Ice Cream Ireland

After my last post, I decided to revisit the hot chocolate recipe I gave here and check it against the Pierre Herme cookbook. Certainly the master of sweet things would have much to offer.

His take on hot chocolate has the following differences to my recipe: he uses water instead of milk, and he adds quite a bit of cocoa as well as the chocolate. In my opinion, the result was less than optimal, with the taste of chocolate blunted by the sensation of the cocoa and the water making it less luxurious.

There’s a funny thing that happens with bitter things such as coffee and chocolate, and that is that you need sweetness to taste the flavour. It’s said that we’re hard-wired to like sweets and avoid bitter tastes, since most poisons in nature taste bitter, and so bitter things are an acquired taste (kids very rarely like coffee or bitter chocolate). Bitter things are delightful as we get older, and I’m a big fan, but there is a balance to be struck, and the Japanese refer to it as “umami.”

Higher cocoa content only brings more chocolate flavour up to a point. 70% chocolate has more chocolate flavour than 30% chocolate. However, if you go much above that, I believe you stop tasting the chocolate and you only have a taste sensation of “bitter.” The flavour complexity is lost without sweetness.

To me it’s the same as coffee. Virtually all Italians stir at least two sugars into their espressos. There is a reason they do so, and that is to bring out the coffee flavour. Espresso without sugar simply tastes bitter. Espresso with sugar tastes of coffee. Try it, if you like, adding sugar in small amounts, and you will see that the full flavour of the bean will emerge.

Anyway, it pains me to say it, but I do believe there is a thing as too much chocolate. I happily stand behind my earlier recipe!

Technorati tags: recipe, chocolate, cocoa, cooking, hot chocolate, espresso

What a fabulous treat awaited today when I returned to my office after first working on fixing up the courtyard, scooping ice cream and then spending a chunk of time bent over the ladies toilet in the Dingle shop replacing the sheared bolts holding down the bowl (ah yes, the joys of business ownership!).

The Pierre Hermé ”Chocolate Desserts” book written by Dorie Greenspan was front and centre on my desk. I had ordered it from Amazon after reading about the experiences of cooks working with it on eGullet, but with all the excitement of the Easter rush I had forgotten all about it.

Any chocoholic will salivate simply looking at the pictures. I didn’t get a whole heap of work done the next hour. I just leafed through the pages and drooled. I can’t wait to get in and try some of the recipes (I noticed one straight away for chocolate crepes. I’ll have to try it out and perhaps modify the previous recipe!) Below is his chocolate, coffee, and whiskey granita. Bottoms up!

By the way, there is an nice aggregator of food blogs called Food Porn Watch. A peculiar name all right, but worth a look for any foodie. The photos on many of the blogs are sublime. I guess I’ll have to up my game!

Technorati tags: recipe, chocolate, crepe, cooking, ice cream, dessert

 One of my favourite ways to eat ice cream is wrapped in a crepe. The combination of the warm crepe with the cold of the ice cream and the textural sensation are delightful.

Over the winter, we served crepes in the Killarney shop, but we’ve stopped for the season because it’s just to busy and crepes are too fussy when there is a crowd of customers waiting to be served. However, crepes are quite easy to make at home, and you can use the same crepes to make a main course (a tasty filling is spinach, cheese and toasted pine nuts).

If you regularly make crepes or pancakes at home, I highly recommend getting a crepe pan. I picked the one on the right up at a catering store for around 12 euro. What a difference it makes! Not only do they come out the perfect size every time, but they don’t stick and cook better.

Murphys Crepes

10 Servings

Ingredients:

150 gm flour (non-rising - see earlier post)

40 gm butter, melted

15 gm sugar

250 ml milk

75 ml water

3 eggs

1/4 teasp. salt

What to do:

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt.

2. Add milk, water, butter and eggs and process until smooth (use a food processor ideally or electric mixer).

3. Leave to settle in the fridge for at least an hour.

Note: You shouldn’t need any oil or butter on the pan if it is a good one. The butter in the crepes will keep them from sticking.

5. Pour into the pan (it should be hot) and cook over medium heat on one side until the edges begin to lift away from the pan. Flip and cook on the other side.

6. If you want to make them all at one time, put a stack on a plate with waxed paper in between them to keep them from sticking. You can keep them warm in the oven on low heat.

7. Scoop out your ice cream into the centre of the crepe and roll the crepe around it. I used raspberry sorbet.

8. If you’re feeling artistic, decorate with chocolate sauce, lime or anything else that strikes your fancy and goes well with the ice cream flavour you’re using.

9. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: recipe, chocolate, crepe, cooking, ice cream, sorbet

Today in the Dingle shop, as part of our preparations for the Easter rush, we had a meeting with myself, my brother, and the two shop managers to work out exact specifications for each of our desserts. Basically that means we made each of our desserts and argued over what exactly goes into them and what’s the best way of serving them.

We ended up with lots of desserts that we had to eat and, after tackling a sundae, I was faced with a chocolate milkshake. There is worse punishment to be had!

It’s easy making a milkshake, but hard making it smooth with a regular blender or food processor (we have a special shake blender). Here’s how you can do it:

Murphys Chocolate Milkshake

Ingredients (serves 1): 

2 scoops Murphys chocolate ice cream

1 cup milk.

What to do:

1. Put the chocolate ice cream and milk in the blender or food processor and allow it to soften for at least five minutes (or more if you followed my storage instructions and had to chip it from a rock-hard tub). Blending it straight away will leave lumps of ice cream in the shake.

2. Blend until smooth on high speed.

3. Garnish with cream and chocolate shavings if you have the patience and any about the place.

Enjoy!

(Of course it doesn’t have to be chocolate. You can make a milkshake with any flavour ice cream.)

Technorati tags: tips, chocolate, milk shake, milkshake, ice cream, Dingle

Although probably most of you know all about this, I thought it might be a good idea to discuss a few tips on buying and storing ice cream. There’s not much to it, and it might be a boring subject, but it can make a big difference in terms of ice cream enjoyment when the spoon comes out!

Ice cream can become icy or grainy when it’s not stored properly, and flavours can taste diminished.

So, starting at the shop:

1. Do the rest of your shopping first and pick up the ice cream last.

2. Make sure the ice cream tub is hard in the freezer. If it feels soft, the shop’s ice cream freezer may not be cold enough and the ice cream may not be at its best. It’s possible that the freezer is just going through a defrost cycle, but if it’s a regular occurrence, you should bring it to the attention of the shop manager.

3. Make sure the ice cream is well within its “best before” date.

When you get home:

1. Put the ice cream away in the freezer first (that is, if you don’t want to eat it immediately!). Bury it it in the back, if possible. Ice cream becomes icy when it gets soft and refreezes.

2. There is no such thing as storing ice cream too cold. If you have a freezer that is colder (chest freezers are usually around -30C) and one that is warmer (a normal freezer should be around -18C), keep it in the cold one!

3. If you open it, eat some, and return it to the freezer, putting on a layer of plastic wrap before replacing the lid will help keep the ice cream air-tight.

Finally, never refreeze ice cream that has been out of the freezer a long time or ice cream that has become melted! It could be a food safety issue.

Technorati tags: tips, buying, storing, ice cream, freezer

I just stumbled upon the following website that brought my attention to Ben & Jerry’s new flavour in the States: Black and Tan.

Even though I might be considered a competitor in the Irish market, Ben & Jerry’s is actually close to my heart because the two founders were two of many reasons I went into this business. They made ice cream more fun. They seemed to have fun at what they were doing. They had a social conscience.

I remember their ice cream as much better than it is now, before they became part of Unilever. I would eat a tub of Cherry Garcia at one sitting, marvelling at the huge chunks of chocolate and amount of cherries. I don’t remember any water in the ingredients back then.

A Black and Tan flavour? This is weird on so many levels. First of all, for some of their Irish-American customers, surely “Black and Tan” wont immediately bring to mind the drink but rather unsavoury historical references. Are they not aware of this?

Secondly, their website states this flavour is for “beer enthusiasts” but there is no beer (or stout) listed in the ingredients, just “natural flavours.”

It makes me kind of sad. Have they come so far from what they were?

Technorati tags: black and tan, Ben and Jerry, beer, ice cream, stout

I am giving away the fact that I grew up in the US by my love of brownies. The brownies here in Ireland tend to be way too fluffy instead of being dense and decadent, and sadly people often use poor quality chocolate.

The fluffiness is no doubt due to the flour. It astonishes me that it is next to impossible to get flour without rising agents in Irish supermarkets. Even most “plain flour” is anything but when you peruse the ingredients. In my mind, plain flour would suggest one ingredient - flour, but that is not the case (look!). Of course commercially there is a great range of flour options but in supermarkets we have just found two flours that are simply flour - Family Favourite Plain flour from Lidl and Supervalu’s Valusaver Plain Flour. So check your flour ingredients list (how strange it is to say that!) and make sure it says nothing more than flour if you want to avoid the brownies rising more than they will naturally with the eggs.

The same goes for the chocolate chip cookie recipe I gave here earlier.

Murphys Chocolate Brownies

Servings : 6   Preparation Time : 00:45:00 (including baking)

Categories : Pastries

Amount / Measure / Ingredient

250 grams Chocolate (55% cocoa content)

165 grams butter — at room temperature

3/4 tablespoons natural vanilla

300 grams sugar

135 grams flour

3 each egg

Instructions 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. Butter and flour an 10 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix until smooth.

4. Beat the sugar and eggs together.

5. Add the vanilla.

6. Slowly pour in the chocolate and butter, mixing all the time.

7. Sift the flour, then add, mixing thoroughly.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake just until cooked, 25 - 30 minutes (a knife should come out clean).

9. Allow the brownies to cool slightly. Then cut them into squares and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

10. Serve with ice cream and chocolate sauce for a truly decadent dessert!

Technorati tags: brownie, pastry, chocolate, ice cream, recipe

For anyone travelling between Killarney and Dingle, I highly recommend a stop in Milltown to visit the market there. Set in one of the prettiest buildings of any Irish market, it is certainly worth a browse, especially on a Saturday, when there are rows of organic farmers, bakers, etc. selling their wares. With a good range of natural products, organic and biodynamic wines, food, and gardening and farming supplies, it makes a very pleasant break to the drive. At the very least you will come away with some snacks, and if you have a green thumb and room in your car, you might come away with all sorts of treats for your garden.

You will find it in the old church on the right as you come into Milltown, down from the school and opposite the petrol station. 

The opening hours are Tues-Fri 2-5 and Saturday 10-2.

Meanwhile, unless you’re car mad, avoid Dingle each year during the rally, which is this weekend. Dingle town is at a standstill today and the roar of cars echo around the peninsula.

At times like these I get that parallel universe feeling as the whole town is taken over by an entirely different crowd of people than the usual visitors. Besides the racers there are spectators, hawkers of all sorts of racing merchandise, chipper vans just for the event, etc.

The roads are closed to the West, and even Dingle town is virtually impassable as boy racers rev their engines and creep along the streets looking to impress. Confused tourists wander around shell-shocked, a free day on their hands after being told they can’t visit sites or tour around the place.

At least this event is not marred by the violence that seems to accompany the Killarney rally, and I guess it is a wonderful thrill for people who live for their cars…

Technorati tags: Dingle, Killarney, rally, Milltown, market, tourism