Homemade Ice Cream

[floatin-da-frio]

You know all of those gifts you get from the wedding, where you look at the gift and say, 'well, that's cool, but when in the hell are we going to use it?'

Well, we did. For the first time in my life I made homemade vanilla and buttered pecan ice cream, and probably the last! We got an ice cream maker and actually used it. The crap wouldn't freeze and stay frozen when it was.
In my opinion, it's a hell of a lot cheaper and easier to go out and buy Blue Bell, which is a hell of alot better.

Any experiences on this?

[LeifBarnes]

Get you a 2 liter of big red (or you favorite) and 2 cans of condensed milk. Mix them together and put in the ice cream maker. Very easy and very good.

I have also made a rocky road and it was very time consuming and yes it would have been easier to buy Blue Bell.

[Shiner]

some if my best memories as a kid is making and eating HOME MADE ice cream.
Another great growing up tradition that has gone by the wayside. What was that Thread a day or so ago?...... Let Kids be Kids

[jpbruni]

Yup, just a slight bit of experience...Our Indian Guides group make homemade ice cream on almost every one of our campouts.

I will ask first, what kind of maker is it? Full electric? One of the ones you have to pre-freeze? One of the old fashioned ones that uses rock salt?

Without knowing this, 1st and foremost everything has to be chilled and frosty. All the ingredients need to be cold/chilled before you start as well as the container that you are going to store it in. I know it's tempting to eat it right away when it's done, but if you can let it chill in the freezer for about an hour it will not be so runny.

I tend to go more for the Gelato-type recipes with more egg yolks. They tend to not end up as Ice-milkish and runny. They turn out much more creamy and thick.

Try these two recipes before you put it on Craigslist

Better than Vanilla Gelato

Made in your ice cream maker

For 1 quart you will need:
5 large egg yolks - 3/4 cup sugar - 2 cups whole milk - 1 cup half & half - 2 tsp. vanilla extract.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat at medium high speed until the mixture is thick and pale yellow in color. Heat milk to a simmer. Add half of the milk to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until blended. Stir in the rest of the milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, when the mixture coats the back of your spoon. Stir in the half & half. Pass mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl and set over an ice bath to chill. Stir in the vanilla extract. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
Chocolate Gelato recipe
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 egg yolks, beaten lightly
In a heavy saucepan cook 1/4 cup sugar, undisturbed, over moderate heat until it begins to melt and cook, stirring with fork, until melted completely and deep golden brown. Remove pan from heat and dip pan briefly into a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. (Caramel will harden). Cool pan about 5 minutes and return to heat. Add milk and cook over moderate heat, whisking until caramel is melted. Whisk in cocoa until combined well and keep mixture warm.
In a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring, and remove from heat. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat egg yolks with remaining 3/4 cup sugar until thick and pale. Whisk in caramel mixture and chocolate in streams, whisking until combined. Pour custard into another 3 quart heavy saucepan and cook over moderately low heat until a candy thermometer registers 140 F. Cook custard stirring (do not let it boil), 4 minutes more and remove from heat. Cool custard completely and freeze in an ice cream maker.

J.P.

[Richard M.]

If it didn't freeze you may not have had enough rock salt. My dad is the king of home made ice cream and blows away Blue Bell. He can get it very hard, but only with an old style manual crank. The electric ones trip or stall before the ice cream gets the right consistency.

[Nova]

Sound like your trying to get too fancy. Some good ol' strawberry, peach, or just vanilla out under mamaw's porch sure brings back good memories.

[floatin-da-frio]

it was electric. Who knows. Thanks for the feedback and recipe.

[Tmag]

For the first time in my life I made homemade vanilla and buttered pecan ice cream, and probably the last! We got an ice cream maker and actually used it. The crap wouldn't freeze and stay frozen when it was. In my opinion, it's a hell of a lot cheaper and easier to go out and buy Blue Bell, which is a hell of alot better. Any experiences on this?

Here's the deal. You have now learned that it takes a long time to make ice cream. You have to stay on it and keep the ice and salt fed on top as it runs. One the maker stops turning you unplug it and pack the top with more ice and salt and place a towel on it for about 3 minutes to let it set up.
The main idea is for both of you to be involved and tend it so you can learn how working together can have a sweet reward. I'm not gonna ask why it wouldn't set as you are newlyweds and all and probably didn't keep your mind on the ice cream.

Get you a 2 liter of big red (or you favorite) and 2 cans of condensed milk. Mix them together and put in the ice cream maker. Very easy and very good. I have also made a rocky road and it was very time consuming and yes it would have been easier to buy Blue Bell.

Be sure you use Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed milk in the can. You can also do this with Orange Crush and come up with a Dreamsicle flavor.

[Mark44]

this may be heresy but I'm right there with you: 99% of the home made ice cream I've eaten wasn't even CLOSE to as good as Bluebell. I guess homemade ice cream has a unique taste that some people really like (and some people seem to enjoy the process) but for me - if I want some amazin' ice cream I'm not firin' up the ice cream maker. I'm making a run for Blue Bell!

[jerp]

Maybe time and nostalgia have caused an exagerated memory, but my mouth actually waters when I think of the fresh peach ice cream we used to make. Hot summer evening, cidadas buzzing, my sister sitting on top of the old wooden ice cream bucket to hold it down while I cranked and cranked till' my arms about fell off. And then that first bite - it was the nectar of the gods I tell ya!

[Codie]

Going to pick up Big Red in a few minutes for some Home Made Ice Cream this weekend

[SaltwaterSlick]

Homemade Ice Cream is as much about the fellowship and fun as it is the ice cream to me. I cannot recall any negative or bad feelings from my past that are associated with the making of homemade ice cream. It was family, fun, playing, and outdoors... now you don't even have to have ice cream to do all that, but that old mixer and bowls, spoons, napkins and such sure did give us a good excuse to get it all started and have fun with the results whether the ice cream was good or not so good...

Oh yea, I do recall one negative... PEACHES! My momma sure messed up a good batch of ice cream once by turning it into peach ice cream... YUK!

[SaltwaterSlick]

Going to pick up Big Red in a few minutes for some Home Made Ice Cream this weekend

You know, that sounds like a great idea for "The 4th".. think I'll do the same thing... maybe even shoot our bows in the back yard... caint shoot no farcrakers bein' in tha city an' all, but shor can shoot me som' arras to celebrate our country's b'day!

[floatin-da-frio]

Yea, we were told that we have to make some ice cream for the 4th. We wanted to try before the 4th. I didn't freeze all parts before we started. may try that and then pray and hope for the best. Thanks. The big red sounds really good.

[BrianL]

We make homemade ice cream at least 5-6 times a year, and it is great. If it didn't freeze, you did something wrong. You didn't use enough rock salt or didn't let it run long enough. It will stop turning by itself when it is ready. Usually take about 30 minutes to freeze. We do a non egg version most of the time, just eagle brand sweetend milk, sugar, vanilla, and milk. It never last long enough to put leftovers in the freezer.