Ice cream maker follies

[Mikko Peltoniem]

The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the
brand, and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd buy
it. It's the automatic type, where a motor turns the mixture
over the freezing element.

Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

I searched around Google, and found out several people that
had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
any answers as to what the fix was.

Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar and
peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter) pinch of
salt vanilla extract

Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved
the preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge
overnight.

The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in the
freezer, upside down as per instructions, since late friday.

Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's,
Philips brand, and design was very similar to this one. So I
pretty much knew what to expect, kind of soft soft serve
type ice cream. But I churned for over 45 minutes, but the
ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still
definitely liquid.

What could I have done differently? Couple of things I
thought.

1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer
longer, or maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe
the freezer isn't cold enough. After churning, it wasn't
warm by all means, and when washing it, water froze on
it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side;
I'm not sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I
made a mistake in the amount of sugar, and that's why it
isn't freezing. It's not inedibly sweet, so it could be
that it's right, but just a bit too sweet for my taste.

3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers the
freezing point even more.

4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day,
and the kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove
or anything.

Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or
should I have just kept going on, maybe even past the
hour mark?

But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the
problems are somewhere else?

--
Mikko Peltoniemi Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at
large. http://editor.is.dreaming.org (http://editor.is.dreaming.org/)

[Curly Sue]

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 16:46:22 -0400, Mikko Peltoniemi
<mikkopel@hotmail.com> wrote:

>The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the
>brand, and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd
>buy it. It's the automatic type, where a motor turns the
>mixture over the freezing element.
>
>Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.
>
>I searched around Google, and found out several people that
>had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
>any answers as to what the fix was.
>
>Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
>cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar
>and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
>pinch of salt vanilla extract
>
>Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved
>the preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge
>overnight.
>
>The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in
>the freezer, upside down as per instructions, since
>late friday.
>
>Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's,
>Philips brand, and design was very similar to this one. So
>I pretty much knew what to expect, kind of soft soft serve
>type ice cream. But I churned for over 45 minutes, but the
>ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.
>
>Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still
>definitely liquid.
>
>What could I have done differently? Couple of things
>I thought.
>
>1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer
> longer, or maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe
> the freezer isn't cold enough. After churning, it wasn't
> warm by all means, and when washing it, water froze on
> it, and it wasn't slushing inside.
>
>2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side;
> I'm not sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I
> made a mistake in the amount of sugar, and that's why it
> isn't freezing. It's not inedibly sweet, so it could be
> that it's right, but just a bit too sweet for my taste.
>
>3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers
> the freezing point even more.
>
>4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day,
> and the kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove or
> anything.
>
>Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or
>should I have just kept going on, maybe even past the
>hour mark?
>
>But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the
>problems are somewhere else?

My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough-
either not long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough (do
you have a freezer thermometer?).

My ice cream recipes run about 1/3 c sugar per cup liquid,
and yours seems to conform to that.

Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't
understand why they'd tell you to freeze it upside down.
You'd think you'd want most of the freezing stuff to be on
the bottom rather than on the edge.

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

[Armywife23]

Mikko Peltoniemi <mikkopel@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<2kr8kpF50p8lU1@uni-berlin.de>...
> The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the
> brand, and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd
> buy it. It's the automatic type, where a motor turns the
> mixture over the freezing element.
>
> Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.
>
> I searched around Google, and found out several people
> that had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't
> really find any answers as to what the fix was.
>
> Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
> cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar
> and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
> pinch of salt vanilla extract
>
> Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and
> dissolved the preserves, and then let it cool down in
> fridge overnight.
>
> The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in
> the freezer, upside down as per instructions, since
> late friday.
>
> Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's,
> Philips brand, and design was very similar to this one. So
> I pretty much knew what to expect, kind of soft soft serve
> type ice cream. But I churned for over 45 minutes, but the
> ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.
>
> Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still
> definitely liquid.
>
> What could I have done differently? Couple of things I
> thought.
>
> 1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer
> longer, or maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe
> the freezer isn't cold enough. After churning, it
> wasn't warm by all means, and when washing it, water
> froze on it, and it wasn't slushing inside.
>
> 2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet
> side; I'm not sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but
> maybe I made a mistake in the amount of sugar, and
> that's why it isn't freezing. It's not inedibly sweet,
> so it could be that it's right, but just a bit too
> sweet for my taste.
>
> 3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers
> the freezing point even more.
>
> 4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day,
> and the kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove
> or anything.
>
> Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or
> should I have just kept going on, maybe even past the
> hour mark?
>
> But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the
> problems are somewhere else?

Does it sound like there is broken glass inside it ( the
cannister)? Did you add the preserves before or after the
ice cream had gone into the mixer? What was in the peach
preserves? Some types of preservatives in canning create an
alcohol type reaction which prevents the ice cream from
freezing properly. You usually have to add them last after
the ice cream has frozen, like with nuts and other food
items. I think your recipe needs more whipping cream, too.
If you have your heart set on that recipe go for it but here
is one I usually use, it has never failed me and I have a
rinky-dink bargain machine. It takes some time but the ice
cream is soooo good.

This is a Good Housekeeping recipe for pastry cream filling
gone wrong then turned right. It didn't set right because I
didn't whip the whipping cream enough and I thought it would
make a great ice cream. My family loved it. It's pretty big
though. I have 2 cannisters and use them both for it.

2 1/4 cups whole milk 4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
4/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5/8 teaspoon salt
6/3 cup heavy or whipping cream

7. In 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 cups milk to boiling over
high heat. Meanwhile, in large bowl, with wire whisk,
beat egg yolks, sugar, and remaining 1/4 cup milk until
smooth; whisk in cornstarch and flour until combined.
Gradually whisk hot milk into egg-yolk mixture.

8. Return mixture to saucepan, cook over medium-high heat
until mixture thickens and boils, whisking constantly.
Reduce heat to low and cook 2 minutes, whisking. Really
watch this part or you can burn the mixture on the
bottom and you cannot save it. It'll taste like ashes no
matter what you do.

9. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla and salt.
Pour pastry cream into pie plate or shallow dish. Press
plastic wrap onto surface of pastry cream to keep skin
from forming as it cools. Refrigerate 2 hours or until
cold, or overnight.

10. When ready to use, with mixer at medium speed, beat
whipping cream just until peaks form. With wire whisk,
beat pastry cream custard to loosen. Whisk half of
whipped cream into pastry cream custard, then with
rubber spatula, fold in remaining whipped cream.

Pour this into your ice cream maker. When the ice cream has
mostly frozen, THEN add your peach preserves or whatever you
would like. I would just buy a plain ol' can of store bought
peaches and puree them a little then dump them right in.

Hope I helped even a little bit, good luck and enjoy
whatever you make!

-Bridgett-

[Frogleg]

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 16:46:22 -0400, Mikko Peltoniemi
<mikkopel@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used 2
>cups of half&half 1 cup of whipping cream 1 cup of sugar
>and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
>pinch of salt vanilla extract
>
>Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, ...

Didn't AB say *not* to boil the mixture, but to bring it to
170F? (Another thermometer for your list!)

He also said not to use *heavy* whipping cream (Brit 'double
cream'), but I don't think the problem with that would be
non-freezing.

Seems to me the problem is most likely in the freezing
element not being cold enough.

[Mikko Peltoniem]

Curly Sue wrote:

> My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough-
> either not long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough
> (do you have a freezer thermometer?).

No, but I think I'll be getting one, along with an oven
thermometer, which has been on my list for a while. But
since the amount of sugar seemed OK, I'll probably have to
freeze the element longer, or make sure the freezer is
cold enough.

> Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't
> understand why they'd tell you to freeze it upside down.
> You'd think you'd want most of the freezing stuff to be on
> the bottom rather than on the edge.

No, it's shaped like a disc. It goes on the bottom, covering
the whole bottom of the machine. And given its shape, upside
down seems like the best way to freeze it.

--
Mikko Peltoniemi Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at
large. http://editor.is.dreaming.org (http://editor.is.dreaming.org/)

[Donna Rose]

In article <2krajpF5b7lnU1@uni-berlin.de>,
mikkopel@hotmail.com says...
> Curly Sue wrote:
>
> > My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough-
> > either not long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough
> > (do you have a freezer thermometer?).
>
> No, but I think I'll be getting one, along with an oven
> thermometer, which has been on my list for a while. But
> since the amount of sugar seemed OK, I'll probably have to
> freeze the element longer, or make sure the freezer is
> cold enough.
>
> > Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't
> > understand why they'd tell you to freeze it upside down.
> > You'd think you'd want most of the freezing stuff to be
> > on the bottom rather than on the edge.
>
> No, it's shaped like a disc. It goes on the bottom,
> covering the whole bottom of the machine. And given its
> shape, upside down seems like the best way to freeze it.
>
>
Bear in mind that most ice-cream makers don't really
"freeze" ice cream. Most of the ones I'm familiar with tell
you that after processing, you scoop the ice cream out into
containers and freeze for at least two hours to firm up. If
it's not similar to a soft ice cream when it comes out, it
could be that indeed your freezer is not cold enough. Twenty-
four hours in the freezer should be enough for most
cylinders to freeze.
--
Donna A pessimist believes all women are bad. An optimist
hopes they are.