ginger meh ::::
Somehow, I spent the whole summer ignoring my potential for ice-cream making. I even put the ice cream machine bowl in the freezer in May in anticipation. Total fail in prep, Lisa. Derrrrr…..
Once I had the ice cream and post ready, then the header and thumbnail photos wouldn’t show up properly, even though they were correctly uploaded to the server. I had to delay ice cream again. The ginger makes it more autumn inspired, even with the shivers while eating it (and, in all honestly, fall is not really all that chilly here). Although this is originally an ice cream recipe, I can’t in good conscience call it that. I deviated from the tried-and-true David Lebovitz recipes of ice cream that I used last summer, and went for one from the Big Sur Bakery Cake Cookbook. They wowed me with their Marmalade Tart (which I promptly bloodied with blood oranges last year) and they have a great track record. But this one, this ice cream, wasn’t what I expected.
This recipe wasn’t a fail but it wasn’t what I wanted. First, it was incredibly sweet, even with my slight reduction in the sugar (they used 2 cups, I used a scant 2 cups). Secondly, the 12 egg yolks seemed extreme, but I went with it anyway despite my Lebovitz channeling. This produced a very soft ice cream, even after freezing overnight. It didn’t taste much like ice cream, as the egg yolks far overcame any milk or cream taste. It’s a frozen custard. A real frozen custard, that deserves a tangy counterpart to offset the sweet.
I can see this being wonderful in an affogato (ice cream melting atop a hot cup of espresso) or a nice accompaniment to a tangy berry pie. Alone, it’s too much, even for me. I felt the ginger flavor was nice but I like mine a little sharper, with a bite, and in a vehicle less sweet. Let me know if you have different results.
Happy Halloween! May you have plenty of gingery sweets, bloody oranges, and other ghoulish treats.
- 4 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup honey
- scant 2 cups sugar, maybe less (it's pretty sweet)
- 12 egg yolks from large eggs
- crystallized ginger, sliced into batons (for garnish)
- Peel the ginger with a vegetable peeler or spoon, and cut into slices.
- Place slices into a saucepan, add just enough water to cover, and bring to a boil.
- Strain, and rinse the ginger under cold running water.
- Combine the ginger and 1 cup of milk in a blender and puree until smooth.
- Combine the ginger mixture with the cream, the remaining 1 cup of milk, the honey, and 1 cup of the sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and let it steep for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the scan 1 cup sugar remaining in a large bowl until smooth.
- Bring the cream mixture back to boil and temper the hot liquid into the egg yolks by adding it to the yolks a ladle at a time while whisking vigorously.
- Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
- Discard the ginger pulp and return the liquid to the pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the liquid is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Again, pour mixture through fine-mesh sieve.
- Cool slightly or to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold (doing it overnight is fine).
- Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer's directions. (Mine took 15 minutes to thicken, though still a little soupy.) Place in freezer to stiffen before scooping and serving with crystallized ginger garnishes. Makes 6 cups.
