4 Levels
How-To
Recipes

4 Levels of Ice Cream Sundaes: Amateur to Food Scientist

We challenged chefs of three different levels - an amateur, a home cook and a professional chef - to make their versions of an ice cream sundae. And then we brought in a food scientist to review their work. Which sundae was the best? Check out the professional's recipe here on the ICE blog: https://www.ice.edu/blog/banana-passionfruit-gelato-recipe

Released on 6/17/2019

Transcript

00:00
[chopping] [pouring]
00:01
[sizzling] [slicing]
00:02
[mixing]
00:03
[upbeat music]
00:06
I'm Stephen, and I'm a level one chef.
00:07
I'm Beth, and I'm a level two chef.
00:10
I'm Rory Macdonald,
00:11
and I've been a chef for over 12 years.
00:12
[upbeat music]
00:14
This is my ice cream recipe that I created.
00:16
I needed something to comfort me on those lonely nights,
00:19
and this is how we're gonna mend a broken heart.
00:21
This is inspired by the banana split,
00:23
but certainly with a Damiano family twist.
00:26
This is my recipe for banana and passion fruit gelato.
00:28
It's one of my favorite recipes
00:29
that we use in the dessert bar.
00:31
[whooshing]
00:33
[pointer clicking] [suspenseful music]
00:34
[bell dinging]
00:38
So we're gonna start with the caramel corn ice cream.
00:40
There's kind of already a cheat code.
00:42
You have your cone, you have your chocolate,
00:44
you have your caramel.
00:45
Let's just jump into it.
00:46
I'm gonna start by making vanilla bean ice cream.
00:49
And we're gonna start with some heavy cream.
00:52
We're gonna start this gelato by making
00:53
a really simple sorbet syrup.
00:55
First thing we're gonna add
00:56
is sugar. Lots of sugar.
00:56
Because you can't have ice cream without sugar.
00:59
Always a pinch of salt.
01:01
Water, and lastly, trimoline,
01:02
also know by pastry chefs as invert sugar.
01:03
There's a mixture of glucose and fructose.
01:06
Take your big spoon, and scoop it out.
01:09
I scooped out around half of it.
01:11
That's why I'm a level one, I can't tell you the ounces.
01:14
Now what I like to do to make it vanilla bean, certainly,
01:17
is to use a vanilla bean.
01:19
Slice the bean down the middle.
01:21
So I'm just gonna put the whole thing in
01:23
because I'm gonna strain it.
01:24
You're gonna stir, stir, stir.
01:26
Now that everything's dissolved,
01:28
I'm just gonna put this on the side
01:30
so that it can steep and cool down a little bit,
01:32
so that I can add it to my eggs.
01:34
And then we're gonna take the chocolate,
01:38
like so, the chocolate brownies.
01:41
So this has come to the boil.
01:43
We're gonna take this off now and allow it to cool.
01:45
And then we're gonna continue
01:46
biding the bananas and the passion fruit.
01:48
So we're gonna cut the banana in half, lengthwise.
01:50
Carefully scrape out all the middle of the seeds.
01:52
If you remove those seeds you're gonna
01:54
stop the banana going so gray.
01:56
So now we're gonna weigh out the bananas into the beaker.
01:58
Next step, eggs and sugar mixture.
02:01
I'm only gonna use egg yolks,
02:03
we don't really need the whites, and some sugar.
02:06
And I'm gonna mix them together with an electric mixer.
02:09
So you take this utensil,
02:10
which is used to chop up the brownie.
02:13
Now, it's kind of mixed and fused together.
02:16
Everything is working harmoniously.
02:18
That's a word, nailed it.
02:20
So next we're gonna pare the passion fruits.
02:22
So we're just gonna take the top off,
02:23
and then scoop out the seeds.
02:24
And for this recipe we're trying to use
02:26
all of the passion fruit.
02:27
We're using the juice for the sorbet,
02:29
we're gonna use the seeds for a garnish,
02:30
and we're gonna use the husks
02:32
to actually present the sorbet in.
02:33
Bring my egg yolk mixture into my cream mixture,
02:37
and I wanna whisk until the mixture gets to be
02:39
at least lukewarm.
02:41
So you mix up your M&Ms.
02:42
I came up with this method because
02:44
caramel corn has almost everything I want,
02:47
but it didn't have the M&Ms
02:48
and the brownies inside of it,
02:50
so I went ahead and fixed that.
02:51
And now I actually perfected it.
02:53
They can hire me if they want.
02:55
And I'm gonna pour it into the strainer,
02:58
over a larger bowl filled with ice water.
03:00
I want to really cool down this mixture
03:03
before I put it into the ice cream machine.
03:05
So next step is we're gonna add
03:07
the rest of the ingredients to the beaker.
03:09
Passion fruit juice, lemon juice, and a little bit of cream,
03:11
and lastly we're gonna add our sorbet syrup that we made.
03:14
We are so much closer to ice cream now.
03:17
I use a Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment,
03:20
and I'm gonna start pouring my custard
03:23
right into the ice cream maker.
03:25
I need to leave it on for 30 minutes.
03:27
I feel like there's a easier way to go about this,
03:29
but it tastes better this way.
03:30
It's all about the end product.
03:33
You want to keep it in the freezer for at least 4 hours.
03:36
Off to the freezer. We're gonna freeze it solid.
03:36
And once it's totally set,
03:38
we're gonna add it to the Paco Jet machine.
03:40
It has a really powerful blade,
03:42
which basically will make liquids solids,
03:43
anything into a puree.
03:45
And that looks good.
03:46
It's ready to go.
03:47
Now we wanna plate it.
03:48
This is like mush, but it tastes good.
03:51
So our fruit mixture is now frozen solid.
03:53
Now we're ready to spin this in the Paco Jet.
03:55
The blade is attached underneath.
03:57
And now when we turn it on,
03:58
basically the blade is gonna force its way down,
04:00
and it's basically gonna puree that frozen mixture.
04:02
Paco Jet generally takes between two and three minutes
04:04
to finish a cycle.
04:05
Now if you see, we have a perfect texture.
04:09
Now, we're gonna add our hot fudge.
04:11
I'm gonna heat it up, and I'll be back in a minute.
04:12
We're gonna keep this in the freezer.
04:14
Now we're gonna make our passion fruit
04:15
caramel sauce. Caramel sauce.
04:16
And this is the easiest, most delicious
04:18
caramel sauce you can make.
04:20
I'm gonna start with half and half,
04:21
some light brown sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt.
04:25
So in here we have sugar and glucose.
04:27
So this is gonna come to a boil,
04:29
it's gonna turn a dark caramel color.
04:31
It's gonna take about five or 10 minutes.
04:32
And I just keep stirring 'til everything is soft
04:35
and melted together and smells delicious.
04:38
I'm gonna add my vanilla,
04:40
and I'm actually gonna cook it for another minute more.
04:43
After that we're gonna add the butter
04:44
to stop the caramel of cooking.
04:46
Next up is the cream.
04:48
The cream is really for texture,
04:49
and gives the right consistency we want for a caramel sauce.
04:51
You can tell it's ready
04:52
because the texture is a lot thicker.
04:54
And now we're ready to add our fresh passion fruit juice.
04:56
I'm gonna bring that back to the boil
04:57
for another two to three minutes.
04:59
I suppose you could keep this in the fridge
05:01
for a couple of weeks,
05:02
but it never lasts more than a day or two in my house.
05:06
Warm caramel, it's wonderful.
05:09
Nice and warm.
05:10
We're gonna add our hot fudge.
05:12
Oh that's perfect.
05:13
This is exactly how you want it to look.
05:15
[upbeat music]
05:17
We're gonna add the passion fruit seeds.
05:18
We add it at the end because we really want to have
05:20
a fresh passion fruit flavor,
05:21
and we don't want that to boil off.
05:23
Now we're gonna take off the heat and allow it to cool.
05:26
And now on to the toppings. Now the toppings.
05:28
Sprinkle a few extra ingredients on.
05:31
So you wanna break up the brownie.
05:33
So of course we have to start with whipped cream.
05:35
[mixer whirs]
05:36
Whip the cream.
05:37
Our gelato's out the freezer already.
05:39
Now we're gonna scoop, and add the toppings.
05:41
Here's our vanilla bean ice cream that we made earlier.
05:44
The most important thing to remember about a good sundae
05:47
is that there is no such thing as too much.
05:50
More is not more, it's better.
05:53
And then the M&Ms just to give it some color.
05:55
More of a garnishment at this point.
05:57
So now we're adding some passion fruit seeds to the top
05:59
as a garnish, but again these do have flavor.
06:01
They also have a nice crunchy texture.
06:03
Our freshly-made caramel sauce.
06:06
We're also gonna add some of this
06:07
dehydrated passion fruit,
06:08
which again gives it a really nice flavor,
06:10
but also gives it a crunchy texture.
06:11
Chopped, wet walnuts.
06:14
[Rory] And then we're just gonna finish it off
06:15
with a little micro red amaranth.
06:17
It's a micro herb.
06:19
Nice chopped bananas.
06:20
[Stephen] Some whipped cream to top it off.
06:24
You continuously put whipped cream on.
06:26
That's why the bowl is right on the table.
06:28
Because this much whipped cream is not enough.
06:30
[Stephen] Always counterclockwise.
06:33
[playful music] [whipped cream spraying]
06:38
Sprinkles for my Lukey Luke,
06:40
my grandson who loves sprinkles.
06:42
And two cherries.
06:44
A little bit more brownies.
06:46
A little color.
06:47
Don't be stingy.
06:48
Hm, maybe three.
06:50
And it's the perfect level of melted.
06:52
Boom.
06:52
[camera shutter clicks]
06:53
A perfect sundae.
06:54
[camera shutter clicks] [bright music]
06:56
This is my banana passion fruit gelato
06:58
with a passion fruit caramel sauce.
06:59
[camera shutter clicks]
07:01
[bright music]
07:05
Time for the taste test.
07:08
Heaven in a bowl.
07:09
Oh that's mostly whipped cream.
07:11
So good.
07:11
Let's do that again.
07:13
[bright music]
07:14
It's pretty good.
07:16
The caramel sauce is so wonderful
07:18
on this vanilla bean ice cream.
07:19
It's so fresh and so light.
07:21
The tartness of the passion fruit
07:23
really cuts through the richness of the banana,
07:24
and the texture on the top
07:25
just really complements everything.
07:26
But we gotta get some brownie.
07:28
[bright music]
07:29
Again with the whipped cream.
07:31
Don't use as much whipped cream as I did.
07:33
If I made this again, I would add more whipped cream.
07:36
[chuckles]
07:37
Maybe chocolate sauce.
07:38
And now the chocolate is basically
07:40
layering the roof of my mouth, so maybe less brownies,
07:44
two less brownies though.
07:45
This gelato's fantastic in the summer
07:47
when it's really hot and humid to help you guys cool down.
07:50
Other than more, I'm not sure I'd make it differently.
07:53
Like I do with most things in my life,
07:54
you start something, you gotta finish it.
07:56
[bright music]
07:57
That's good.
07:58
[rock music]
07:59
Our chefs used three different kinds
08:01
of ice cream in their sundaes.
08:03
Stephen used a commercially-made store-bought ice cream.
08:06
You guys should have a pre-k 'cause
08:08
I'm not even at level one.
08:09
Beth used a homemade custard-style ice cream.
08:12
Kinda like a banana split, but with my twist on it.
08:16
And Rory used a mixture of gelato and sorbet.
08:20
Gelato has different interpretations for different people.
08:22
[suspenseful music]
08:26
Milk fat gives ice cream a creamy and smooth mouth feel,
08:30
and a buttery and rich flavor.
08:32
Stephen's ice cream contains about 10 to 14% milk fat,
08:36
which is going to contribute to the ice cream's smoothness
08:39
and overall mouth feel.
08:40
The custard-style ice cream that Beth made
08:43
has a higher amount of milk fat than the store-bought kind.
08:46
This is gonna give it a creamier and smoother taste.
08:49
Nice and thick and creamy.
08:51
Rory'a gelato-style ice cream
08:53
uses a combination of cream and pureed fruit.
08:56
This has less milk fat than we find
08:59
in our commercially-available or custard-style ice cream,
09:02
and it's gonna give it a less creamy mouth feel.
09:05
Sugar provides flavor and texture to ice cream.
09:08
Commercially-bought ice cream has about 14 to 15% sugar,
09:12
and this was similar in Beth's ice cream.
09:14
Because that makes it taste the best.
09:16
Rory's gelato-style ice cream used trimoline,
09:20
which is a liquid sugar made from sucrose
09:22
that has been inverted, or split into glucose and fructose.
09:28
Glucose and fructose are both monosaccharides
09:30
that freeze at even lower temperatures than regular sugar.
09:34
This provides a sweeter flavor to the ice cream,
09:37
and will also allow it to be softer at frozen temperatures.
09:41
[suspenseful music]
09:45
Ice cream is churned to incorporate air,
09:47
and to freeze the product.
09:49
Commercially-made ice cream is whipped with air
09:52
to about 75% or 100% of the total ice cream mixture.
09:56
This means that commercially-bought ice cream
09:59
has about one to one ratio of ice cream to air.
10:02
The custard-style ice cream that Beth made
10:05
has less overrun, or air incorporated into it
10:08
compared to our commercial-style ice cream.
10:11
The structure of frozen desserts is greatly dependent
10:14
on the amount of ice crystal formation we get
10:16
when the water freezes.
10:18
The ice crystals start to form as we freeze the ice cream,
10:21
and the slower we freeze it and churn it,
10:23
we get large ice crystals.
10:25
Perfect for my sundaes.
10:27
Rory used a Paco Jet to make his gelato-style ice cream.
10:31
The Paco Jet spins with the ice cream inside very rapidly,
10:35
which helps to minimize the amount
10:37
of ice crystal formation we see,
10:38
and makes a smooth ice cream.
10:41
[suspenseful music]
10:44
Stephen used a store-bought fudge sauce.
10:47
Nice and warm.
10:47
Beth and Rory both used a homemade caramel sauce.
10:51
Beth combined all of the ingredients up front,
10:54
and cooked it over the heat
10:55
until the caramel became deep in color
10:58
with a rich and creamy flavor.
10:59
Immediately it looks like caramel sauce.
11:03
Rory heated his sugar first
11:05
to produce a caramelization reaction.
11:07
That never quite works for me.
11:09
This is a non-enzymatic browning reaction,
11:12
where the sugars that Rory used came in contact with heat,
11:15
and started to turn brown, or turn into caramel.
11:18
He then added butter and cream into his caramelized sugar
11:23
to stop the caramelization reaction
11:25
to produce a creamy and viscous sauce.
11:28
So it got a little steamy in there for a while,
11:30
but now the texture has thickened, and now I know it's done.
11:32
[suspenseful music]
11:35
Our chefs used different toppings
11:37
and mix-ins in their sundaes.
11:39
Stephen used M&Ms and brownies mixed into his ice cream,
11:43
and whipped cream on top.
11:45
Beth used wet walnuts, bananas, whipped cream,
11:48
sprinkles, cherries, all on top of her sundae.
11:52
It's not a sundae without the cherries.
11:54
Rory used plain passion fruit seeds
11:56
and dehydrated passion fruit.
11:58
Low-moisture mix-ins and toppings,
12:00
like brownies or M&Ms, or those passion fruit seeds,
12:04
won't freeze when they touch the ice cream,
12:06
and they will be easy to chew when you eat your sundae.
12:09
Which is nice for the gelato, 'cause it's soft.
12:11
High-moisture mix-ins, like bananas,
12:13
might start to freeze when they touch the sundae,
12:16
and will be a little bit grittier or sandier to chew
12:19
when you eat your ice cream sundae.
12:20
You put out the toppings,
12:22
and everybody makes their own choices.
12:25
[suspenseful music]
12:28
Commercially-bought ice cream uses egg yolks,
12:31
or xanthan gum, carrageenan, or any type of food gum
12:35
to bind the milk fat and the water,
12:37
which is going to help to keep the ice cream
12:39
cold at room temperature for a longer amount of time.
12:42
But Stephen manipulated his ice cream at room temperature,
12:46
so even though the ice cream contains stabilizers,
12:49
it's still going to melt at room temperature.
12:51
And that looks good, that looks ready to go.
12:53
Taste perception decreases
12:55
in extreme hot or cold environments.
12:58
Melted ice cream might taste sweeter
13:00
than very cold ice cream.
13:02
You should try it for yourself.
13:03
Remember, microwave, a minute,
13:04
a minute 30 seconds if you wanna be like Steve.
13:07
Beth's product had a fairly low sugar content
13:11
compared to our commercially-made ice cream,
13:13
and also contained a lot of emulsifiers,
13:16
or stabilizers in the egg yolks.
13:18
This is going to help to keep the ice cream colder,
13:21
or more frozen, and melt less quickly.
13:24
And in Rory's ice cream, he didn't use
13:26
any type of stabilizer or emulsifier.
13:29
This is going to produce a really creamy final product,
13:33
but upon storage, the ice cream will become
13:35
a little bit hard and sandy.
13:38
Next time you're craving something sweet,
13:40
take something that you learned here today
13:42
and incorporate that into your own sundae.
13:45
[bright music]