Ice Cream Anyone?

Here's what's on my mind today. Homemade ice cream. We always make lots of it during the summertime. I haven't even gotten my ice cream maker out so far this summer. But I'm going to this weekend.

This is the kind of ice cream maker my mom and dad used when they were kids. My dad tells the story of he, his brother and sisters all taking turns turning the ice cream maker. He remembers it being fun.

My dad, who as I've told y'all before, is a garage sale guru. He found an old ice cream maker like this one and brought it home.
So last summer at one of our Sunday night suppers, he brought it out to use to make homemade ice cream. At first all the kids wanted to turn the crank. It seemed like fun at first. Didn't take long though and they were tired of it and we were having to force each other to turn it. The harder the ice cream got, obviously, the harder it was to turn the crank. Not quite as much fun as my dad made it out to be.

Some people go the really swanky route and get a fancy ice cream maker like this one. I'm sure it makes great ice cream and maybe if I had one, I'd never want anything else. I think they churn the liquid into creamy ice cream in a fraction of the time as other ice cream makers do.

This is the kind I have. I actually have two. Or three. One of them makes six quarts. This is kinda in between hand churning and the fancy one. I like it. I would like one of the wooden ones that has the electric motor. Just for nostalgic reasons. My dad says that the secret to getting a good freeze on the ice cream is to use lots of ice cream salt.
Do any of you ever make homemade ice cream? I'd love to hear some new recipes. Jeff and I watched Alton Brown's Good Eats the other night and he was making homemade ice cream. He had some amazing recipes for all kinds of ice cream. The one he made using peaches sounds OMGosh good. The only problem I see with his recipes is that after you've made the ice cream, you have to freeze it in the freezer for at least an hour. My family is too eager to wait that hour.

Here are a couple of my favorite recipes for chocolate and vanilla ice cream. The vanilla is from my mama, so trust me, it's good. Vanilla is my favorite. The chocolate is from a little ol' church cookbook that I got from Suz. And honey, it's so good too.

HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM
1/2 gallon WHOLE milk
1 can evaporated milk
dash of salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix and pour into 1 gallon ice cream freezer can. I always give mine a little sample before I freeze it just to make sure. I like vanilla and sometimes add a little more. Freeze till done.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
3 1/3 cups sugar
5 heaping Tablespoons cocoa (not a measuring tablespoon, but a tablespoon from your silverware drawer)
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 can evaporated milk
WHOLE MILK

Now, it's been my experience with this recipe that the sugar will not dissolve in the cold milk. Not matter what, it just won't dissolve. So. . . what I do is heat the sugar, the cocoa, vanilla and evaporated milk and some whole milk in a saucepan till the sugar is dissolved and the cocoa is blended well. Pour it into the ice cream maker and finish filling it with whole milk. Give it a good stir. Then freeze in ice cream maker till done.

I always taste mine before I actually freeze it just to make sure it doesn't need any tweaking with the sugar. It may need a little more depending on the brand of cocoa that you use. This recipe is one that needs to actually sit in the ice cream maker for a little bit after it's done. The texture gets better after it sits a little while. It's sooooo good.

The last one I have is Alton Brown's Burned Peach Ice Cream. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe this weekend I'll have time.

BURNED PEACH ICE CREAM (courtesy of Alton Brown)

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peach preserves (not jelly)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Pinch salt
4 medium peaches, halved, seeded and grilled or broiled until brown.

Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp), except peaches, in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Attach a frying or candy thermometer to inside of pan. (If you don't have a thermometer, bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. As soon as you see a bubble on the surface, remove it from heat. ) Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees. Remove from heat and strain into a lidded container. Cool mixture, then refrigerate mixture overnight to mellow flavors and texture.

Freeze mixture in ice cream freezer. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine. Meanwhile chop peaches roughly. Once the ice cream has frozen to soft serve consistency, add the peaches and continue turning to incorporate. Spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes about a quart and a half.

Alton Brown says that the secret to good homemade ice cream is to mix your ingredients the day before you plan to churn it. That way all the flavors mellow together. Sounds good to me.

Now, what I want to know is what kind of ice cream maker do you use and what's your favorite ice cream recipe? With July 4th around the corner, we all need some good homemade ice cream, so share your ideas with me.

Now I've got to go down in the basement and get my ice cream maker and get it cleaned up and ready to go. Yummy!

Till tomorrow.