Gadgets: Breville Ice Cream Maker

If you want to make ice cream, you've got several options as far as the cooling method - a machine that uses salt and ice, one that uses a bowl that needs to be chilled in the freezer before churning, or a machine that has its own compressor.

Note: If you aren't a serious ice-cream-making fiend, you might want to stop reading right now. This machine is intended for the serious ice-creamista who works hard at perfecting recipes and makes a LOT of ice cream.

The Breville Smart Scoop Ice Cream Machine ($399) is the third type. The upside is that you can make ice cream any time you want to, and you can make one batch after another. The downside is that the machine is quite large (footprint is about 11x16) and it's heavy. This the the type of appliance that you'll want to park somewhere and not move very often.

Unlike other types of ice cream makers,  this one stays cold - or gets colder - as the ice cream chills and churns. With a freezer bowl, eventually the bowl thaws and you've got no more chilling power. Keep churning, and the ice cream starts melting.

With this one, you can churn a lot longer if you need to, and end up with a firmer product. It also means that you can pour in a mixture that's not quite fully chilled, since you don't need to worry about the bowl thawing before the ice cream is fully churned.

This also has a keep-chilled feature, so you can make the ice cream and leave it in the machine for up to three hours. It occasionally churns to keep the whole mixture at the right temperature. I'm not exactly sure why you'd need that feature, but it's there.

The most innovative feature on this machine is that you can choose several different levels of hardness for your frozen dessert, so you can opt to have it stop churning and chilling sooner if you want a softer product. Or keep churning and chilling longer, if you prefer. The machine senses the harness of the mixture as it churns, and stops at the appropriate time.

If you want really solid ice cream, you'll still want to chill it further in the freezer, but it does turn out a harder (but still soft-serve) ice cream than I've gotten from other methods.

The lid needs to stay in place during churning (it helps hold the shaft of the paddle in place) but you can open a door on the lid for mix-ins that you prefer to add towards the end of the churning time.

A pre-cool function cools the machine prior to churning (or you can just start churning while it's chilling), and pretty lights and indicators show the progress, temperature, and elapsed chilling time. A chime rings when it's time for add-ins, and you can choose from several musical options to signal when the ice cream is done.

It's all very space-agey and sleek and modern. Figure an hour or less to churn a batch of ice cream without pre-chilling, depending on things like the starting temperature of your ingredients and how hard you want the final product to be.

I have to say that this machine makes great ice cream, about a quart - or slightly more - at a time, and it's pretty simple to operate. Because this can churn ice cream longer, I've gotten some excellent ice creams that wouldn't have worked as well with my frozen-bowl model. But whether it's worth the space and cost really depends on your level of ice cream dependency. It really isn't for the casual user.

Note: This was going to be a MUCH different post. I struggled for a long time trying to get a decent batch of ice cream and couldn't believe how difficult it was. Different recipes, different settings, different temperatures. The machine stalled every time, well before the ice cream was fully churned.

It didn't make sense. Even the recipe from their own book didn't work. How finicky could this thing be?

I looked at other reviews on other sites to see if this was a flaw noted by other users. But no, this was never mentioned. So either there was a problem with this machine in particular, or I was doing something horribly wrong.

I called the support line (and I have to say the customer service folks at Breville are very nice) and they determined that there was a problem with the unit. They didn't know exactly what was wrong, but they were pretty sure there was a problem.

Shortly, I had a different one, and I immediately noticed that the way the bowl and cover fit the unit was different. I doubt the previous unit had a manufacturing flaw, or the person who reviewed it previously would have reported it. So ... how did those plastic parts get so horribly warped - melted, almost? What happened to the washer that was supposed to be screwed onto the bottom of the bowl? Your guess is as good as mine.

This time, the machine churned every mixture I threw into it, including some rather dicey mixtures that would never have worked in my freezer-bowl ice cream maker.

I'm glad I took the time to return the unit before I wrote the review. This really is an excellent machine. Pricey, but very, very nice.

A sample was provided for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats.

Pickled Aparagus Ribbons

Asparagus is a weird vegetable.

For lots of reasons.

I absolutely love asparagus and look forward to buying it when it's growing locally. But one of the things that irks me about asparagus is the way the tips sometimes curl.

You see, asparagus doesn't accept the fact the it's been cut and it's on its way to the dinner table. Oh no. Even when it's safely in your refrigerator, it tries to grow upwards.

If the asparagus is stored laying on its side, "upwards" means that the tips start turning sideways in relation to the stalk. So you end up with nice straight asparagus stalks with bent ends. It doesn't harm the asparagus in any way, but it doesn't look as pretty.

The way to thwart those curling tips is to stand the asparagus upright, and that's usually what I do - leaving it in the plastic bag and standing it upright in the refrigerator. Or, more likely, leaning against whatever else is on the shelf.

The other problem with storing asparagus for more than a day or two is that the tips can get soft and mushy from any condensation in the bag. That's not nice.

The best thing to do is buy the asparagus and cook it the same day - or maybe the next - but when asparagus is on sale, I can't stop myself from buying one bunch for now, another bunch for later, and maybe one extra, just in case. And then I have asparagus propped upright in the refrigerator.


When I got a whole set of "keepers" from Good Cook, I was particularly curious about the asparagus keeper. Would it actually make a difference? So I ran right out and got some asparagus. Unfortunately, the store was nearly sold out, and what I bought wasn't the best asparagus I'd ever seen. There were even a few bent ends.

Oh well. 

I'm happy to report that the asparagus fared really well in the keeper. While there was some condensation inside the keeper, it didn't drip onto the asparagus - there are holes on top, and that must have let enough moisture escape. So, definitely better than the usual plastic bag.

Since I'm all giddy about asparagus, I thought I'd do an asparagus recipe. Something really different. I usually steam or roast asparagus. But did you know you can eat it raw?

Yup, it's perfectly fine raw.

I have some old cookbooks where raw shaved asparagus was a common thing, but it seems that people have abandoned the idea of eating it raw. Or forgotten about it. Lately, I've seen it crop up in a few places, but I've also seen people commenting that "you can't eat asparagus raw!!!"

Yes, you can.

And, just for something different, I did a quick pickle on thin strips of asparagus. I used some of it to garnish a salad, and we ate some at dinner as ... well ... a pickle. I have some left, and I'm thinking about adding it to a sandwich.

I used a mandoline to make thin, even strips from the asparagus. It makes the most sense to use thicker stalks if you're going to do this. Thinner stalks could be cut horizontally with a knife, but I really like the way the fat slices look.

Quick-Pickled Asparagus

Fat asparagus spears
1 part mild vinegar (like rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar)
3 parts water
Salt, to taste

Slice the asparagus spears on a mandolin to get thin, even strips. I found it was easiest to start cutting at the cut end of the stalk and slice towards the tip. Be extremely careful - even with thick stalks, you're not very far from your fingers.

Put the asparagus into a flat bowl or into a plastic bag.

Sprinkle the asparagus with salt.

Mix the vinegar and water. The amount you'll need depends on how much asparagus you have. You don't need to drown it, you need just enough to moisten all of it, and you can turn it a few times to make sure it all gets its time in the liquid.

If you use a plastic bag, remove as much air as possible from the bag, then seal. This works better than a bowl, since the liquid will have better contact with the food, and you'll need less liquid and no need to stir.

Pour the liquid over the asparagus and flip the asparagus around a few times to make sure the liquid is coating all of it. Set aside. It will pick up a nice tangy flavor after as little as 10 minutes, or you can let it sit for an hour or more.

Pour off the liquid and serve as desired. An extra sprinkle of flake salt and a drizzle of olive oil would be a nice addition.

I received the "keepers" from Good Cook as part of a blogger program.

Cocktail Time with "The Original Maraschino Cherries"

When I was a kid, I loved maraschino cherries. Adored them. Like crazy.

I remember bellying up to the bar with my mom when I was a little kid, and ordering a Kiddie Cocktail. Yeah, I had a weird childhood.

The Kiddie Cocktail was little more that lemon-lime soda with a maraschino cherry and some cherry juice. But it seemed like a the real deal.

It's a wonder I didn't grow up to be a hooker or a lush.

But back to those cherries. I liked them when I was a kid, but as an adult, I'm no longer fond of them. Particularly after I read about how they're made. Just doesn't seem appealing.

But then I saw Luxardo cherries at a local store. The label said they were the original maraschino cherries, and instead of being that unnatural red, they were a very dark red - like you'd expect dark cherries to be. So I bought them.

And I liked them. A lot. So I whipped up a cocktail. You know, because I needed an excuse to use the cherries in a drink and stop eating them straight from the jar.

I was thinking about sangria, but with white wine, since red wines and I don't always get along. I used a Moscato from Cupcake Vineyards for the wine. It's lightly sparkling, and just a little sweet. Instead of making a pitcher, I made just one glass. Well, technically, I've made several glasses. But one at a time.

And now I'm looking forward to putting these cherries on top of ice cream. Or maybe in ice cream. We'll see.

Moscoto Sangria

Luxardo cherries (plus some juice)
Fresh fruit for garnish
1 ounce Crown Royal whiskey
4 ounces Cupake Moscato

Skewer some fresh fruit and cherries for garnish. I used pineapple and strawberries.

Fill a small glass with ice. Drizzle in small spoon of cherry juice. Add the whiskey and top with the wine. Add the fruit skewer garnish. Serve.

Repeat as necessary.