Ice Cream

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

There are a few things I would humbly suggest about the ice cream making process:

1) Use a different labeling mechanism. The clipped on index cards were too prone to falling off. It's also not clear to me that some of the containers were ever labeled in the first place. It's a little more expensive, but Sharpie on colored gaff tape would be a lot more robust. [See addendum.]

2) Have a full ingredient list. One idea I had for this is to use a rolodex. When the ice cream is mixed, it gets numbered, and a rolodex cards gets filled out with the ingredient list. [See addendum.] People can flip through this at their leisure. When the ice cream is served, the card is pulled out and affixed to it at the serving table (or perhaps affixed to the table). Anything without a number doesn't get frozen.

3) What ever happened to the ethereals? Have they been tried with LN2? ISTR they were popular back in the day.

4) Pack some dry ice in the freezer(s) to get things cold. This will require some careful planning so the ice cream isn't too hard at serving time, but it should be workable.

I'm willing to implement any or all or the above.


Addendum:

1) There have been various suggestions of how to affix labels better. Phil's idea (the billboard covering material), in particular, is worth following up on.

2) After some discussion, I think I'm leaning toward putting the ingredient lists in a binder instead. The pages can be taken out and pasted to the tables before serving begins. Again, anything without a number/list doesn't get frozen or served.

3) If someone sends me the recipe(s), I'll try out ethereals and consider reviving them next year.

Also, a point I mentioned in a comment: I suggest doing away with the large buckets, and instead splitting the popular flavors and serving them at multiple tables. I think this would reduce congestion at least a little.

Comments

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

How about thinking outside the box, or "outside the bucket" as related to Baitcon. Use ziplok style freezer bags to store the ice cream instead of buckets.

To fill, you freeze like normal, then put a bag inside a bucket, and fill it (using the bucket for support). When filled, zip closed, write on the bag, and use a second bag if the serving is too much for one bag. Or write on the bag ahead of time.

It doesn't matter if they get all gummed up, the ice cream will be gone anyhow. Just toss them: no huge washing of buckets after servings. When serving, put them in a bowl or large tray for support.

Yes, they'll break. but it's not like they'll be storing ice cream for months, or even weeks. You just need to store it overnight.

If the ice cream inside is too hard, you can split the bag down the side and scoop from the center (put that bag in a large pan to keep the mess down). If the ice cream is too soft, either freeze it more or cut one corner and squeeeeze it out. leftovers can be placed into another bag for refreezing for the next serving, or then put into a smaller sized bucket like container for the next batch.

Testing will have to be done to see if the plastic is strong enough to withstand the freezing process, obviously. But with the bags you wouldn't have the "frozen on the outside, soft inside" problem, you can feel the frozenness of the ice cream before you put it out so it gets pre-checked before serving to see if it's usable.

And it's simple to write on the outside of the bags with a magic marker.