Chocolate ice-cream

Chocolate ice-cream 

The truth is I have always had this particular obsession inside of me where I have the compulsory need to make things from scratch and while some things cannot be made at home some others with a bit of research or rather extensive reading will prove to you how you can give a run to those big companies for their money. It was way back in 2008 when I tried my first homemade ice-cream. Needless to say as a 19 year old I searched for recipes and found that most of them required an ice-cream maker and then searched for recipes for ice-creams without an ice-cream maker , made ice-cream which was not bad but the problem of ice-crystals almost defeated me even with hourly churning for 6 hours and then freezing it. Quite frankly I had decided that making ice-cream at home isn't worth the trouble without an ice-cream maker but then this was before I became Mr.Blanc's fan. A few episodes on BBC and I realized this man is a real magician of the kitchen. He effortlessly showed a recipe for a frozen dessert which is basically what English speaking people would call an ice-cream and low and  behold there was no ice-cream maker involved. I was overjoyed and what followed was a immensely successful batch of ice-cream but more importantly I decided to read up as much as possible about this one dessert which most people cannot stop loving.

I was surprised to know that ice-creams in Europe in fact used raw egg yolks or even whole eggs for that decadent creamy silky texture and many a recipe doesn't even require a machine because there are other tricks. For instance Raymond's recipe uses a fruity wine or some other alcohol to prevent ice-crystals. After many a batch of successful ice-creams which included flavours such as vanilla, Blanc's coffee flavoured parfait. Parfait is the French word for a dish which is perfect and usually frozen and indeed his recipe is perfect but then again once you get the gist of a dish, that is you understand its characteristics and truly understand it you have already entered into a magnificent relationship with the dish and you can whip up a successful version of your own.

While I have usually stuck to coffee flavoured ice-creams or glace or parfait if you would like to call it and have followed Blanc's recipe changing the flavours between vanilla and coffee but this was the first time I made my very own glace or ice-cream and  it sure was creamy and delicious and here is why. My recipe does not use alcohol but the secrets in the butter,well not dairy butter but cocoa butter. All that fatty goodness makes it decadently silky smooth and creamy and then there are the yolks working magic but I have made this without eggs as well and while I wouldn't suggest leaving out the yolks for people who eat eggs for those who do not there is the other option as well  .

Makes about 6 large scoops of ice-cream

What you need :-

500ml double dairy cream (Non dairy will not work)
5 egg yolks /If you do not eat eggs substitute it with 2/3rd cup homemade condensed milk made from 500ml of full fat milk
130gm of dark chocolate
7 to 8 heaped tbsp cocoa powder . Now here is the deal, I like my chocolate to be bitter , I mean normally I like mine 85% dark so I suggest you adjust the cocoa powder and I will show you how
3 heaped tbsp icing sugar

Start by chilling the cream in a big bowl and whipping it and then using a second large bowl to melt the chocolate on a double boiler and take off the heat and add the yolks or if you are using the condensed milk use that and whip very hard. Don't let the eggs scramble so keep whipping and when you have a glossy texture slowly start adding the sugar and cocoa powder and a bit of cream to make a smooth texture when mixing. Here I suggest adding the sugar and cocoa powder bit by bit and tasting it so that you know when to stop. Now simply fold in the whipped cream to make a smooth mixture and then freeze in an air-tight container. The trick to not getting any ice-crystal is to serve it as soon as it freezes which can take somewhere between 3 hours to 5 hours.

Here are a few  very useful tips :-

1. We often find the ice-cram to be too hard and it stubbornly refuses to come out as a nice round scoop. Here is what you do. Simply warm water and plunge your ice-cream scooper in it and then try creating a smooth ball, You will be amazed , at least I was.
2. Remember that serving the ice-cream as soon as it freezes over gives you ice-crystal free smooth ice-cream.