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03/11/2015
~The day I turned Pastry Cream into Frozen Custard~
Me talking to Me at 9:00AM today: Seriously? Seriously. Seriously? Can I turn pastry cream into ice cream? I don't see why not, it contains all the same stuff. What do I do -- just empty this container of leftover pastry cream into the gelato machine and see what happens? Think this through -- your mad-science experiments never end well. You probably should add some cream to it -- it's much thicker than any ice-cream base you've ever worked with. Add the cream -- pastry cream IS egg custard. So, am I making frozen custard then? It would seem so silly. Go for it genius -- if it fails it's not like the food police can force you into writing a blog post about it.
Noon-ish: This is SOOOO good. Now -- what should I name it?
Is this really frozen custard or is it homemade ice cream?
The difference between frozen custard and homemade ice cream: I'm leaving store-bought American ice cream products out of this discussion. It is federally defined as "a frozen dessert containing 10% milkfat", and, in almost all cases, even the slow-churned types, they always contain corn syrup, and, no eggs. The original, old-fashioned, simplicity of making "ice cream" has been so convoluted by high-tech machinery, preservatives and additives that one couldn't reproduce it at home if one wanted to -- which I don't. For me, I like the old-fashioned way.
If you make your own ice cream by starting with a cream, sugar and egg yolk base recipe, there is almost no difference between frozen custard and homemade ice cream. If you make it using milk and no eggs, you are making gelato, not egg custard.
That said, if you're making either egg custard or gelato in an electric ice-cream machine with a paddle that incorporates air into the base to create volume, the texture of the end product is closer to store-bought ice cream (which doesn't contain the 10+% butterfat content or the 1.4% egg yolk solids of real-deal frozen custard).
Frozen custard was invented in Coney Island, NY, in 1919. Two ice cream vendors, Archie and Elton Kohr discovered that adding egg yolks to ice cream produced a richer, creamier, and smoother ice-cream. On the first weekend, they sold 18,460 cones. They had invented the precursor to soft-serve ice-cream, except: air was not pumped into it. True frozen custard, is a very dense dessert. The mix enters a refrigerated tube, and, as it freezes, blades scrape the frozen product from the sides of the barrel walls. The mixture is in the machine for a short period and is discharged into the container from which it is served (immediately, or the same day it's made).
2 cups pastry cream, chilled (Note: Click on the Related Article link below to get my recipe for ~ Sweet Dreams: Creme Patissiere (Pastry Cream) ~.
1 cup heavy or whipping cream, chilled
~ Step 1. Place the pastry cream in a 1-quart measuring container. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the cream. Whisk in the remainder of the cream, in increments of 2 tablespoons, until the mixture is thick, smooth and drizzly. You will have 3 cups of ice cream base.
Note: If you are using my pastry cream recipe, you will use a ratio of 2:1 (two cups of pastry cream to every 1 cup cream). If you are using another recipe, you may need a little more, or, a little less cream.
~ Step 2. From here on out, follow the directions that came with your ice-cream maker. Because mine has a built-in freezing system, I simply pour all of the base into the stainless steel work bowl of the ice-cream maker that the machine has pre-chilled and waiting for me.
I place the lid on the work bowl, then, turn the machine on to churn for 1 hour - 1 hour, 10 minutes.
I think I'll name my creation: Pastry-Cream Ice-Cream!!!
Presenting the Perfect Pastry-Cream Ice-Cream Cone:
The day I turned Pastry Cream into Frozen Custard: Recipe yields about 1 quart of pastry cream ice cream or 4, 1-cup servings, or, 8 standard-sized one-scoop cones.
Cook's Note: I'm no stranger to ice-cream making, and, when strawberries are in season, this is one of my favorites: ~ Sweet Heat: Strawberry & Guajillo Chile Ice Cream + Strawberry & Guajillo Chile Sauce! Cha-Cha-Cha! ~. If that sounds like a mouthful, it is -- a wonderful one. This one is what I call "quick ice cream" because you don't need to make a custard base. You can get the recipe by clicking in Categories 6, 13 or 20!
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2015)
Comments
Jaseena -- It's self explanatory. Whisk the cream into the pastry cream as the instructions clearly state.
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Jaseena -- It's self explanatory. Whisk the cream into the pastry cream as the instructions clearly state.
Posted by: KitchenEncounters | 11/02/2022 at 09:08 AM
Which cream has to be mix with pastry cream?
Posted by: Jaseena M sajith | 10/31/2022 at 11:20 PM
Oh my Sylvie you are going to love it -- enjoy the warmth and sunshine!!!
Posted by: Kitchen Encounters | 04/01/2015 at 08:48 AM
What an amazing pastry experiment! We're knowing our first warm spring days and it's the right time to test that!
Posted by: sylvie | 04/01/2015 at 08:08 AM