Pics from the party

Top picture: Leandro and Pablo, former colleagues and self-appointed ice-cream blog fans, have been promising to try each flavour, so when I sent out the invitation, they were among the first to respond.

Second picture: Vinka and Andy mugging it for the camera. Note the spoon.

Third picture: Mariluz and Javier were pleased with the ice cream. Their two sons were fans of the muffins (banana and chocolate) and the dog.

Bottom picture: Marcelo digging into a vat of chocolate ice cream. For several months, Marcelo has patiently listened to my ice cream exploits. Gracias Marce!

I wish I had better pictures, but my photography skills could use some improvement and you can only do so much with Photoshop.

La fiesta!!!!

On Sunday, we picked up the ice cream and discovered that instead of the 50 kilos we had expected, we were only taking home a mere 26 kilos. The folks at the ice cream parlour had transferred it to eight environmentally unfriendly styrofoam containers, and each container held about three kilos of the sweet stuff. The flavours were a big hit among the Argentines, which was a relief because we were worried about how they would be received. The dulce de leche was gone by the end of the evening. Andy took home the lemon and apple and cinnamon flavours. We were left with half a container of chocolate and three-quarters of a tub of mint chocolate chip.

Unfortunately, the day was chilly and a number of people were scared off by the temperatures, and even the promise of all-you-can-eat free ice cream couldn't lure them from their poorly heated homes and apartments. Others claimed to have had myriad work and family commitments. It was a Sunday, and it was pretty chilly, so we understand (kind of). Thanks to those who braved the fall weather to eat our creations. We still have about 16 kilos left over, so there will be more parties in the future.

Flavour round-up:
Lemon and cardamom was a interesting mix that turned out much better than we had expected. Fernando the maestro heladero had been very worried that it would taste more like cardamom ice cream with a hint of lemon than the reverse, but it turned out to be a good combo and the cardamom wasn't as overpowering as it had been the day before.

Apple and cinnamon: a great hit. Because it's a water-based flavour, it wasn't as creamy. It has to do with the sugar point and the freezing point of sugar. Regardless, very tasty and obviously fat-free.

Dark chocolate: I had expected it to be much darker and more bitter, but it was closer to regular chocolate than to dark chocolate. The recipe needs to be tweaked to make it darker and less sweet. However, it was a popular flavour.

Dulce de leche: a three-kilo tub, gone by the end of the party. Personally, I think it needed more caramel, more chocolate chips and less sugar, but I suppose I shouldn't tamper with perfection given that everyone ate it.

Mint chocolate chip: when we tried it right out of the machine, it had a dark-green alien colour and an overpowering mint-powder taste. The day after, it was quite good. That said, I think the recipe needs some changes. First, it needs to be lighter in colour. Second, it needs mint liqueur. Third, it needs waaaay more chocolate chips. It wasn't bad, but I think Freddo's mint chocolate chip is better.

Agradecemiento: a public thanks to Sara for letting us store 10 kilos of ice cream in her freezer. Gracias!!! Ana, ayudanos comerlo!!


Cultural notes:
This is a broad generalization, but Argentine taste preferences tend to skew towards the extreme end of bland, so we were worried about how our flavours would be received, especially the lemon and cardamom and apple and cinnamon since they are both combinations that you wouldn't find at a regular ice cream parlour. The cardamom was especially concerning because it has a strong scent and Argentines tend to prefer foods that aren't as strongly scented. I am very pleased that they have proven me wrong (or at least had the decency to lie and tell me it was good).

Tener frio vs. estar resfriado. There is a popular misconception that one day of cold weather will give you a cold. It's not true. Germs give you colds; cold weather in and of itself does not. Chances are good that you don't HAVE a cold, you ARE cold. Put on a sweater and socks. Dressing for cold weather keeps you warm; trust me, it's the trick to surviving -20 Canadian winters.

Sunday: the sacred day of the week for late family lunches, birthday asados, and other assorted clan activity. Most of the city shuts down on Sunday and most locals are busy with family commitments.

Elaboración de helados: show time

This weekend was show time. Jacob, Andy and I showed up at the appointed heladería in Villa Urquiza and made our five flavours of ice cream: dark chocolate, mint chocolate chip, dulce de leche with chocolate chips, apple and cinnamon, and lemon and cardamom. The star of the day was Maqfrio, the ice cream machine that Fernando, the maestro heladero and owner of the store, imported from Brazil more than seven years ago.

I wish I could say that the ice-cream making process was more complex and required an in-depth knowledge of food chemistry, expert skill and engineering, but the fact is, it was very similar to following a standard baking recipe, only on a much larger scale. We measured the designated amount of sugar, dextrose, powdered milk, stabilizer, flavour enhancer, water, eggs and cocoa in large buckets, then add it to the machine, which pasteurizes the mixture in a heated compartment that looks like my Cuisinart food processor. Then the machine transferred the mixture to a lower compartment to cool it and add air. At that point, we added the fruit flavourings (pulp, juice, applesauce, etc) and a spoonful of something called Soft Gel as it cooled. When the ice cream reaches -8 degrees Celsius, the machine beeped and we poured the ice cream to larger buckets, added the chocolate chips and cinnamon (when needed) and transferred it to a chest freezer, where it rested overnight.

What we discovered is that making ice cream is not as complex as we thought. To open our own ice cream shop, what we'll need in terms of equipment is a machine like Fernando has, a large number of buckets in various sizes, a scale to weigh ingredients, the fridge, access to cold water, and a deep freezer, and as the Argentines like to say, chau, ya estás. You're set to go, baby.

In the end, we ended up with 26 kilos of ice cream instead of the original 50 we expected. I'm not that upset by the 50% reduction in ice cream because I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around what 50 kilos would look like, and of course, there was the concern of what we would do with it all once it was in our hands....

Top picture: these are the buckets that they put the ice cream in when it comes out of the machine. The machine adds an incredible amount of air (crude recipe: add sugar, milk, water, stabilizer, air, then freeze); we put about 10 cups of liquids into the machine, and twenty minutes later, Maqfrio churned out about 10 litres of ice cream. (Note: this was on low setting.)

Middle picture: Andy and I are digging into a 10 kilo tub of dulce de leche. There is a dulce de leche flavouring in powder form, which we used, but the extra kick comes from using some of the real stuff as well. The same with fruits and cream flavours. For apple and cinnamon, we added artificial flavourings, but we also peeled and pureed a dozen green apples. For chocolate, we added cocoa and a quarter kilo of melted baking chocolate. For lemon, we added lemon flavouring and the juice and pulp of 15 freshly squeezed lemons. The eggs were real eggs, not egg powder. The only flavour that we didn't add fresh ingredients to was mint chocolate chip. What a difference fresh ingredients makes! Baskin Robbins, beware.

Bottom picture: This is what the ice cream looks like when it comes out of the machine. The consistency is very soft, which is why it needs to be left in a freezer at -20 degrees Celsius for approximately 18 to 24 hours. The flavour in the pic is dark chocolate.

Invitation

I post this for the public record.

Queridos amigos y guinea pigs:

Como saben (o deberían saber) todos, Jacob y yo estamos haciendo un curso de elaboración de helados artesanales. El curso es de teoría pero también tiene una parte de práctica en la cual vamos a hacer unos 50 kilos (sí, cincuenta kilos) de helado de varios sabores. Lamentablemente no tenemos tanto espacio en nuestro freezer, por lo cual vamos a tener que pedirles ayuda en comerlo.

Fecha de la orgia de helado: el domingo 13 de abril

Hora: 17 hrs

Lugar: nuestra casa. Si hay sol, comemos en la terraza. Si llueve, comemos en el depto (o en la terraza y con paraguas).

Que vengan con apetitos y cucharas.
BYOS (bring your own spoon)


Official ice cream queen translation:

Dear friends and guinea pigs,

As you know (or should know, if you don't already), Jacob and I are taking a course on how to make ice cream. The course is mostly theory, but there's a practical component where we will be making 50 kilos (yes, fifty kilos) of ice cream in various flavours. Unfortunately, we don't have much freezer space, so we are going to have to ask you to help us eat it.

Date of ice cream orgy: Sunday, April 13
Location: Our place. If it's sunny, we eat on the terrace. If it rains, we eat in the apartment (or on the terrace with umbrellas).

Come with appetites and spoons.
BYO spoon