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.

Bobtail Ice Cream

There are many reasons to love Bobtail ice cream. First of all, according to their website, “Bobtail is the only Chicago company that makes truly homemade, hard-pack ice cream.” They also have creative local-inspired flavors, like the addictive Cubby Crunch (vanilla ice cream, sprinkles, Oreo®, chocolate chips, toffee). And they stick to natural ingredients whenever possible, which is why the once blue-dyed Cubby Crunch is no longer artificially colored to match its namesake team. But even more excitement has been churning at Bobtail since January of this year.

At an Oracle Theatre event, I was introduced to Chris Liebelt, Bobtail’s General Operations Manager. In addition to generously bestowing me with some freebie coupons, he let me know that every week of 2010 will feature a customer-suggested flavor. Understandably, this got both my imagination and taste buds excited. It has been a successful tactic for generating business: I have stopped by Bobtail every time I’m been even remotely nearby so I can check out the latest!

The most popular ways of coming up with new flavors seem to be the following: (1) imagining ingredients that one rarely sees in ice cream and mixing them in or (2) taking flavor combinations featured in other treats and adapting them into ice cream form. But Bobtail customers have found inspiration from more diverse sources: current events (Blago’s Blues, blueberry ice cream with macadamia nuts), video games (1-UP, lime ice cream with coconut, inspired by the green mushroom in Mario Bros.) and children’s programming (Bobtail the Builder, chocolate ice cream with chocolate-covered peanuts, almonds, Oreo® and raisins! RAISINS!). Gourmet cooking was the inspiration for Strawberry and Goat Cheese ice cream; already a legend, the flavor was the talk of the town for weeks. (Imagine strawberry cheesecake ice cream, only more subtle and delicate.) Also worthy of mention is the breakfast-inspired Lemon Poppy Seed ice cream. Mmm hmm. These flavors made my simple suggestion of Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting seem old hat.

I asked Chris some questions about behind the scenes at Bobtail:

What’s the usual process for coming up with new flavors at Bobtail?

The team at Bobtail is always inventing flavors and have always picked 2 new ones each month to sell. Every year we hold an ice cream contest where cone shaped entry forms can be colored with the flavor creation. These entries cover all the walls in the store. So we pick the most creative and yummy sounding ones straight from our stores walls.

What is the likelihood any of these customer-suggested flavors will work their way into Bobtail’s regular rotation? What flavor would you say has been the most successful? Have you had a favorite?

One of our long standing flavors, Daley Addiction (vanilla with hand stirred butter fudge) came from a flavor contest and has become one of our most popular flavors. I once mentioned it to Mayor Daley, but he didn't seem too impressed. This year my favorite has to be the Goats Cheese Strawberry. People would ask to taste it with hesitation in their voices, but then their eyes would light up and say "It tastes just like strawberry cheesecake!"

Where are your favorite places to get ice cream when you aren’t in Chicago?

Traders Point Creamery in Indiana makes a pretty awesome organic ice cream.[Editor's note: They are located just outside Indianapolis in Zionsville.]

World-wide, what are some of the crazier flavors of ice cream you have tasted, good and bad?

I had basil ice cream a few weeks back which was too overpowering but probably would work well as a side for another dessert. My favorite flavor is Banoffee (banana and toffee).

How successful has the experiment of a new customer-suggested flavor each week been? Any chance that Bobtail will continue with a regularly rotating customer-suggested flavors next year?

Our customers are the most important thing to us, and they love it. I can see this running indefinitely.

New Flavors: Redemption in the Grocery Aisle

My flavor reviews of the Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s Classes of 2010 included touches of sadness over two elusive flavors. But the crying has ended for the flavors have been found!

Häagen-Dazs Midnight Cookies and Cream – Hands down the best chocolate ice cream since 2008’s Amazon Valley Dark Chocolate (part of the seemingly defunct Häagen-Dazs Reserve Series ). Dark chocolate ice cream with chewy chocolate cookies, plus a chocolate swirl. Drowning in this would be a pretty good way to go.

Ben & Jerry's Maple Blondie – This flavor embraces two things that Vermont is proud of (in addition to Ben & Jerry's): maple syrup and gold medal snowboarder Hannah Teter, to whom the flavor is dedicated. A good flavor, but like Dulce Delish is seriously heavy. The flavor reminds me of Häagen-Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding, especially the bites with blondie in it.

Thank you, ice cream gods, for smiling on me once more.

Stanley Cup Sundae

The Blackhawks have done it. And now each of the players will have a day with the coveted cup.

The Stanley Cup has been victim to much debauchery, but others have used it to spread peace, love and ice cream. As the article says, "What better way to celebrate one of the sweetest moments of your life than with a giant ice cream sundae?"