A couple weeks ago I departed on a journey… an entirely new phase of life one might say. It started with a growing distaste for modern food manufacturing techniques and an expensive premium ice cream habit, and culminated in the arrival of a Cuisinart ICE-50BCC Ice Cream Maker. I did a lot of research before purchasing it, and despite being considered a “budget” ice cream maker, it gets great ratings from ice cream people (a group which is, perhaps, even more zealous than coffee people, or Apple people).
So here’s my quick review: it’s about as quiet as a baby seal being clubbed to death. No joke, it makes a loud screaming noise when the churning gets tough. Eerie. It takes up a lot of counter space, and it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing device, nor is it the most well made. The freezing unit looks pretty solid, but the motor arm, and mixing paddle are made from plastic. That said the only other device I’d consider purchasing, the Lello Musso Lussino Ice Cream Maker 4080, costs significantly more than the Cuisinart. When this one burns out I’ll probably replace it with the Lello though.
Having said all that, I would, without hesitation, recommend the 50BCC to anyone. There’s a markedly clear division in my life: there’s my life as it was prior to owning an ice cream maker, and there’s my life as it is now. It’s hard to describe what it’s like, but the best I can come up with is this: it’s like having a garden, only instead of the garden being made of dirt it’s a metal cube, and instead of growing plants, the end result is a sweet, creamy, cold, nectar of the gods, set to the tune of whatever your brain and tastebuds can come up with. Honestly now I look at every ingredient and wonder about its suitability for inclusion into an ice cream. Pickles: considered it, rejected it. Cayenne pepper: considered it, have a plan for it. Peas: considered it, unsure about it.
And similar to having a garden, with each mouthful of god nectar you can smile in the smug satisfaction of being able to stick some xantham gum up the ass of some douchebag corporate foodie in one of the many tiny pointless towns called Exploitedville, USA. Go ahead, club a baby seal. Not only will you not hear it because your 50BCC will be screaming like a banshee, but you’ll have plenty of good food karma to spare. I wonder: baby seal ice cream? Wrong, just wrong.
Have you ever taken a close look at what happens when grocery store ice cream melts? Have you ever wondered why ice cream from the store is kind of “fluffy?” Let me assure you that the weird liquid separation you see when it melts, and the fluffy texture are in no way natural. Modern ice cream barely qualifies as ice cream at all. In fact, most commercial ice creams are solidified through the use of various viscous compounds. The most common is Xantham gum, which if produced in North America, is almost certainly derived from corn. Even “all natural” ice creams will often include guar gum, or “natural tara gum”. Yes tara gum is made from a plant, but no it’s not natural. It’s also used for killing insects and in creating leather for furniture. So when buying ice cream it’s your choice: corn or insect free leather. Mmmm… tasty couch!
The only exception I’ve been able to find is good ‘ol Häagen-Dazs. The downfall to the Dazs, as I can attest to, is it comes in small packages and is quite expensive. Not only that but the flavor selection is a bit limited.
And, now that I have an ice cream maker, I can say that Dazs isn’t even that good. Even some of my “failed” creations are leaps and bounds ahead of Dasz in terms of both texture, and flavor. Did you know that real French Vanilla ice cream is made with custard? I do now, because I’ve made it, and although it’s quite a bit different than the so called “French Vanilla” you can buy in the store, it’s also much, much, better. Seriously they put some egg ingredients in there, along with some yellow colouring, and call it French Vanilla.
I should also give a warning: I used to pretend this blog was mostly devoted to technology and computer science related topics, but likely for the next while it will be devoted mostly to ice cream recipes 
.
On that note I’ll end with a killer recipe I came up with today. I previously made a Peanut Butter and Banana ice cream, but today I made two batches, one of peanut butter, and another of banana. They both turned out awesome, but the PB was the star for me. Of course they compliment each other well. But anyway, here’s the Peanut Butter:
Ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 cup Peanut Butter to taste (choose your favorite kind, I used a creamy variety because I like creamy ice cream)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup table cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup organic granulated sugar
Directions:
Put the sugar, peanut butter, and milk in a sauce pan and slowly heat the mixture until the peanut butter is dissolved. Transfer it to a mixing bowl and whisk it until the sugar is dissolved (if it isn’t already), put it in the freezer and wait for it to be cold again. Mix in the creams, and you’re good to go!
The hardest part is getting the PB ratio correct. The taste changes a bit during the freezing process, it gets a little less potent, so keep that in mind. I started with ~1/4 cup but when I added in the creams I realized it wasn’t going to have the punch I wanted, so I added in another few spoon fulls. I was too lazy to reheat the mixture, so the newly added PB gave the ice cream some interesting flaky bits which I actually kind of like. I might make it like that on purpose again next time.
