Field Report: R&B Never Tasted So Good

Former Chicago resident, Rachel, explains her celebrity ice cream encounter:

I was getting home from a late night shift one warm night a few years back and as I'm walking, I see an ad for Edy's ice cream—buy one get one free—in the CVS window. I was immediately sold: partaking in 2 half gallons of ice cream when I get home could possibly be the best idea ever.

Fast forward to my waiting in line with a bunch of tired people, all of us ready for bed, a half gallon of moose tracks in one hand and a half gallon of vanilla bean in the other, and who walks into CVS, but R. Kelly himself. (During this time, he was going through his trial in Chicago regarding his extracurricular activities.) The body guards that surrounded him and the rest of his entourage all scattered into the various aisles as if they're on a mission. Apparently their mission was to get R. Kelly drunk, because they all start heading up to the front of the store with bottles of Jack Daniels, cases of beer, and I'm pretty sure I saw some tequila and margarita mix thrown in there as well.

R. Kelly, still standing up at the front of the store, announces "Hey y'all, I am getting #%!@ up tonight, and whatever you want, it's on me. Guys, you want condoms? You get condoms. Ladies, whatever you want, I'm buying."

All of us already in line are suddenly wondering if we should be running around, adding more to our carts, but, not sure if this is really happening. I ask the nearest bodyguard "Is he serious?" "Oh yes, ma'am, he's very serious." Some people jump out of line, but really I was perfectly happy just getting my ice cream.

In the confusion the line got readjusted, but all of a sudden, R. Kelly spots me and says "Hey, hey. Let vanilla through. Let her get her ice cream." So they let me up to the front. (I'm not sure if "vanilla" is a special term of endearment for this pale, white girl look I've been rocking for years or if he just happened to see what he was about to buy me, but I realize this might be the only chance in my life to talk to him. Wanting to thank him and let him know that under his circumstances I'd be looking to get #%!@ up as well, all I can come up with is "Thank you very much, Mr. Kelly."

"You're welcome, baby."

"You enjoy getting #%!@ up tonight."

"You know I will."

The Fifth Annual Pumpkin Challenge!

After a long scary year of an empty pumpkin shelf at the grocery store, pumpkin season has returned. I bought $20 worth yesterday, a total of 232 ounces. Why? It's time for the Pumpkin Challenge!

Every year, from September 15 through Halloween, all are invited to consume as many pumpkin foods as possible. So epicurate a cornucopia of new recipes and buy out the grocery. Or, better yet, try and beat my record. Here are the rules:

• The only beverage allowed is the milkshake.
• Food items may not be doubled. (Two slices of pumpkin cheesecake count as one item. The only way it could count for two different items is if the second item has a distinct enough difference of flavor that it warrants a different name AND the item comes from a different source than the first item.)

Why was the Pumpkin Challenge created?

Originally the short-term goal was to encourage pumpkin season to start earlier than October, since they are mostly only offered around Halloween and Thanksgiving. Happily, this year has already shown progress of pumpkin activity in early September! The long-term goal is for pumpkin products year round. If you aren't currently active in the off-season of the Pumpkin Challenge, my hope is your participation will help you branch out into new pumpkin dishes (not just pie, bread and muffins) and give you post-autumnal pumpkin pangs.

Cornbread Ice Cream

The idea of cornbread ice cream first crossed my brain at the Chicago Ice Cream Festival. Great idea, but I'll admit the product was rock hard and chalky. It tasted more like a vanilla ice cream with stones of cornbread in it. I knew the solution and how to improve the recipe.

Usually when I make a new ice cream recipe, I research online, find the common denominator among the recipes I find and build my recipe accordingly. This time I looked at the recipes online for sweet corn ice cream--reportedly a favorite in Mexico--and I disagreed with them opting to create my own. There is a turning point when the student becomes the master. I have arrived.

The sour cream base cut through the cinnamon, creating a balance that was kissed with honey. Each bite had bits of puréed corn and cornbread crumbs. I served it atop a piece of cornbread. The perfect ending to my homemade Southern meal of hot wings, mashed potatoes and lima beans.

I have made many flavors this year--fresh blueberry, Mexican chocolate, strawberry, garlic, some others I'm forgetting--but this one sticks out. It is the first recipe since doughnut ice cream that has gone become an instant favorite guaranteed to be repeated.

I am my father's son.

When I saw Ben & Jerry's was on sale for $2.50 (down from about $4.00), it seemed the perfect time to use my coupon for "$1.50 off 3 pints of Ben & Jerry's." If this wasn't good enough, after I made my purchase I received a coupon for "$2.00 off my next shopping order, courtesy of Ben & Jerry's."

3 pints of Ben & Jerry's for $4.00. My dad is quite proud of me.

Doughnut Burger

It seemed appropriate to follow my last entry about mustard ice cream with this.

The report in the Christian Science Monitor might say it best: "Admittedly, the Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger (KKC) sounds atrocious to just about everyone who hasn't tried one...About a quarter of its customers were pitching in an extra buck for the side order of chocolate-covered bacon."

If anyone tries it, please report back.


Note from 2012: Though it wasn't at a Krispy Kreme, Boren and I tried a donut burger on our well-documented 2011 road trip.

Put That On Your Dog and Eat It

It is no secret that I do not like bananas or coffee and feel their presence in ice cream to be a waste of heavy cream, but an even more awful ice cream flavor has emerged. Still, I do admire them for their imagination.

(excerpt from Chicago Tribune article, "Mustard Day relishes its favorite condiment")

"Thousands of people are expected to show up in Middleton, Wis., Aug. 7 to figuratively paint the town yellow in celebration of National Mustard Day.

"...Culver's, a Wisconsin-based quick-service restaurant chain noted for its butter burger and frozen custard, will present a mustard ice cream studded with pretzels."

Chicago Ice Cream Festival

Wearing my summery best, I took myself on a date to the Chicago Ice Cream Festival to join hundreds of people in consuming 30 different samples from 12 festival participants. The festival is only in its second year, but based on the attendance—one of the organizers mentioned that there were 800 people on the first night—the festival only shows signs of growing. Though the festival website mentioned unique culinary creations from gourmet chefs and famous scoop shops from far off commonwealths, I was not at all disappointed by the roster of almost entirely Chicago-area epicureans serving pure and simple ice cream. I imbibe in many more ice creams and desserts than those covered on this blog, but nearly all of the companies dishing out at the Festival were remarkable enough to inspire my typing fingers.

Most Imaginative Taste Sensation or The My-friends-will-never-believe-how-delicious-it-was Award: Nice Cream’s Chocolate with Sweet Basil + Vosges’ Naga (coconut curry).
Basil may seem an odd mix-in for ice cream, but Kris at Nice Cream explained it is actually a member of the mint family. While the flavor doesn’t evoke mint chocolate, caprese salad also never comes to mind. The basil somehow brought out the richness of the chocolate. As for coconut and curry, my first dessert experience with this combo was at Theo Chocolate, where the flavors are mixed into a milk chocolate; while Vosges’ description for this mentioned milk chocolate, this daring ice cream was curry yellow and without a trace of chocolate in what I could taste.

Most Intriguing or The I-need-more-of-this-in-my-life Award: MAC’s Ice Cream* + Clandestino
Both had unique offerings I would gladly stock in my freezer, but have neither wide distribution nor their own scoop shop. MAC’s list of flavors taunts me with intrigue: French Toast, Bacon, Sourdough. And Clandestino surprisingly is not exclusively an ice cream maker; they host secret dinners around town and sometimes feature ice cream as dessert. Clandestino also featured the most ambitious flavors of the festival—Sweet Cornbread, Blueberry Huitlacoche and Chocolate Chile—offering recognizable names with earthy tones, emphasizing accuracy of flavor over sugary sweetness.

Best Twists on Old Favorites: Homer's White Diamond + Nice Cream’s Peaches & Cream.
Cinnamon ice cream is always scrumptious, but usually is texturally boring. Homer’s solved that by adding white chocolate chips, which fix this problem without altering or overpowering the cinnamon flavor. As for Peaches and Cream, see below.

Best New Trend: Using a sour cream base instead of heavy whipping cream. This was done with Nice Cream’s Peaches & Cream and MAC’s Chocolate Sour Cream Sea Salt. For each, my peaked curiosity morphed into a slowly forming grin on my nodding head. With the right flavor combinations, this could be revolutionary.

Best Fruit Ice Cream: Bobtail’s Strawberry & Goat Cheese and Nice Cream’s Peaches & Cream.
Best Sorbet: Oberweis’ Mango Pomegranate.
Texture Award: Clandestino’s Chocolate Chile and St. Germain’s Peach Sorbet.
Comfort Food Award: Shawn Michelle’s Honey Cinnamon Graham Cracker.
Nationwide flavor worthy of mention: Ciao Bella’s Orange Crème Fraiche
Best Company Name: Sassy Cow, who featured a subtle Ginger Pear.
Best Logo: MAC’s Ice Cream. A flying pig wearing a chef’s hat and holding an ice cream cone. Second place goes to Clandestino’s lucha libre in a chef’s hat.
Best Service Experience: Nice Cream.
Most Reoccurring Flavor: Peach, which was featured by four different companies.

Thanks to Chris from Bobtail for telling me about this wonderful event!

*They do not appear to have a website.


Note from 2012: Inexplicably, there was only one more year of the Festival! It is missed terribly. I shall have to make a pilgrimage to the other top ice cream festivals.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

You can send Barack Obama a birthday message online. As you can probably imagine, I had some important information to pass on to the Leader of the Free World:

Happy birthday, dude. I know you're working hard out there, but take some time to eat some cake and ice cream. From what I recall, the Chocolate Chip Cookie ice cream at Thomas Sweet in Georgetown is superb.

Note from 2012: President Obama took my advice!

Garlic Ice Cream (*contains no Twilight jokes*)

Ever since I heard it existed, I’ve wanted to try making it. And then I heard it is actually a gourmet thing to serve, not just a weird fascination for those who’ve had one Chipwich too many. So I went online and printed at least 10 recipes. And recently I made the obsession a reality.

Garlic ice cream would be, thus far, my only experience with a savory ice cream (unless you count the Asian classic Red Bean), so I wanted to get it right. Most of the recipes were identical but used ice cube trays instead of an ice cream maker, which made them inferior. One featured five heads—Heads! Not cloves!—of roasted garlic. But I settled on a recipe that called for five cloves and no sugar.

I wanted to get it right, so I followed the recipe closely. But what the heck does it mean when it says “Let it thicken into a pudding-like consistency until it coats the back of a spoon” but “Don’t let it thicken so much it curdles”? Thinner lines have not been walked by man. On top of that, I wasn’t entirely sure what coating the back of the spoon meant since any liquid seems to do that on first contact with a spoon. Also, I admit wasn’t entirely sure what curdling was, both physically and chemically. Based on the scrambled egg texture when it was actually getting thick, I’m pretty sure I learned what curdling was.

I then strained the mixture, which at this point had one of the foulest odors I’ve ever encountered (short of the shrimp paste I smelled when I took a Thai cooking class or the time I witnessed a lutefisk eating contest). After straining, there remained almost two cups worth of the liquid mixture to chill overnight. The scrambled egg stuff was promptly trashed and soon after taken to the dumpster to distance myself from the stench, which still floated around the apartment for at least one sickening hour before I left for the evening. The smell made me less than sure of this culinary fascination.

Boren and his special lady friend Jamie came over to my stench-free apartment the next day with mango chili and roasted asparagus al parmigiano, nice compliments to my mashed potatoes, store-bought unsweetened apple sauce and—the centerpiece of the evening—garlic ice cream. My guests dolloped small spoonfuls of the g.i.c. onto their mashed potatoes, and, unlike their host, they did so without hesitation. Ponderous chewing nods were quick to follow and the decree that it was like chilled garlic butter without the salt.

And then we tried it on the asparagus. My goodness was that brilliant. It unlocked secret flavors most people don’t realize are contained within those tiny green stalks.

Jamie elaborates: “The garlic ice cream was much milder than I expected, more like a frozen crème fraîche infused with garlic. The garlic was so faint that it didn't hit my palate until after the cream started melting, which was actually wonderful. Even though it had no sugar, the sweetness of the cream really came through and it was best when combined with salty and pungent dishes; I enjoyed it more on the roasted asparagus than I did on the mashed potatoes. I'd love to try it again with the flavor being stronger (and maybe supplemented by another flavor - smoked paprika? Black pepper?), so I could see how it would taste with a milder base (like the mashed potatoes). But it was one of the best asparagus toppings I've ever tried.”

I was the last at the table to try the ice cream solo, with nothing to dull the horror I expected after the cooking stench. But it really wasn’t strong. Nothing I’ll be cooking at my next pot luck, but not a bad experiment.

What's in a Name?

Edy’s Slow Churned. Dreyer’s Fun Flavors. Breyer’s Overload. These varieties offer some unique options such as Twix ice cream and Girl Scout cookie ice cream. But let’s look a little closer.

If you are buying these products, often you are not buying ice cream. What are you buying? “Frozen dairy dessert.” Sometimes "light ice cream" or "iced milk product." And the number one ingredient? Usually little Miss Muffett’s favorite milk by-product, whey.

I work to keep this blog positive, promoting every individual’s pursuit of ice cream. But it concerns me when the consumer is being sold a lower quality product in a concealed way, just as the major American chocolate companies have been doing for years much in the same way—by using filler. Edy’s/Dreyer’s started making their half gallon containers smaller a while ago to keep prices down for consumer, but now they’re giving the consumer a lower quality product. Breyer’s even has the audacity to call their product ice cream on their website next to an image of a product that plainly states the product is frozen dairy dessert on the label. I began noticing this about a year ago, but admittedly it could very well have been going on for years without me realizing it. This discovery has answered my questions about why some products have tasted less creamy, instead seeming more pudding-esque in texture or like the marshmallow swirls you find in Phish Food ice cream.

I try not to be an ice cream snob and consume all brands, not just the high end stuff. But now I see that my internalized complaints about the half gallon products of Edy’s/Dreyer’s and Breyer’s are born of the fact that they weren’t inferior ice cream because they weren’t ice cream at all! (Each of the companies do still carry at least one line of pure, undiluted ice cream, but the number of flavors offered in those lines are decreasing, especially in chocolate-based ice creams.)

In short, if you don’t see the word ice cream in the logo on a half-gallon flavor, chances are it ain’t ice cream. It’s worth the financial investment to go with a local dairy’s product, which actually is.

UPDATE: (excerpt the New York Times article "How Much For Artisianal Ice Cream?")
"On the subject of the more inexpensive ingredients that go into, say, a $1.50 ice cream sandwich, Mr. Leeson is blunt. “Commercial ice cream is the dumping ground of the dairy industry,” he said. The residue at the bottom of the vats after the milk and cream are drained off, he said, is dried and then reconstituted into the components of cheap ice cream: milk fat, whey and dry milk powder. Like all the artisans interviewed, Mr. Leeson said that in the supermarket freezer case, it is virtually impossible for small brands to compete with Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s, both of which are backed by the marketing power and distribution systems of global food giants (Nestlé and Unilever, respectively)."

Kindness Project Delivers 100 Cakes to the Community

Cool story. Food has an incredible power to bring people together.

On a similar note, I actually made a cake that I gave away for free at the merch table at my most recent concert. It was a huge hit and I plan on making it a regular thing.

Wild Party Variety Hour

This Saturday, June 26, I will perform "Something Delicious This Way Comes" AKA Post #100. Clownish weirdness at its best, plus a singalong!

Wild Party Variety Hour
Prop Theatre
3502-04 N. Elston
Chicago

Note from 2012: I have since performed "Something Delicious This Way Comes" on numerous occasions and performed different pieces at Wild Party Variety Hour a few more times.