But it's Cold!

guido · Site Admin Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 390 Location: Italy

It's ice cream...or sherbet...what else can there be? Well...A sorbet...or maybe a granita, parfaits are nice so are semi fridos....where does one draw the line?

Sorbet: A sorbet is a combination of fresh fruit pureed, and simple syrup, a solution of water and sugar. The flavors are built to a stage where they work for the chef and then they are churned in an ice cream machine or sorbet machine to freeze and add air, the added air is called over run and can be controlled in an industrial setting. The mixture is then placed in a freezer at the recomended temperture of 10 degrees F for the Quiescent stage and stored until use. Sorbets are used as palate cleansers between courses or as desserts with added fruit and garnish of mint leaves, citrus swirls or thin wafers or cookies. Biscotti crumbled are a great addition to this dish.

Granita: This is a frozen ice made without the churning of an ice cream machine. The mixture of fruit, sugar and wine or alcohol is pureed and placed in a shallow pan. This is served when frozen and must be dished up by scraping a spoon or disher across the top. It has a grainy texture and one may taste and feel the ice crystals. It is served much as a sorbet.

French Parfait: A true parfait is lighter than ice cream and is made in a mixer. Egg yolks and a small amount of sugar are whipped at high speed until a froth is formed...this is reffered to as the ribbon stage. While this is whipping, water and sugar are cooked to a 248 degree temp. At this temp, it reaches what is called a soft ball stage. This mixture is then poured into the mixing solution which will cook the entire mixture. This mix is now refered to as Bombe Paste. When this cools to room temp, flavors, Hazlenut, Creme d Yvette, Praline are added, then whipped cream is folded in and the mixture frozen in decorative glasses.

Semi Friddo: This is much like a granita with th exception that it has either milk or heavy cream added, It can contain large pieces of fresh fruit and since it has the milk to make it less granular, it may be dished up more like ice cream.

If it's cold it just might be more than ice cream....and in leaving a word to the truly adventurous....a real treat with a good french vanilla ice cream is the addition of a slight bit of balsamic vinegar on top.....now go and be bold!!!

source: www.chowbaby.com

Guido
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In vino veritas!

Kate · Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:55 pm Post subject:

Great article hun....but balsamic vinegar on ice cream...hmmmm. I've had a balsamic reduction served on fruit but never ice cream. I may have to try that.

Balsamic Reduction For Fruit (Or ice cream!)

1/2 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange zest

Place everything in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often until mixture starts to thicken and become syrupy. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and return to the pan to reduce further if desired.
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Life's short...eat dessert first.

kerismummy · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:51 am Post subject:

i like frozen yoghurt best, we cant buy it in the supermarkets here but they have stalls in the shopping cenre that sell it. yum!

Kate · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:55 pm Post subject:

I like frozen yogurt too, but nothing beats the gelato I enjoy in Italy!
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Life's short...eat dessert first.

kerismummy · Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:51 am Post subject:

iv been meaning to buy myself an ice cream maker for a while now, when i do ill have to try making some gelato because iv heard nothing but good comments about it.

Kate · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:33 am Post subject:

OMG....yummmm gelato. See my signature haha. Hazelnut is my favorite...and pistachio...and cassata....and I want to try peach!
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Life's short...eat dessert first.

kerismummy · Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:45 pm Post subject:

peach flavoured frozen yogurt is great, i had an italian friend at university who used to complain that we didnt have gelato here, i always wondered what it was!!

Kate · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:54 am Post subject:

I love peach ice cream!
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Life's short...eat dessert first.

kerismummy · Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

raspberry ripples my favourite

carol · DishWasher Joined: Oct 23, 2006 Posts: 18

I went to sorrento in may, we made sure that we had pizza and had ice cream, seen as italy is famouse for both.

The ice cream is lush in Italy, loads better than any ice cream we have here in the UK. And the best thing about it is the ladies get a free ice cream each time they visit . It is much smaller than the ice cream you buy, seen as it's free and i'm sure they'll get a bit peed off if you visited the ice cream shop daily and never bought any thing BUT IT'S SOOO NICE!! Ane the cones are really sweet ! uuumumm