15 Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts

Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, you will be able to: recognize and evaluate commercially prepared ice cream and frozen products. understand the churning method for making ice creams and sorbets. continued on next slide

Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, you will be able to: understand the still-freezing method for preparing frozen desserts. prepare a variety of ice creams, sorbets and frozen desserts.

Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts Categorized by the freezing method used: Churned Still-frozen (semifreddo)

Churn Frozen Desserts May be dairy based, made from milk or custard continued on next slide

Churn Frozen Desserts Non-dairy based, made from fruit, chocolate or other flavorings combined with sugar ice cream gelato sorbet sherbet

Still-Frozen Desserts Made from custards or mousses that are frozen without churning frozen soufflés parfaits baked Alaska Vacherin continued on next slide

Still-Frozen Desserts Made from custards or mousses that are frozen without churning bombes (molds lined with cake and filled with ice cream, sorbets and frozen mousses and parfaits are still-frozen ices such as granite

Safety Precautions Making Ice Cream Ice cream is based on several potentially hazardous foods, such as cream, milk and eggs. Observe the same safety precautions when making ice cream base as when making custards.

Making Churn Frozen Desserts Churning breaks up ice crystals while adding air to the mixture. When creating bases to be frozen: Keep in mind that cold dulls flavor. Flavors weaken when mixtures are cold. It may be necessary to overflavor or oversweeten mixtures that will be frozen for service.

Overrun Overrun is the measure of air churned into a mixture. continued on next slide

Overrun Overrun is expressed as a percentage, which reflects the increase of volume in the ice cream greater than the amount of base used. If 1 qt. of base produces 1.5 qt. ice cream, the overrun is 50%. Increase (0.5 qt.) ÷ base amount (1 qt.) = 50% overrun

Desired Amount of Overrun Increased overrun weakens flavor. Superior products have no more than 20% overrun.

Mouthfeel Higher fat content of ice cream and gelato gives these products a smoother mouthfeel compared to sorbet and granita.

Ice Cream and Gelato Custards churned during freezing. High quality ice creams contain as much as 24% milk fat, resulting in rich dense products. Gelato has low fat content, between 4% and 9%, but is denser due to less air incorporated during churning. continued on next slide

Ice Cream and Gelato USDA standards for "ice cream" require at least 10% milk fat and 20% milk solids. To be labeled “ice cream”, it cannot weigh less than 4-1/2 pounds per gallon.

Sherbets and Sorbets Sorbet is a churned mixture of sugar, water and fruit juice, wine, liquors or other flavorings. Stabilizers such as eggs, gums, pectin or gelatin, may be added to help bind water so that the mixture traps air. Measuring the sugar content in the mixture with a saccharometer ensures consistent texture and sweetness.

Sherbet Sherbet is an Americanization of the French word sorbet. When it contains fruit juice and sugar, it is identical to sorbet. When milk is added, it becomes somewhat richer than sorbet.

Table 15.1 Troubleshooting Churned Frozen Desserts

Still-Frozen Desserts Based on a bombe mixture, a mousse or custard with meringue or whipped cream bombe frozen mousse frozen parfait spumoni continued on next slide

Still-Frozen Desserts Air must be incorporated by folding in relatively large amounts of whipped cream and/or Italian meringue. This keeps the mixture smooth and prevents it from hardening. Because of this air, still-frozen desserts feel less cold than ice creams.

Convenience Products Ice cream bases allow a variety of different flavored ice creams to be freshly prepared from one basic preparation. They also come in neutral flavors to allow pastry chefs to add flavoring or fruit purées to customize before churning. continued on next slide

Convenience Products Mixes are formulated for: different styles of ice cream, either hard or soft. different types of machinery, either for batch freezers or continuous-process, soft serve ice cream machines.