Ice Cream machines

This is my new top-of-the-kitchen-wish-list item.

Anyone have any recommendations on which brands work best? Ideally I'd like to find on that has multi-speed settings to let you also make good gelatos, but I don't know if that's available on any but the higher end (as in several hundred dollars) models.

I saw that Cuisinart has a model that's dropped in price to around $40-50.

I have a Krups ice cream maker that I love and believe is around the same price point. I make sure to keep the cannister in the freezer so the chemical stays nice and cold.

Kim

I recently saw an episode of "America's Test Kitchen" where they tested a variety of models (from $60 to $600).

They highly recommended the Krups La Glaciere ($59.95, 1 1/2-quart capacity) for its price and performance.

I have had my fair share of ice cream makers as I make it fairly regularly. The Krups Glaciere is good, but you either need ample freezer space or you need to plan ahead as the freezer insert must be frozen solid prior to use. I currently own the DeLonghi and have been generally happy with it. It has its own freezing element inside. It's heavy as all get out.

I have the Cuisinart one, and it works very well. I noticed they came out with another one with two small freezer bowls, and I would probably have gotten that one instead so I can make two flavors at once. The problem this solves is that you have to let the freezer bowl re-freeze after each time you use it, which makes making a trio of sorbets more time consuming.

Not sure what the extra speeds really get you. The purpose is heat/cold transfer; does a faster speed really help you there? Technical answer depends on how fast the coolness is released from the freezer bowl, as I think the standard speed is enough to establish continual mixing.

I might also add that I did drool at the Italian models at Sur La Table, but I could never justify paying thousands of dollars for this, no matter how cool the appliance is. And it is really cool, go check it out.

Thinking about it, speed ought to help with ice crystal size, and thus creaminess, right?

A granita should be slower, a gelato faster, so that crystals don't build up much.

A granita should be slower, a gelato faster, so that crystals don't build up much.

Actually, other way around. The slower the speed, the less air you incorporate, thus giving you creamy thick gelatos.

Incidentally, it's thought that the Chinese originated the concept of ice cream and sorbets, albeit slightly different versions of what we eat today

While I've never actually seen an automatic granita maker, I imagine it would have to be really slow like cycle once or twice a minute to allow ice crystals to grow.

I do not believe the creaminess of gelato is derived by air in the mixture, but by cream. As fast as the mixers on ice cream maker are, I really can't see how they are so fast as to entrain air bubbles into the freezing mixture.

Rich4 wrote:I do not believe the creaminess of gelato is derived by air in the mixture, but by cream. As fast as the mixers on ice cream maker are, I really can't see how they are so fast as to entrain air bubbles into the freezing mixture.

The dense, creamy consistency of gelato is most definitely created by a lack of air incorporated during the mixing process, as mentioned by Janet C.

Most "American" ice creams contain up to 50% air by volume, (they are allowed 100% overrun by law and still be able to be called "ice cream"). The more premium the ice cream, the lower the overrun.

Gelato can be made from the same basic recipe as ice cream, except with a significant drop in air volume, created by a much slower mixing process.

What I also find interesting is that although gelato tastes richer, it has less fat, about 5-8 percent, than typical American ice creams, which are required by law to be something like 16-20 percent.

Unless the gov regs have been changed a lot recently, ice cream needs at least 10 percent butterfat. Anything over that is up to the manufacturer. Store brands typically are as close to the minimum as they can get away with, premium brands around 12 percent and super-premium brands are often in the 16-18 percent butterfat range.

As eatchicago notes, overrun (the percentage volume increase in freezing compared to fluid mix) can go to 100 percent but is rarely much over 50 percent except in the cheapest stuff. There used to be and may still be a separate standard for weight per gallon. This weight standard effectively limits the maximum overrun. It has been around 40 years since I was actively involved with ice cream formulation, but I don't believe that a lot has changed in that time.

Ice cream made with a crank freezer is really tough to get overrun above 40 percent even if you have strong maniacs doing the cranking. Electrically powered freezers, whether put in the freezer compartment or using ice and salt, have not produced as high an overrun as a crank freezer with a fast finish. This is a major part of why homemade ice cream seems to taste creamier even though neither the butterfat nor nonfat milk solids levels usually are even close to the legal standard for ice cream.

For small quantities, usually of sorbets, we like the Salton Minichill. You put the canister in the deep freeze to cool. After putting the canister and stuff in the holder, the handle is turned a few times. This is a great way to make a pint or so with very low overrun.

I bought the Cuisinart at Sam's for twenty dollars with the extra bowl.
So far I've made chocolate and mango ice cream as well as lemon sorbet. I've also dumped some juices in there for slushes. It works fine and the extra bowl is nice if you have room in the freezer.
I also got The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein which boosts of having over 500 ice creams, sorbets, granitas, drinks and more.
Hopefully it'll keep me using it and not turn into another impulse buy appliance.
Good Luck.

I bought the Cuisinart at Sam's for twenty dollars with the extra bowl.

Twenty dollars? What a deal. I hope Costco has it as my membership is there. Thanks for the help!

I've had a motorized bucket ice cream machine for two decades now and have learned to coax out "product" that is exactly to my taste and preference for texture, but I can't claim this is a fast undertaking, and it's entirely possible that the machine trained me as much as I trained it. But I remain suspicious of the fully automated machines -- I don't want to cede control in my freezing any more than I want to in my cooking and baking. (And I make ice cream. Granita, sherbet, sorbet, custard, gelato are all banned from the machine.)

I do echo DBigg's recommendation of Weinstein's Ultimate Ice Cream Book, which seemingly has as many recommendations for savory ice creams as sweet.

I love making ice cream, but my problem is that after freezing, it is way harder than any store-bought ice cream, and it needs to be left out for up to half an hour before I'm able to scoop. Am I doing something wrong? The taste is usually good. But I have a half-gallon or so of Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream in there that has to be pried out in shavings.

There are lots of things you can do to lower the freezing point of your ice cream - which will result in a more scoopable product straight from the freezer. One is to use a monosaccharide rather than a disaccahride as the sweetening agent (e.g. use honey or corn syrup rather than table sugar). More sugars of any kind will help, but, of course, too much sugar can make it unacceptably sweet. More milk solids will help (e.g. add powdered milk to your mix, or use an evaporated milk instead of regular milk). If it's an adult ice cream, adding a bit of booze can make it more scoopable - and cordials or liqueurs can add interesting flavors.

Most important - experiment and enjoy!

Came upon this thread and realized I never posted about the Mega Ice Cream Ball we used at the picnic this past year. I thought it made very good semifreddo and was fun to play with: the only caveat is that we discovered the ice cream won't freeze if you're too vigorous, it needs to rest a bit between tossings. An excellent, inexpensive entre into homemade ice cream especially if you have kids.

I have an old Simac Il Gelataio Super. It's one of those jobs that has it's own compressor refrigeration built in. It's pretty handy if you are making more than one batch. You can usually find used machines on ebay.

Mhays wrote:Came upon this thread and realized I never posted about the Mega Ice Cream Ball we used at the picnic this past year. I thought it made very good semifreddo and was fun to play with: the only caveat is that we discovered the ice cream won't freeze if you're too vigorous, it needs to rest a bit between tossings. An excellent, inexpensive entre into homemade ice cream especially if you have kids.

It is not only kids who do this. I remember encountering a circle of adults at the picnic who were talking and tossing the ice cream ball between them. They seemed just as delighted as the kids.

Regards,