Frozen happiness!

[Delta! 987]

Pickled ginger frozen yoghurt is something I made very long ago, and I posted the recipe on here, I think it is still on the first page. So far everyone except the head chef likes it ( he says I should've warned him, I have this habit of shoving a spoon full of what-ever-frozen-delight in your mouth with almost no warning...). I find it to be an amazing palate refresher, and today I served it to guests and the gentleman sent compliments. Our FO manager, Imike was sceptical and said she doesn't like ginger, but she likes the frozen yoghurt, because it isn't overpowering.

 

The headchef is the oldest in the kitchen, but not old. I think 42... Might be a year over or under in my guessing. I'm 26... And we sometimes joke around with him saying that he looks older or acts older, or should old men like him be eating such foods...? Just to laugh a bit. But he does have a lot of experience in the food industry.

 

Delta!

Edited October 29, 2014 by Delta!

[gogoblender 3,070]

I miss the energy and dynamics of food prep. Yes, stressful, yes hair pulling out moments, but if you're born to create and share food, every second is joyous.

There's some new frozen yoghurt places here in montreal, one of them, YEH, has great flavors, but most of it is so sweet, can only have a smidgeon

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/success-stories/twin-entrepreneurs-take-on-frozen-yogurt-after-conquering-clothing/article14141514/?page=all

 

 

gogo

[Delta! 987]

I always try to make my ice creams, sorbets and frozen yoghurts less sweet in taste, and more flavourful. Therefore I will use less sugar, and try to substitute it with honey, glucose(doesn't taste sweet, but has the sugar effect on the texture, keeping it soft) or alcohol, preferably flavoured.

 

If I make a flavour like fudge or honeycomb(already containing lots of sugar, then I will leave out all the sugar and melt the flavour into the cream.

 

Delta!

[Delta! 987]

Some more flavours of sorbets and frozen yoghurt that I made.

 

White chocolate, grappa, coconut and almond sorbet. The chef at La Residence phoned me last weekend and said he bought a bottle of dark chocolate grappa and a bottle of white chocolate grappa, when I go help out again I must make an ice cream or dessert with it... Or drink it(well It sounded good, but I don't want to be banned from the property) so I made a sorbet with it. Used 500g Valrhona Ivoire chocolate, 500ml white chocolate grappa(the whole bottle, 4cans of coconut milk, and 200g of toasted flaked almonds. It came out very soft and a bit on the sweet side, but quite delicious.

Cherry and plum frozen yoghurt, had a beautiful soft red/pink colour.

Roasted almond and Disaronno ice cream.

 

Delta!

Edited December 12, 2014 by Delta!

[gogoblender 3,070]

Some more flavours of sorbets and frozen yoghurt that I made.

 

White chocolate, grappa, coconut and almond sorbet. The chef at La Residence phoned me last weekend and said he bought a bottle of dark chocolate grappa and a bottle of white chocolate grappa, when I go help out again I must make an ice cream or dessert with it... Or drink it(well It sounded good, but I don't want to be banned from the property) so I made a sorbet with it. Used 500g Valrhona Ivoire chocolate, 500ml white chocolate grappa(the whole bottle, 4cans of coconut milk, and 200g of toasted flaked almonds. It came out very soft and a bit on the sweet side, but quite delicious.

Cherry and plum frozen yoghurt, had a beautiful soft red/pink colour.

Roasted almond and Disaronno ice cream.

 

Delta!

What a great thing to be told... to create a delicious desert from a just bought chocolate grappa...lol I think the only time I even saw something like this was a chocolate godiva liqueur at the local alcohol store here.

Is "deserting" and driving legal?

 

gogo

[chattius 2,526]

Some off topic , volunteer firefighter you know...

With the new fire fighting laws in our state starting next year, I was installing new stuff at the restaurant of a former class mate. We had a long discussion what to use. He preferred the good old fire blanket because he wants to avoid this ugly white powder dust from a standard fire extinguisher which is hard to clean up.

In the end he agreed to give a free meal to our firefighters for 3 weekends of firefighting training for his staff. If you know how to use, replace them frequently and don't buy the cheapest the new aerosol sprays are a good and quick solution to fight burning fat in pans before it goes to ugly. In a size like hairspray you can place several of them all around, easy and quick to use. The big extinguishers and blankets are still attached.

The real problem is: if you use cheap or old extinguisher aerosol sprays and don't know how to fight a fire they can worsen the fire by spraying the burning oil all around.

So I know that some states don't allow them, some only with training and regulary controls if they still work and some states just don't care how you fight a fire but send you to jail if someone gets hurt.

 

How do you fight a fire in your restaurant?

[Delta! 987]

At La Residence, we had fire blankets and a fire extinguisher.

At Cuvee we have also have a fireblanket in the kitchen and restaurant, and a fire extinguisher.

 

Also some new Ice creams that I made.

Panforte ice cream. chopped the panforte into pieces, melted it into the mixture, and instead of using just sugar I used a syrup from a green fig preserve, honey and a bit of sugar. The flavour was very nice!

Chocolate cookie and Jelly. Used a plain vanilla ice cream base, Made a chocolate jelly with the dark chocolate grappa, gelatin, and some chocolate, once it was set, I blended it into a puree, and piped it into the ice cream during the last second of churning along with the chopped up chocolate cookies. Crunhy, chocolatey smooth, creamy and just pure yumminess!

Gooseberry and mango sorbet. The gooseberries gave it a bice tartness while the mango brought a nice smoothness.

Purple berry and cherry sorbet.

 

Delta!

Edited January 6, 2015 by Delta!

[gogoblender 3,070]

Re fire in restaurant, we used to have a small extinguisher, but I'm thinking most of us weren't very versed in it.

Theuns, that's a whole lotta fruits you guys use, lots of produce...is there a singular place you are sourcing from?

gogo

[Delta! 987]

Most fruits we get from our fruit and vegetable supplier, but certain fruits, like plums now, and figs in about a month or two, are going to be harvested on the property and we are swamped with all the fruit! We also have quince trees, cabernet sauvignon grapes, shiraz grapes, and cabernet franc grapes that get made into wine, only sold on the property. We have a big vegetable garden and herb garden, two actually. The smaller one is about 80m away from the kitchen, and the other one is bigger, and further away, about 1,2km walk, so we get fresh things once a day from there

 

Delta!

[gogoblender 3,070]

saw some of your photos on FB, Theuns

I'm a huge plating addict, and your stuff's looking good

 

 

gogo

[chattius 2,526]

Do you serve Eisbomben (ice bombs) and Eistorten (ice cakes) or however they are named in english?

This week I did a Spaghetti Eistorte at the birthday of our twins. Their father shares the birthday but is forgotten by all except his wife. I did thin cakes covered with a layer of hardened sugar so they looked like plates used for noodles.

Then I pressed vanilla ice cream into spaghetti like shape and covered with red raspberry cream to imitate tomato sauce. I was inspired by pictures like this:

 

But my cakes are thinner and more porcelain like like real plates. And it is less ice and no ornamenting raspberries. I wanted it to look more like a real spaghetti plate.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Do you serve Eisbomben (ice bombs) and Eistorten (ice cakes) or however they are named in english?

This week I did a Spaghetti Eistorte at the birthday of our twins. Their father shares the birthday but is forgotten by all except his wife. I did thin cakes covered with a layer of hardened sugar so they looked like plates used for noodles.

Then I pressed vanilla ice cream into spaghetti like shape and covered with red raspberry cream to imitate tomato sauce. I was inspired by pictures like this:

 

But my cakes are thinner and more porcelain like like real plates. And it is less ice and no ornamenting raspberries. I wanted it to look more like a real spaghetti plate.

I once worked for a restaurant, and they had a delicious ice cream desert, looked exactly like a plate of spaghetti

Amusing to eat

delicious as well

 

gogo

[chattius 2,526]

Was the used plate eatable as well?

Ice cream cakes seems to be the word for our Eistorte. Don't know about the Eisbombe? How is it called in english? The difference to an Eistorte is that the ice cream is like half a ball on the outside. It is made inverted. The icecream covers the inner surface of the cup like form, than you insert a smaller form to shape the ice, then you insert an non ice filling: schoko cream with cherries for something like a Schwarzwälder cake. Then you place a plate like cake on top. Then you revert all and serve I na hurry before it melts

I am working on it for our next triple birthday in our family. The picture from a cooking site is using mousse a la vanille out and mousse au chocolat inside. So you can form it more easily. Then then all is cooled. Using icecream, how I like to be able to do it, is far more complicated.

[Delta! 987]

New Ice Cream flavour

 

Maple ice cream. Just replaced all the sugar with maple syrup. Tatsed goooood

 

Delta!

[gogoblender 3,070]

Is the maple syrup in it from Quebec?

There's sugar shacks not far from here, everyone goes up in the spring for sugaring off parties!

 

 

gogo

[Delta! 987]

Uhm. Not really sure gogo, it says "Great north maple syrup" and on the back it says product of Canada...

 

Delta!

[chattius 2,526]

I think there are regional replacements for suga, dependant on which plants the country people had access too.

North america: maple syrup

United Kingdom : golden syrup from sugar canes

Germany: Zuckerrübensirup,Rübenkraut, Leiermann, ... syrup made from sugar beets. Germany had no real access to harbours to import sugar canes. And often there were high prices because of blockade politics of other countries. So the prussian king demanded to breed a fodder beet with more sugar content. The result was the sugar beet. Making sugar from it was a complex process and the farmers did a much simplified form. They stopped somewhere before filtering and cristallizing. The result is something like a dark honey. I do it sometimes myself in my field kitchen. But you have to stirr the mass every minute for a whole day. Else it will harden you have ruined a big cauldron. And you need one with a radius of 3 feet or more to have it tasty.

The name in our region for sugarbeet syrup 'Leiermann' translates as 'Stirr !!! Fool !!!' and was shouted when someone got tired or sleepy while stirring.

For the ice:

We use sugar beet syrup only to replace up to one third of the sugar. Mainly for some dark ice cream like chocolade. It is also useful for painting dark patterns on cream or white ice.

 

Main use is however the favourite meal of our twins:

potato pancakes with apple puree, farmers bread, butter and sugar beet syrup

 

 

[Dorimil 224]

thanks for remember me...I'll have to buy it again!

[chattius 2,526]

Because it is not filtered it still has all minerals. I used this to excuse me when I was young and ate it a lot. I preferred it even before Nutella

When a cake recipes reads honey I take sugar beet syrup. There is no sense to burn the valuable stuff good honey contains in an oven. But you can't ruin the taste of sugar beet syrup or its minerals.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Never tried

 

Uhm. Not really sure gogo, it says "Great north maple syrup" and on the back it says product of Canada...

Delta!

It's the real stuff

YOu guys go all the way!

 

gogo

[gogoblender 3,070]

Because it is not filtered it still has all minerals. I used this to excuse me when I was young and ate it a lot. I preferred it even before Nutella

When a cake recipes reads honey I take sugar beet syrup. There is no sense to burn the valuable stuff good honey contains in an oven. But you can't ruin the taste of sugar beet syrup or its minerals.

Never had beet syrup. Though lately I've gotten into a pancake way, so may try to see if I can source this. We had family this weekend, and I opted to get a half sugar syrup variety, some sort of fake stuff...but I may opt for "really real" next time.

 

 

gogo

[Delta! 987]

New flavours that I made.

 

Lemon and turkish delight sorbet. Lemon juice, sugar, some water, rose water, and gelatin as a stabilizer. Churned. It came out very smooth, with mostly lemon flavour and a hint of rose on the nose/palette. Got a compiment on it Friday evening. It was served with a rose geranium creme brulee, rose syrup, pistachio cake sponge, lemon turkish delight sorbet, and swiss meringue.

 

The other one was a Naartjie granita, (a citrus fruit grown almost exclusively in South Africa) the flavour has been described as eating an orange and mandarin at the same time. Sweet and a bit of citrus tartness. The outer ski is very loose and easy to remove. The segments are easily broken apart.

The dessert was a combination of citrus flavours. Lemon Posset, yuzu jelly, candied orange(cut up the oranges into rough pieces, boiled it in a little bit of sugar syrup, drained it, and let it dry out a bit on the hot pass for a few hours. It was chewy, sticky, tarty yet sweet and delicious orange flavours came through) lemon curd sorbet, coconut crumble, naartjie granita.

 

Delta!

[Delta! 987]

New flavours that I need to post.

Cocoa nib ice cream. Infused 200g of cocoa nibs per litre of cream, and strained it through a chinois, and added a bitnin at the last second of churning to add a bit of extra flavour and texture. Fortunately the warming up softened the cocoa nibs, and the colour became light caramel/milk coffee.

 

Lemon curd sorbet/sherbet

Still not really sure if it can be called a sorbet, because of the eggs and butter in there, but I do know that it can't be called an ice cream, cause it contains no milk or cream. Made my normal lemon curd recipe and added half a cup of water to thin it out just a bt. Churned it. It came out bright yellow and extremely smooth and rich, but you think that you are eating a very cold lemon curd, I really like it...

 

Yuzu frozen yoghurt. Yuzu is a Japanese type of lemon that has a natural saltiness to it. Used a cup of yuzu juice to a kg of yoghurt and 2 cups of sugar. It tasted great, and it was paired with a starter, and I think they could've used the yuzu in a different way on the plate, the yoghurt didn't go well with the fish...

 

 

Delta!

Edited May 28, 2015 by Delta!

[gogoblender 3,070]

New flavours that I need to post.

Cocoa nib ice cream. Infused 200g of cocoa nibs per litre of cream, and strained it through a chinois, and added a bitnin at the last second of churning to add a bit of extra flavour and texture. Fortunately the warming up softened the cocoa nibs, and the colour became light caramel/milk coffee.

 

Lemon curd sorbet/sherbet

Still not really sure if it can be called a sorbet, because of the eggs and butter in there, but I do know that it can't be called an ice cream, cause it contains no milk or cream. Made my normal lemon curd recipe and added half a cup of water to thin it out just a bt. Churned it. It came out bright yellow and extremely smooth and rich, but you think that you are eating a very cold lemon curd, I really like it...

 

Yuzu frozen yoghurt. Yuzu is a Japanese type of lemon that has a natural saltiness to it. Used a cup of yuzu juice to a kg of yoghurt and 2 cups of sugar. It tasted great, and it was paired with a starter, and I think they could've used the yuzu in a different way on the plate, the yoghurt didn't go well with the fish...

 

 

Delta!

Theuns, I can't see you ever running out of ideas for flavors!

have you ever thought of going really out of the park creative with lets say a "lollipop" completely reinvented with wild presentation for a surprised, delighted customer?

perhaps the word "popsicle" on a menu could be a great fun discovery for a gastronomist

 

gogo

[Delta! 987]

Hey gogo.

To be honest, no I haven't thought of it in a way as a component in the restaurant, but now I am thinking of it, and I think it could be a great component to a friday night vintage menu...

 

Thanx for all the motivation you have given me over the years. It means a lot to have that kind of support from someone you have never even met face to face. If I ever do go to the Americas... I will def go and make a stop in Montreal, just to meet you and at least have a coffee!

 

Delta!