{ 07 août 2005 }
alton brown is awesome
today erin sent me some articles about alton brown, the favourite chef of all 3 of us 35unger girls. when erin came to visit, she & i went to harry’s, the farmer’s market where both alton and i shop. erin was ecstatic to shop where alton shops and walk where he has walked. [not in a stalker-ish way, just in a huge fan sort of way ;)]
well, earlier this year i was lucky enough to meet alton. together harry’s & alton held an auction for spots in a cooking class, and the proceeds of this auction were going towards aid for the tsunami victims. so i couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help a good cause and meet alton brown. and it turns out he is just as nice, funny, and awesome in person. there were about 20 people in the class, and it was fabulous. and the topic? ice cream. it really couldn’t have been more perfect. here are my notes from the cooking class, along with a few alton quotations from the class as well:
“we can do a real good food show on the radio: scratch & sniff.”“ever notice that riesling smells like the back end of a mercedes?”
corrections to the 1st printing of his 2nd book, i’m just here for more food, are on his website. [example: on page 238, it should say children’s vitamin c, not children’s aspirin.] people at the publishing company changed stuff for some strange reason, even though they apparently don’t know anything about cooking.
philly style ice cream = no eggs
french style ice cream = with eggsoverrun = air in ice cream
“ice cream and bread are almost identical, except 1 doesn’t do very well in the oven.”
better ice cream:
- is smoother melting
- is not as cold in your mouth
- has smaller ice crystals & air bubbles
protein at rest looks like a slinky at rest. whipped protein looks like a stretched out slinky.
eggs add body to ice cream for better emulsification and smoothing.
ice cream is a very thick liquid, not a solid.
“all i lost was my will to live.” [about the south beach diet]
when making ice cream, beat the eggs until they lighten in colour a bit. beating the eggs adds air and helps coagulate the protein. after beating the eggs, then add the sugar.
put whole vanilla beans in sugar for flavour.
sucrose = fructose + glucose
the slower eggs heat, the higher the coagulation point.
napé = when a liquid is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon
it’s easier to separate eggs when they’re cold.
it’s best to whip eggs when they’re at room temperature.mint chip = ab’s favourite ice cream
chopped up andes mints are best. the mint centre dissolves somewhat & combines with the mixture, adding flavour. the chocolate part then becomes kind of like chocolate chips.“i like the earthy, kind of composty flavour of that.”
[about mint ice cream made with real mint]it’s good to put the ice cream mixture in the fridge for 4–12 hours to age the mixture and to marry the flavour to the mixture.
dasher = thing in the middle of ice cream maker; it adds air, and it also removes ice crystals from the sides and disperses them.
light ice cream just has more air in it than regular ice cream, so by weight, it has the same amount of fat.
“ice cream with chunks is like an archeological dig.”
salt can make chocolate and sugar taste sweeter.
it’s best to add chunks [chocolate chip cookie dough, fruit, etc.] to ice cream while chunks are frozen.
it’s good to cook the ice cream mixture after combining ingredients to kill salmonella and finish emulsifying the proteins.
when adding stuff like andes mints and reese’s peanut butter cups: add half before making ice cream in maker, then add half right before it’s done.
alton’s holy grail of ice cream~!
- 9 oz sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 3 c. half & half
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 c. heavy cream
this base works for hard & soft ice cream
“the battle of obesity in this country will be won by knowledge of how to cook.”
“cooking with your kids is more important than eating with them.”
me & the man himself in march
the most amusing part of the evening was during the book signing portion when i convinced alton to call liz & erin. unfortunately liz didn’t pick up, but now alton will be immortalized in her voicemail. when we called erin, she was really confused at 1st, but then she screamed into the phone when she realised who it was. alton said in college he could never get any girls, but now that he’s old enough to be our father, we all want him.
being taught by alton brown and tasting various ice creams that he made is an excellent way to spend a friday night.
posted at 20.09