and the weblog) will be going on an extended hiatus in a couple of months time as I'm heading off overseas for a while. That's the bad news. The good news is that in the last few weeks leading up to my departure I'll be re-visiting some of Ice Cream Sunday's greatest hits. But I need my faithful patrons to tell me what the best flavours are. So here's what you're gonna do:

1. Re-aquaint yourself with the list of past flavours using this blog.
2. Rank your top 5 flavours by assigning your favorite ice cream 5 points, your second favorite 4 points, and so on. If you've ever watched the Eurovision Song Contest you know how this scoring system works. Feel free to translate your votes into French to really give it that Eurovision feel ('chocolat et pistache...deux points').
3. Post a comment attached to this entry with your votes in it.

At the end of this month (or just when everyone's voted) I'll tally up the numbers and during Ice Cream Sunday in May you'll be treated to the three flavours that scored highest.

Terms and Conditions

Voting is only open to those people who have attended at least five (5) officially sanctioned sessions of The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday.

Only flavours produced between 01/09/2005 and 01/04/2006 can be voted for (i.e. anything after Cheesecake is not eligible).

Voting closes at 11:59:59pm on 30/04/2005

In the event of a tie, the deadlock will be broken by an SMS poll using a shortlist made up of the two or more flavours that finished with equal points. If this still fails to produce a clear winner, I'll just flip a coin...

The Mitch's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Okay, that's it. Get voting!

Recipe: Beer!

250ml milk
300 ml cream
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup white sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup Guinness
1 tsp vanillla essence

Heat up your milk, and meanwhile beat together the eggs, white sugar and vanilla. Add them together in the usual manner and make custard. Leave that to cool and then bring your beer to the boil in another saucepan with the brown sugar. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so until it's reduced in volume a bit. Let it cool down. Once the beer mixture and custard are both back to room temperature, mix them together and add the cream. Put the mix in the fridge for a few hours, then freeze it in the ice cream maker.

Remarks: Not too bad at all. The Guiness flavour is very subtle, and I'm still undecided as to whether this is a good or bad thing. First impressions of the taste invoke vanilla, but with subtle undertones of something else. The majority of the beer flavour is concentrated in a slightly bitter aftertaste, which I quite liked, but wouldn't want to make any more intense. Overall a damn good ice cream. Put your pre-conceptions to one side and try it, people!

Recipe: Cheesecake

Another one inspired by Nigella Lawson. She does some great ice cream.

200 ml milk
300 ml cream
125g cream cheese
200g sugar
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
~60g digestive biscuits

Beat together the eggs, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Then heat up the milk and beat it into this mix. Pour it all back into the saucepan and stir until custard develops. Chill then freeze in the ice cream maker. Once it's finished, stir in the crumbled up biscuits and put it in the freezer for further solidification.

Remarks: Great! Could have used another hour or so in the freezer, but I was under time pressures due to rugby league season...If this wasn't a bit too soft I would rank it as my favorite ice cream yet...

Recipe: Biscotti e Crema

Commonly known as "Cookies and Cream", but I'm far too sophisticated for that!

400ml milk
300ml cream
3 eggs
100g sugar
1 vanilla pod
~125g chocolate cookies (I used arnotts 'chocolate ripple')

Of course you don't have to use a vanilla pod for this, you could just use vanilla essence, but where's the fun in that? Take your vanilla pod and make a slit along it lengthways. Scrape out all the seeds and put them in a saucepan with the milk. Make sure you get 'em all. Then throw the bean in the pot as well and heat the milk up until it almost boils. Let it steep for about 20 minutes, then take out the bean and pour the milk into the egg and sugar mixture. Mix it a bit and put it back into the saucepan. Heat and stir until you get your custard*, then let it cool, down mix in the cream and refrigerate. Then it goes into the machine and when it gets thick you put in the biscuits which you have crushed.

Remarks: Yes, yes yes. It is good. Possibly the finest textured ice cream I have ever produced. The only flaw was that the smaller biscuit crumbs dissolved as the ice cream was mixing and made it into a weak chocolate ice cream, rather than a vanilla base. Which was actually pretty good, but I prefer the contrast between the plain vanilla ice cream and the chocolate bits. So next time I would use larger chunks of biscuit and/or add them at a later stage. But this either way this is damn good. It's firmly nestled in my top 5. Rock 'n' Roll!

* The custard used in making ice cream is often called "Creme Anglaise', which is a FRENCH term meaning "ENGLISH Cream". Which seems pretty stupid to me.

Tribute Album

Well, with Ice Cream Sunday fast approaching it's 6 month anniversary, I figure the time is right to release a compilation album dedicated to everyone's favorite sunday afternoon activity!

(And no, I'm not going to actually do it, It's just another elaborate fantasy dreamed up to amuse myself during a slow work day.)

Tentatively entitled "Chill Out '06 - A musical tribute to Ice Cream Sunday", the track listing to date is:

01. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
02. White Pepper Ice Cream - Cibo Matto
03. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
04. Greensleeves - ??? (err, you know that song the Mr Whippy van plays as it drives around?)

Hmm, any more suggestions?

Recipe: Peach

OK, so my dear mother - always supportive of her son's wacky schemes - sent me a bunch of ice cream recipes photocopied from her Nigella Lawson cookbook. Thanks Mum! Anyway, one of them forms the basis of this weeks flavour...

• ~6 ripe yellow peaches (Nigella recommends 10 peaches, but she's way off here. Even 6 is probably too many. Perhaps she is used to using tiny, tasteless British peaches?)
• 300ml milk
• 300ml cream
• 4 egg yolks
• Juice of 1 lime
• 6 tbsp sugar

Cut the peaches in half and put them face up on a baking tray. Sprinkle over half the sugar, and then squeeze over the lime juice. Put that in a 210 C oven for 20-30 minutes or so till the peaches go soft. This will enhance the flavour of the peaches, apparently.

Let 'em cool off a bit, then peel off the skins as best you can. Put them in a blender or food processor and puree them. Let 'em cool down some more

Meanwhile, make your custard with the milk and egg yolks and the rest of the sugar. Once it and the peaches have both cooled off, mix them together with the cream and refrigerate the whole thing for a bit longer. Then fill the machine and away you go to a happy land of peach-filled fantasies.

Oh, and cos I had so many peaches left over I chopped them up (after roasting) and mixed them into the ice cream.

Remarks: Well look, this tastes pretty good, but once again the stuff was too soft. There was a bit more volume than usual, thanks to the over-estimation of peaches, which could have something to do with it. But this, coupled with last weeks debacle makes me a little uneasy. Perhaps my faithful Krups Ice Cream Maker is starting to fail??

Recipe: Maple Pecan

300 ml Cream
400ml milk
3 egg yolks
~200ml maple syrup
~150g pecans

Milk & eggs and syrup make the custard. While that's cooling, roast the pecans on a baking tray in a 180 degree oven (that's celcius folks) fr 10 minutes or so. Add the cream, put it in the machine, add the pecans once it starts to get thick.

Remarks: Arrgh! for the first time in the history of The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday the ice cream did not work. Basically it just didn't freeze properly. It got into a semi-solid goopy state and stayed there, even after like 2 hours in the ice cream machine. The good news is I think this was entirely my own fault for putting the mix in the machine before it had totally cooled down (hey - I was in a hurry!) A secondary freezing (after sticking the tub back into the freezer for a few hours) was more succesful. Too late to feed the hungry Ice Cream Sunday patrons though - apologies to all...

So, as long as your careful to chill the mixture in the fridge for a while before you pour it into the machine, then this recipe should work. Don't blame me if it doesn't though. All care, no responsibility, that's our motto here at TMICS!

Oh, and when it finally does freeze, it tastes blow-your-mind mega-great. Nutty but sweet, just like The Mitch himself...awww...

Recipe: Nutella

BYO sliced white bread...

300ml milk
3-4 egg yolks
300ml cream
100ml sugar
200g nutella

Custardise the eggs milk and sugar. When it's cooled down a little bit, whisk in the nutella. When it's cooled down completely add the cream and chill, then put it in the ice cream machine. Easy!

Suggestion: Add some chopped/whole hazelnuts for a bit of texture and additional flavour.

Verdict: Good. Damn good. If you like Nutella, you will like this. If you don't , you won't. Sigh...If only life was always this black and white, huh?

Recipe: Avocado, peanut and honey

Sounds like a new facial product from the Ponds Institute, but it's actually a new ice cream flavour from the eccentric billionaire owner of the Mitchell Ice Cream Institute.

300ml milk
300ml cream
50g sugar
5 tbsp honey
2-3 avocados
1 tbsp lime juics
3 eggs

Make the custard with milk, eggs, sugar and honey. Once it's cooled down a bit put it in the blender with the avocado, lime juice and cream. Put the whole disgusting concoction into the ice cream maker and add the peanuts once it starts to freeze.

Remarks: Well, I don't quite know what to say. A mouthful of this makes you experience a whole cornucopia of emotions, from love to hate to anger to pain to joy and back again. It's weird, folks. It's not bad, it's just really WEIRD. The green colour looks pretty cool though...

Recipe: Peanut Butter with err...peanuts

3 egg yolks
200g sugar (could probably have got away with a lot less if I used unsalted peanut butter...)
600ml milk
~1 cup smooth peanut butter
150g scorched peanuts (you know - the ones with the chocolate on 'em)

Make custard. Beat in the peanut butter using an electric beater or hand mixer. Chill. Stick in the machine and add the peanuts once it starts to freeze.

Remarks: "Best flavour yet The Mitch"; "What a great texture The Mitch"; "Oh my God, this is fantastic The Mitch!"; "You are my hero The Mitch" etc etc. Seriously - I can't fault it.

Recipe: Chocolate and Coconut

Well I was trying to make "lamington" ice cream, but of course the main part of a lamington is the cake, something which this ice cream is obviously missing. So while I feel it does not deserve the title of Australia's most famous baked item, it does make a rich and tasty dessert nonetheless.

400ml milk
300ml cream
3 eggs
200g dark chocolate
~60g coconut (not sure about the quantity here)
1 tsp vanilla
100g sugar

Milk + eggs + sugar = custard. Then melt the chocolate using a double boiler (or the mitch's patented "cereal bowl in a saucepan" method. Stir the cream into that, fold into the custard and mix in the coconut and vanilla.

Remarks: It's too damn rich man! I would probably ease up on the chocolate next time...

Recipe: Wattle Seed and Grand Marnier

An Australia day special. Based on a recipe from the "serendipity" ice cream shop in Sydney.

400ml milk
300ml cream
4 egg yolks
250g sugar
3 heaped teaspoons wattle seed (yeah you gotta buy it, not just pick wattle off a tree, i'm afraid)
50ml grand marnier

Mix half the sugar with about 100ml of water and cook in a saucepan until the sugar disssolves. Add the wattle seed and grand marnier and simmer for about 5 minutes. Leave that to cool, and meanwhile do the custard thing with the eggs, milk and the rest of the sugar. Strain the wattle seeds out of the cooled syrup as best you can (you could leave them in, but I found them a little too bitter) and mix into the custard. Let the whole lot cool down, then add the cream and let the ice cream machine do it's thing...

Remarks: True blue fairdinkum you bloody beauty. It's a strange taste to be sure, somewhat like dirty coffee, but actually works out very well. Some voted this the best flavour so far. Who am I to argue?

Recipe: Strawberry

Old Mitchy went back to basics this week with this classic flavour.

500g ripe strawberries
300g sugar
juice of half a lemon
300ml milk
300ml double cream (i'm sure the single stuff is still fine, i just felt like experimenting)
4 egg yolks
1tsp vanilla

Take the green bits off the strawberries, put them (the berries, not the green bits) in a bowl with the sugar and lemon juice and crush them with a potato masher. Put the whole sloppy mess in a saucepan and simmer briefly until the sugar is dissolved.

Make the custard with the eggs 'n' milk 'n' vanilla (note - no need to add sugar to the custard for this one, cos it's all in with the berries).

Once the custard is cool, mix in the cream (the double cream is kinda thick, so you might want to use a whisk to break it up a little). Once the strawberries are cool, mix everything together. Look at the pretty pink shade. Refrigerate. Pour it in the machine and Bob's your bloody uncle!

Remarks: Some ICS patrons claimed this was their favorite flavour to date. High praise indeed! Personally, I found it delicious, but nothing to write home about (although, it seems, it is something to write on your ice cream blog about.) Different strokes for different folks though, I guess. The pieces of crushed stawberries probably could have been a bit smaller, as they tended to form a big frozen clump around the paddle of the ice cream machine...

Ice Bowl!

Well, Ice Cream Sunday for 2006 started off in fine fashion, with Tristan supplying an Ice Bowl for the occasion. Yes folks, the bowl is made out of ICE!!! Thanks T!

Recipe: Coconut and Banana

A Thai-inspired, anglo-made flavour.

2 or 3 ripe bananas
400ml coconut milk
120g palm sugar
300ml cream
4 eggs

Firstly, chop the bananas into small chunks and put in the freezer.
Secondly, grate the palm sugar.
Thirdly, make your custard in the usual way, substituting the coconut milk for the regular cow stuff and mixing it into the palm sugar and beaten eggs.
Fourthly, let it cool, add the cream and chill.
Finally, Put it in the ice cream maker. When it starts getting thick, add the frozen pieces of banana.

Remarks: A-roi! (Thai for "frikkin' delicious"). The palm sugar could be easily substituted for regular cane sugar without affecting the flavour too much. A great summer flavour, especially with the frozen banana pieces. I only used 2 bananas, but in hindsight should have gone with at least 3...

UPDATE: Although a little soft upon creation (perhaps due to the different chemical properties of coconut milk vs. regular?), further freezing of the left over ice cream produced a remarkably smooth texture, without the iciness that so often accompanies additonal freezing of home made, preservative-free ice cream...

How to make ice cream

Well, it seems that the Ice Cream Sunday revolution has inspired no less than three people I know to give the gift of an ice cream maker to their friends/loved ones this christmas. I'm absolutely speechless! I had no idea I wielded such influence over people... However, such power comes with great responsibility, so here, especially for you newbies, is a brief summary of The Mitch's ice cream production process. There might be better ways of doing it, and if you find such a way, then please let me know. In an case, listen carefully, cos I'm only gonna say this once...

To make ice cream, you gotta start by making custard. Because this involves heating things up, and ice cream, by definition, is served cold, you will need to do this at least a couple of hours before your preferred serving time. Custard consists of three things: eggs, milk and sugar. The proportions of each can be varied depending on your recipe, but I always do this step the same way:

1. Heat up the milk in a small saucepan. It doesn't have to be super-hot, and certainly should not be allowed to boil.
2. Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl with a fork or whisk. Some folk advocate separating the eggs and just using the yolks, which will give a richer, more custardy ice cream, though you may need to use more eggs to compensate for the reduced volume. Putting in the egg whites certainly works fine, though seems to lead to a slightly fluffier ice cream - something the purists would disagree with, but i'm a new-school kind of guy...
3. Take your hot milk and pour it slowly into the eggs/sugar mix, stirring the whole time. Doing this slowly whilst stirring ensures the eggs can slowly adjust to the heat of the milk, and won't instantly cook.
4. Transfer this mix back into the saucepan. Keep it on a medium heat and stir continuously until it starts to thicken. It doesn't have to be mega-thick, just enough so it coats the back of your stirring spoon. It is mighty important not to let the custard get too hot! At some point between 74 and 90 degrees Celsius, the egg protein gets all screwed up and separates itself from the rest of the custard, leaving you with scrambled eggs floating in sweet milk. Not cool. I keep the hot-plate at a temperature mid-way up the dial and it seems to work OK. Just keep stirring and watch carefully. Once it thickens, take it off the heat and keep stirring for another minute or two. If it starts to boil, you're screwed...
5. If you're adding any spices to the ice cream, it's best to add them during this heating stage so the flavours get released through the custard. Also, any ingredients that would benefit from being dissolved (fancy sugars, syrups etc) should be added during this part of the process.

So, once you've got your custard made, set it aside to cool down. Go out and kick the footy or read a book or go visit your parents. Then do this:

1. Once the custard has cooled down to room temperature, add in your cream, if using it. Any additional liquid flavours should be also be added now.
2. If you've got some time left before you wanna serve the ice cream, stick the mixture in the fridge to cool down further.
3. Plug in and turn on the ice cream machine (see your manual for details). Pour the mixture into the machine and watch the magic happen. If it doesn't freeze properly, you may have too much sugar, or simply too much liquid in the machine.
   
4. If you have solid ingredients (nuts, chocolate bits etc), wait until the mixture is partially frozen and then just drop them into the machine as it turns.

And that's about it. There's a few things to consider, but it's actually pretty simple to do, and pretty hard to stuff up. So get to it, dudes!