Slightly off topic; Pork Brain Ice Cream

[fixx.livejournal.com]

I say slightly because Baitcon came to mind, but I was simply wrong, and because this story will probably be appreciated here. The other day I was browsing the online personal ads for my local DC area when one of the interests of a particular lass was "liquid nitrogen ice cream". Being a geek chick she struck me as someone who mighta shoulda been at baitcon but I did not remember seeing her, but then I'm not really that good with faces, so I inquired.( Read more... )

Circus Peanut Sorbet

[wotw]

Naiad and I just made another batch of circus peanut sorbet, and it
still works, so I'm prepared to share the recipe. I might add that
while I will take a certain amount of credit for the grand vision
that anything can be improved by the addition of circus peanuts, it
was Marc Drexler who transformed this vision into reality. He asked
me to send him the recipe but I don't have his email address; if you
see him, do feel free to pass this on.

Now then:

1) Chop 45 circus peanuts finely.

2) Add one cup of water.

3) Mash with a potato masher. A lot. For a long time. Have a
friend around to keep you company.

4) Store glop in refrigerator for 24 hours to let remaining
chunks soften.

5) Put glop through blender on a high setting.

6) Add two cups seltzer and about three teaspoons lemon juice.

7) Freeze.

I might also add that this recipe (like many others) seems to
work far better with liquid nitrogen. We tried it in an ice
cream maker, and after 45 minutes it was still 100% liquid. It
took a good eight hours in the freezer, with occasional stirring,
to reach the consistency of sorbet, and it was still clearly
inferior to the rich creamy texture we achieved at Baitcon.

I presume that the failure to freeze in the ice cream maker is
related to the fact that circus peanuts are approximately
84,000% sugar, but perhaps someone more knowledgeabe will
have greater insight.