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If you've ever thought about making homemade ice cream, this is what you need to know about buying an ice cream maker. In this article, you'll learn about the different types of makers available, what to look for when choosing one, and tips using them. Making ice cream at home, isn't just about being fun for the whole family, but is also about enjoying this delicious frozen dessert on an entirely new level.
All ice cream makers work on basically the same principle. You have a two-chambered pot, the outer pot is really cold, and your ingredients go into the inner pot. A paddle churns the ingredients and as the ingredients get colder, ice crystals start to form. The churning not only beats air into the ingredients, but also keeps the ice crystals from becoming too big. So let's take a look at the different kinds of machines that are available.
The first kind is the kind I like to refer to as, old-fashioned. These usually have a wooden outer bucket. Ice and rock salt, go into the outer bucket and your ingredients go inside an inner chamber. These can either be hand powered or powered by an electric motor,with some saying that the hand-powered models produce superior ice cream. The next kind of machine, uses an outer pot that you freeze. The outer pot is really thick so your ingredients go into the inside of the outer pot. The final and most expensive kind of ice cream freezer, uses a compressor just like your refrigerator, to chill the ingredients.
When shopping for a machine, there are a few things to think about. For one, you'll need to think about how much frosty treat you'll need to make at one time. The old-fashioned makers, usually come in four or 6 quart capacities. The freezable core models, usually make around a quart and a half and you'll find similar capacities in the compressor style freezers. Ease-of-use is another thing to think about when shopping for an ice cream machine. Because they use rock salt and ice, the old-fashioned freezers have a reputation for being messy. The freezable core style requires that you freeze the core for at least 18 hours before use. With this style, you certainly have to plan ahead for any dessert making activities. Lastly, price is always an important consideration. The most inexpensive machines, are the ones with the core that you freeze and you can often find models as low as $45. The next most expensive are the old-fashioned makers. Prices for these run-up to around $300. Finally, the compressor style freezers, can run well over $1000.
No matter what kind of ice cream maker you buy, here are some tips for getting the most out of your machine. It should go without saying, that the best tasting ice cream will come from the highest quality ingredients possible. Unless you're making a batch every day, I can't see why you would want to skimp on the quality of ingredients. You'll also want to keep everything, including your ingredients, very cold. That's not to say frozen, but very cold ingredients, work with your machine to create ice cream.
One very important tip for whipping up a batch, is tempering. Many recipes for homemade brew, use eggs. These recipes, also start out by creating an cream mixture on the stovetop. Any time you're going to add eggs to a hot mixture, it's very important to raise the temperature of the eggs, through a process called tempering. If you don't do that, you will be making scrambled eggs and not ice cream. To temper the eggs, you want to turn the heat off your mixture, and add about a teaspoon of the hot mixture to the eggs and stir. This will raise the temperature of the eggs just a little, so keep adding, a teaspoon and a half at a time, your hot mixture to the eggs, until you've added about a quarter of a cup. Once you've done that, you can stir the eggs into the hot mixture without turning them into scrambled eggs.
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