Supplies there

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

K would like to make a particular ice cream for the kids and he's wondering what supplies he will need to bring. His is fairly simple. The ones I'm worried about are eggs and mint extract. I'm assuming that there will be milk/cream/sugar there? Having never done this I don't know how much of our own stuff to bring. Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks.

Comments

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I wont be there, but my advice is, if it involves making a custard with eggs, make the custard at home. Cooking stuff at BC on those camp stoves can be a challenge. Make it at home, put it in a plastic zipper bag and freeze just the custard. Put it in a cooler with an ice pack. It will thaw on the way and can be used once you arrive and start making the ice cream.

Usually ice creams that use eggs involve cooking a custard with dairy and egg and sometimes butter, letting it cool them adding stuff like more cream and flavorings before freezing. When I made chocolate ice cream I would make the chocolate custard at home and then add the rest of the stuff just before freezing.

And I would never depend on something I needed being there (other than the cream and sugar) and I always brought my own stuff.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

All of those items should be there, but this is still good advice.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

All of those things WILL be there, but this is still good advice.

Remember the website we keep asking everyone to read? :)

http://wp.baitcon.org/baitcon-xxiv/ice-cream/
"We supply the cream, sugar, milk (including a small amount of soy and coconut milk for vegan flavors), and vanilla but you must bring the flavor ingredients if you wish to make a flavor. We also provide some seltzer for sorbets."

(I should mod that to note that we buy some eggs for IC, too, and that we have a random selection of extracts that vary year to year. There's mint currently in the collection.)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

FTR, the "should" was to account for possibilities like a bear stealing the extracts, someone accidentally setting them on fire, etc. I didn't want to be overly definite about something not in my control. :)

I have two flavors fully mixed at this point even though I know I could do the work there because it's easier to do at home where I have the technology. (I wonder how long it'll be before someone is willing to bring their VitaMix or BlendTec to Baitcon.)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I find that part of the fun is doing some of the work there - but I hear you. I try to do flavors that can be done with only a few simple equipment things that I can pack to take with me, and flavors that are born after the kids go to bed while hanging out feeling crazy in the ice cream prep area.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I agree with this, too! :D

I've found it a bit more stressful to try to do *all* the work on-site with a toddler to wrangle, though. Last year I felt like I was working through all of my "free" time when I should have done at least a bit of relaxing.

[cos]

Huh, I looked at some sorbet recipes online and tried a test batch (and am going to make another test batch tonight) and hadn't encountered any mention of seltzer. What should I know (or what's a good page to read) about seltzer and sorbets?

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Some sorbets use seltzer to keep them from freezing too solid and turning into a brick of ice. Some use a flavored alcohol, some use more sugar. It's to help with the texture.

[cos]

Ahh, I wonder if honey has a similar effect. As with my ice cream flavors in the past, I only intend to use honey to sweeten my sorbets, so all the recipes I looked at were honey sorbets. My first test batch last night came out soft, but also too sweet, so I'm going to try one with less honey.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Honey does have a similar effect.
Fruit Sorbets tend to get really hard, so using a simple syrup, other sweeteners, seltzer or alcohol keeps them from freezing too hard. Remember the frozen rock Kiwi Sorbet I made one year? Tasted great, but was so hard when it was first pulled from the freezer.

Is it a honey sorbet or another flavor with honey? I made a honey vanilla ice cream a couple times. It stayed pretty soft.

[cos]

All the ice creams I ever made were with honey, and none of them were particularly hard though only a few were noticeably soft. This year is my first time trying sorbet. Depending on how tests go, I'll likely make either one or two purely honey (very different kinds of honey!); either way, I'm going to make one honey oolong flavor based on one of the honey+tea combinations I use most often for iced tea. That one will have lemon juice too.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am looking forward to the honey sorbets! What kinds of honeys are you bring?

I will be bringing some more grade C maple syrup, though I don't think I will do the rather one-note syrup sorbet again.

[cos]

I've settled on meadowfoam honey and rhododendron honey sorbets, and mesquite honey for the oolong. Sadly I don't have enough rhododendron honey to mix a full sized batch, but it's my favorite of the sorbet flavors I tried.