What I’m doing here

As I mentioned in my first ever post, I’m an ice cream tinkerer. I got an ice cream machine in the same way I get most of my kitchen equipment: my mum bought it and then never used it, and eventually my dad clearing things out defeated her (and my - it must be genetic!) tendency towards hoarding, and it was given to me. I really enjoyed making ice cream, but ended up bored down the rabbit hole of stabilisers and skimmed milk powder. I realised one day, why am I trying to make Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? I could go and buy that.

So now, to paraphrase Wonka (love that film, I saw it four times with various people, it’s the softest thing I’ve ever seen), I make ice cream like no other, because if it were I wouldn’t bother. I went back to recipes from before additives and flavour essences, and eventually found what I call the Gunter’s confectioners: Frederick Nutt, William Jarrin, William Jeanes. Over a span of about 80 years in the Georgian and Victorian eras, they all worked at a London tea shop called Gunter’s (and formerly called The Pot and Pineapple) and they all published books detailing their recipes: The Complete Confectioner, The Italian Confectioner and The Modern Confectioner (also known as Gunter’s Modern Confectioner.)

I bring a bit of 21st century knowledge, equipment and tastes to their recipes (because if you think we like fat and sugar in our diets now, just you wait…) but keep to the principles of simple flavours made with fresh ingredients, and without the texture ingredients often used today (not saying they’re bad, just unnecessary in home ice cream, in my opinion.) I also bring some fun - or at least what I call fun, other people probably call it maths - to it, along with various experiments in ice cream. I’m doing the 52 Weeks of Ice Cream challenge, but I’ve also got plans for exploring cat safe ice cream, old fashioned churning techniques, modern vs historic comparisons, and a lot more.

I’m newly armed with a compressor ice cream machine, so can make batch after batch now. I should probably invest in a bigger freezer too…

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