The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the brand,
and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd buy it. It's
the automatic type, where a motor turns the mixture over the
freezing element.

Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

I searched around Google, and found out several people that
had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
any answers as to what the fix was.

Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used
2 cups of half&half
1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of sugar and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
pinch of salt
vanilla extract

Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved the
preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge overnight.

The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in the freezer,
upside down as per instructions, since late friday.

Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's, Philips brand,
and design was very similar to this one. So I pretty much knew
what to expect, kind of soft soft serve type ice cream. But I churned
for over 45 minutes, but the ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still definitely
liquid.

What could I have done differently? Couple of things I thought.

1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer longer, or
maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe the freezer isn't cold
enough. After churning, it wasn't warm by all means, and when
washing it, water froze on it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side; I'm not
sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I made a mistake in
the amount of sugar, and that's why it isn't freezing. It's not
inedibly sweet, so it could be that it's right, but just a bit
too sweet for my taste.

3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers the
freezing point even more.

4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day, and the
kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove or anything.

Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or should I
have just kept going on, maybe even past the hour mark?

But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the problems
are somewhere else?

--
Mikko Peltoniemi
Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at large.
http://editor.is.dreaming.org

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 16:46:22 -0400, Mikko Peltoniemi
wrote:

The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the brand,
and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd buy it. It's
the automatic type, where a motor turns the mixture over the
freezing element.

Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

I searched around Google, and found out several people that
had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
any answers as to what the fix was.

Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used
2 cups of half&half
1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of sugar and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
pinch of salt
vanilla extract

Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved the
preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge overnight.

The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in the freezer,
upside down as per instructions, since late friday.

Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's, Philips brand,
and design was very similar to this one. So I pretty much knew
what to expect, kind of soft soft serve type ice cream. But I churned
for over 45 minutes, but the ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still definitely
liquid.

What could I have done differently? Couple of things I thought.

1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer longer, or
maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe the freezer isn't cold
enough. After churning, it wasn't warm by all means, and when
washing it, water froze on it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side; I'm not
sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I made a mistake in
the amount of sugar, and that's why it isn't freezing. It's not
inedibly sweet, so it could be that it's right, but just a bit
too sweet for my taste.

3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers the
freezing point even more.

4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day, and the
kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove or anything.

Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or should I
have just kept going on, maybe even past the hour mark?

But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the problems
are somewhere else?

My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough- either not
long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough (do you have a freezer
thermometer?).

My ice cream recipes run about 1/3 c sugar per cup liquid, and yours
seems to conform to that.

Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't understand why
they'd tell you to freeze it upside down. You'd think you'd want most
of the freezing stuff to be on the bottom rather than on the edge.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Curly Sue wrote:

My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough- either not
long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough (do you have a freezer
thermometer?).

No, but I think I'll be getting one, along with an oven thermometer,
which has been on my list for a while. But since the amount of sugar
seemed OK, I'll probably have to freeze the element longer, or make
sure the freezer is cold enough.

Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't understand why
they'd tell you to freeze it upside down. You'd think you'd want most
of the freezing stuff to be on the bottom rather than on the edge.

No, it's shaped like a disc. It goes on the bottom, covering the whole
bottom of the machine. And given its shape, upside down seems like the
best way to freeze it.

--
Mikko Peltoniemi
Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at large.
http://editor.is.dreaming.org

In article , says...
Curly Sue wrote:

My guess is that the freezing element wasn't frozen enough- either not
long enough or your freezer isn't cold enough (do you have a freezer
thermometer?).

No, but I think I'll be getting one, along with an oven thermometer,
which has been on my list for a while. But since the amount of sugar
seemed OK, I'll probably have to freeze the element longer, or make
sure the freezer is cold enough.

Is your freezing element a cylinder? If so, I don't understand why
they'd tell you to freeze it upside down. You'd think you'd want most
of the freezing stuff to be on the bottom rather than on the edge.

No, it's shaped like a disc. It goes on the bottom, covering the whole
bottom of the machine. And given its shape, upside down seems like the
best way to freeze it.


Bear in mind that most ice-cream makers don't really "freeze" ice cream.
Most of the ones I'm familiar with tell you that after processing, you
scoop the ice cream out into containers and freeze for at least two hours
to firm up. If it's not similar to a soft ice cream when it comes out,
it could be that indeed your freezer is not cold enough. Twenty-four
hours in the freezer should be enough for most cylinders to freeze.
--
Donna
A pessimist believes all women are bad. An optimist hopes they are.

Mikko Peltoniemi wrote in message ...
The other day I bought an ice-cream maker. Rival was the brand,
and since the price wasn't too bad, I thought I'd buy it. It's
the automatic type, where a motor turns the mixture over the
freezing element.

Today I tried it out, but the results were disappointing.

I searched around Google, and found out several people that
had had the same trouble before, but I couldn't really find
any answers as to what the fix was.

Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used
2 cups of half&half
1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of sugar and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
pinch of salt
vanilla extract

Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, and dissolved the
preserves, and then let it cool down in fridge overnight.

The freezing element of the ice-cream maker had been in the freezer,
upside down as per instructions, since late friday.

Back home we had an ice cream maker in the early 90's, Philips brand,
and design was very similar to this one. So I pretty much knew
what to expect, kind of soft soft serve type ice cream. But I churned
for over 45 minutes, but the ice cream wouldn't get past liquid state.

Sure it was cold, and it had thickened, but it was still definitely
liquid.

What could I have done differently? Couple of things I thought.

1. The freezing element should've been in the freezer longer, or
maybe in all the way to the bottom. Or maybe the freezer isn't cold
enough. After churning, it wasn't warm by all means, and when
washing it, water froze on it, and it wasn't slushing inside.

2. The ice-cream mixture is a little bit on the sweet side; I'm not
sure how sweet Alton's recipe is, but maybe I made a mistake in
the amount of sugar, and that's why it isn't freezing. It's not
inedibly sweet, so it could be that it's right, but just a bit
too sweet for my taste.

3. Maybe the mixture was too fatty, which in turn lowers the
freezing point even more.

4. The temperature in the kitchen; sure it was a warm day, and the
kitchen is warm, but I wasn't using the stove or anything.

Or maybe indeed it was all these things combined... Or should I
have just kept going on, maybe even past the hour mark?

But I guess the machine in itself is OK, and all the problems
are somewhere else?




Does it sound like there is broken glass inside it ( the cannister)?
Did you add the preserves before or after the ice cream had gone into
the mixer? What was in the peach preserves? Some types of
preservatives in canning create an alcohol type reaction which
prevents the ice cream from freezing properly. You usually have to
add them last after the ice cream has frozen, like with nuts and other
food items. I think your recipe needs more whipping cream, too. If you
have your heart set on that recipe go for it but here is one I usually
use, it has never failed me and I have a rinky-dink bargain machine.
It takes some time but the ice cream is soooo good.

This is a Good Housekeeping recipe for pastry cream filling gone wrong
then turned right. It didn't set right because I didn't whip the
whipping cream enough and I thought it would make a great ice cream.
My family loved it. It's pretty big though. I have 2 cannisters and
use them both for it.


2 1/4 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy or whipping cream





1. In 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 cups milk to boiling over high heat.
Meanwhile, in large bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg yolks, sugar, and
remaining 1/4 cup milk until smooth; whisk in cornstarch and flour
until combined. Gradually whisk hot milk into egg-yolk mixture.

2. Return mixture to saucepan, cook over medium-high heat until
mixture thickens and boils, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low
and cook 2 minutes, whisking. Really watch this part or you can burn
the mixture on the bottom and you cannot save it. It'll taste like
ashes no matter what you do.

3. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla and salt. Pour pastry
cream into pie plate or shallow dish. Press plastic wrap onto surface
of pastry cream to keep skin from forming as it cools. Refrigerate 2
hours or until cold, or overnight.

4. When ready to use, with mixer at medium speed, beat whipping cream
just until peaks form. With wire whisk, beat pastry cream custard to
loosen. Whisk half of whipped cream into pastry cream custard, then
with rubber spatula, fold in remaining whipped cream.

Pour this into your ice cream maker. When the ice cream has mostly
frozen, THEN add your peach preserves or whatever you would like. I
would just buy a plain ol' can of store bought peaches and puree them
a little then dump them right in.


Hope I helped even a little bit, good luck and enjoy whatever you
make!

-Bridgett-

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 16:46:22 -0400, Mikko Peltoniemi
wrote:

Here's how I did it; as per Alton Brown's recipe I used
2 cups of half&half
1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of sugar and peach preserves combined (about 3 tbsps of latter)
pinch of salt
vanilla extract

Now I had brought this over a boil yesterday, ...

Didn't AB say *not* to boil the mixture, but to bring it to 170F?
(Another thermometer for your list!)

He also said not to use *heavy* whipping cream (Brit 'double cream'),
but I don't think the problem with that would be non-freezing.

Seems to me the problem is most likely in the freezing element not
being cold enough.