Whenever I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Italy, I’ve given myself a special allowance: I can eat as much gelato as I want. And even though I’ve wanted quite a lot, I’ve usually felt more refreshed than weighed down by my indulgence. It wasn’t until I started making ice cream myself that I figured out why this was: gelato is actually much lighter than ice cream.
Most “gourmet” ice cream we eat in the United States these days is made in the traditional French style. It has a custard base that’s about half heavy cream and half milk, with lots of egg yolks (usually a half dozen or more per quart) thrown in for added richness. It’s luxuriously delicious, but, for me, it can be a bit much on a hot summer day. In contrast, traditional Philadelphia or American style ice cream –which seems to have fallen out of fashion– uses no eggs at all, which brings the flavor of the cream to the fore. Traditional gelato recipes are lighter still, using no eggs and much less or no cream. This allows the featured flavors –fruits, nuts, chocolate– to shine more brightly.
This gelato is a great warm weather alternative to vanilla. The tangy buttermilk and complex, floral honey flavors pair beautifully with fresh summer fruit or fruit desserts (such as this apricot tart). Don’t be afraid of buttermilk — it contains no butter and is not, in fact, the liquid left over from churning butter (which doesn’t sound good to me). It’s a cultured milk product similar to yoghurt that tastes a lot like a very light sour cream.
Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups (475 ml) whole milk
2 cups (475 ml) buttermilk
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
1/2 cup (120 ml) honey (I particularly like orange blossom honey.)
1/2 cup (120 ml) light corn syrup
1/4 (60 ml) cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
1. In a small bowl, combine about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch. Whisk until smooth and set aside.
2. Pour the milk (but not the buttermilk) in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry, corn syrup, sugar and salt and bring the mixture to the boil again. Stir well to make sure all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.
3. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a fine sieve. Whisk in the honey, let the mixture cool and then stir in the buttermilk. (Buttermilk curdles at 160F (71C), so the liquid needs to be cooler than that. To play it safe (and avoid getting out the instant-read thermometer), I usually let it cool to lukewarm before I add the buttermilk.)
4. Chill the mixture in the fridge for about three hours before freezing. Or, if you’re impatient for your ice cream (as I am), chill it in an ice bath for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. When you’re ready to make gelato, pop the container in which you plan to keep it into the freezer. Freeze the gelato in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Stop churning when it’s the consistency of soft-serve, immediately transfer the gelato to the frozen container and put it in the freezer for at least an hour before serving. Make sure to do a sloppy job of emptying the ice cream maker so you have a few spoonfuls to eat immediately — for quality control.
If possible have a small child on hand to lick the dasher.
