Gravy's Cooking Thread
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Ninen
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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So with ice-cream, the ice crystal size is determined by the agitation, and then either fat or air content. I think the lazy stuff works so well because, while you have NO agitation, you have huge fat *AND* air. I'm sure doing the same mix but throwing it into a real ice-cream maker would be even better.
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It's all about how hard and fast you can freeze it, and the ratios of sugar to dairy. The harder the freeze you can get and the quicker, the smaller the ice crystals, and the smoother the texture. Gelato has a very specific texture because of the recipe but also the specific machines they used to make it. Very little air, but super cold.
Ninen
is right with the amount of air you incorporate and how it's mixed, not really has a big impact on the final product.
You can also use things like corn syrup to help get a chewier texture because those sugars freeze differently. Then there's always doing custard, and making certain to temper your eggs.
One of the key steps is to make your batch the day prior and let it sit overnight in the fridge. I think I learned that from Alton Brown from way back in the day, and it really does make a difference. Helps get the batter chilled appropriately for countertop machines, and let's everything do its work and blend together from a chemical reaction standpoint.
I've always screwed with combinations of milk versus heavy cream, and try just using half and half. If I remember correctly Emeril Lagasse always used half and half in his recipes. I was found that using too much heavy cream gave you and greasier mouthfeel. You can also substitute an equal amount of fruit preserves for sugar.
I still have an old Cuisinart machine I got for Christmas back when I was in college, and it does a pretty good job. God damn now I want to make ice cream. I haven't done it in a while, but I'm sure there are other techniques out there it's a really good something awesome.
It really is a lot of fun though, and it tastes different than anything you can buy from the store. Might not necessarily be better but it always taste better to me because you made it yourself.
Edit: talk to text
Ninen
is right with the amount of air you incorporate and how it's mixed, not really has a big impact on the final product.You can also use things like corn syrup to help get a chewier texture because those sugars freeze differently. Then there's always doing custard, and making certain to temper your eggs.
One of the key steps is to make your batch the day prior and let it sit overnight in the fridge. I think I learned that from Alton Brown from way back in the day, and it really does make a difference. Helps get the batter chilled appropriately for countertop machines, and let's everything do its work and blend together from a chemical reaction standpoint.
I've always screwed with combinations of milk versus heavy cream, and try just using half and half. If I remember correctly Emeril Lagasse always used half and half in his recipes. I was found that using too much heavy cream gave you and greasier mouthfeel. You can also substitute an equal amount of fruit preserves for sugar.
I still have an old Cuisinart machine I got for Christmas back when I was in college, and it does a pretty good job. God damn now I want to make ice cream. I haven't done it in a while, but I'm sure there are other techniques out there it's a really good something awesome.
It really is a lot of fun though, and it tastes different than anything you can buy from the store. Might not necessarily be better but it always taste better to me because you made it yourself.
Edit: talk to text
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We make ice cream, it never gets hard like ice. I don't know exactly how we accomplish that.
But more often we make gelato. Still with the ice cream maker.
But more often we make gelato. Still with the ice cream maker.
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Yeah I think that really has to do with the machines and the amount of air they incorporate, and also the temperatures the machines freeze it at. I think I remember seeing something about commercial ice cream basically being 50% air or something. Gelato has way less, and that's how you get that wonderful texture and richness.
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Sanrith Descartes
Veteran of a thousand threadban wars
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Ice cream is one of those things with a really wide quality zone. It can be really shitty, really good and all manner of in between. Getting really well made ice cream is just amazing. And the opposite is just as true.
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popsicledeath
Potato del Grande
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I like that the couple batches of ice cream I've made so far were denser and creamier than store bought ice cream. More like gelato with tackiness. I don't mind some air fluffed store bought ice cream, but the overrun has gotten crazy on some brands that are too light.
First two batches were fine with no major ice crystals after a week in the fridge. Just doing very basic recipe with cream, milk, sugar. Xantham gum helps with the crystals. Last batch I halved the gum and was fine. Might look to substitutes to try too.
Haven't even tried any tricks like corn syrup or cooking a custard or even pre cooling mixture and has been great.
My main complaint about store bought is almost always not enough of the extra stuff and not strong enough, so helps doing own add-ins. The cookies n cream I doubled the cookies, some fine ground and some larger chunks and was really good.
I don't think it's going to be cheaper than store bought, but I like ice cream enough I've started not liking it in recent years due to boring and/or woke options (stopping eating Ben and Jerry's was hard but fuck them guys).
First two batches were fine with no major ice crystals after a week in the fridge. Just doing very basic recipe with cream, milk, sugar. Xantham gum helps with the crystals. Last batch I halved the gum and was fine. Might look to substitutes to try too.
Haven't even tried any tricks like corn syrup or cooking a custard or even pre cooling mixture and has been great.
My main complaint about store bought is almost always not enough of the extra stuff and not strong enough, so helps doing own add-ins. The cookies n cream I doubled the cookies, some fine ground and some larger chunks and was really good.
I don't think it's going to be cheaper than store bought, but I like ice cream enough I've started not liking it in recent years due to boring and/or woke options (stopping eating Ben and Jerry's was hard but fuck them guys).
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popsicledeath
Potato del Grande
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Yeah. Overrun. Illegal in many western countries, but not in America. Either Breyer's or Dreyer's advertises less calories because it's so full of air and that shit is criminally bad ice cream. Of course my girlfriend's painfully average family loves it. Was so sick of bad ice cream every get together. Their shitty taste in everything is why I buy/make/do most of the things I do these days.
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Break
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Recently tried to replicate Panera Bread's Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. I can't have Panera's Fuji APple dressing anymore because my inferior DNA sees something in the dressing as Russian invaders and inflicts days of hives on me, so I had to find a different dressing.
So I basically semi-replicated their salad with the following:
- Romaine (shredded) (about 2/3 of the lettuce portion)
- Baby Arugala (about 1/3 portion, it's a little bitter)
- Cherry tomatoes (Sweet, organic, cut in half)
- Pecans, a few whole
- Blue cheese (crumbled some from a fresh wedge but the preshredded stuff is fine if fresh)
- Red onion (about 1 or 2 very thin slices)
- Thin sliced boneless chicken breast, olive oil + salt + pepper and baked at 375 for about 40 mins on a rack, then sliced. Hard to overseason this, go nuts.
- Panera's balsamic vinaigrette which has very few ingredients and no Russians according to my immune system.
www.paneraathome.com
It's quite sweet (much sweeter than their actual Fuji Apple Dressing) so use sparingly or at least make sure you don't skip on the arugala and blue cheese to balance out the sweetness a bit.
This is easily the best salad I've had at home,.
So I basically semi-replicated their salad with the following:
- Romaine (shredded) (about 2/3 of the lettuce portion)
- Baby Arugala (about 1/3 portion, it's a little bitter)
- Cherry tomatoes (Sweet, organic, cut in half)
- Pecans, a few whole
- Blue cheese (crumbled some from a fresh wedge but the preshredded stuff is fine if fresh)
- Red onion (about 1 or 2 very thin slices)
- Thin sliced boneless chicken breast, olive oil + salt + pepper and baked at 375 for about 40 mins on a rack, then sliced. Hard to overseason this, go nuts.
- Panera's balsamic vinaigrette which has very few ingredients and no Russians according to my immune system.
Panera Balsamic Vinaigrette
Sweet and robust balsamic vinegar infused with notes of garlic and rosemary.
It's quite sweet (much sweeter than their actual Fuji Apple Dressing) so use sparingly or at least make sure you don't skip on the arugala and blue cheese to balance out the sweetness a bit.
This is easily the best salad I've had at home,.
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Break
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Amazon hasn't delivered them yet! Supposedly they use Seneca brand apples for the salads but AFAIK Aldi's don't carry them anymore so I had to order some. Although this dressing is on the sweet side so I'm not sure apples would make it better.
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Recently tried to replicate Panera Bread's Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. I can't have Panera's Fuji APple dressing anymore because my inferior DNA sees something in the dressing as Russian invaders and inflicts days of hives on me, so I had to find a different dressing.
So I basically semi-replicated their salad with the following:
- Romaine (shredded) (about 2/3 of the lettuce portion)
- Baby Arugala (about 1/3 portion, it's a little bitter)
- Cherry tomatoes (Sweet, organic, cut in half)
- Pecans, a few whole
- Blue cheese (crumbled some from a fresh wedge but the preshredded stuff is fine if fresh)
- Red onion (about 1 or 2 very thin slices)
- Thin sliced boneless chicken breast, olive oil + salt + pepper and baked at 375 for about 40 mins on a rack, then sliced. Hard to overseason this, go nuts.
- Panera's balsamic vinaigrette which has very few ingredients and no Russians according to my immune system.
Panera Balsamic Vinaigrette
Sweet and robust balsamic vinegar infused with notes of garlic and rosemary.
It's quite sweet (much sweeter than their actual Fuji Apple Dressing) so use sparingly or at least make sure you don't skip on the arugala and blue cheese to balance out the sweetness a bit.
This is easily the best salad I've had at home,.
Ahh whatever, if it blows your skirt up, then so be it. That's just one place I wouldn't ever care to take the time to replicate any of their food.
There are far superior dressings / salads out there for you to discover.
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This can give you a start:
I'll sit down and think about it a bit more, but it's really just learning how to make a proper emulsification with vinegar and oil. The real cheat is always to put just a bit of mustard which will keep your dressing from breaking. If you want it little sweeter you use honey mustard, a little more savory use Dijon. That's for vinaigrettes.
Creamy dressings are much easier and it's typically ratios of mayonnaise and sour cream or Greek yogurt. Really just depends on what your salad ingredients are and what flavor profile your gunning for. Savory versus sweet versus sour, etc.
The beauty with making your own salad dressings is once you just learn the basics, the sky's the limit.
I'll hunt around and post a few more if I can find some decent examples. I'm just so used to making my own dressing, it's just not something I look up anymore. I might just come across a recipe that looks like it's got a flavor profile I'd be interested in remember the ingredients and then make it myself.
I've got a really good cilantro ranch dressing from Royers in Rountop, Texas that's great for pretty much anything, wings, fried mushrooms, salad, potato salad, tacos, whatever. I don't necessarily follow the restaurants recipe any longer, but it's easy to make and better than anything you'd ever buy from the store. Family used to go there all the time, and it's a small family operated business, and if you're a regular customer they're happy to share their secrets. They serve the best damn pie in the entire state.
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