Kieran

Hot Toddy Sorbet

HotToddySorbet2 OK. I know a hot toddy sorbet is an odd concept, since a sorbet is hardly hot, but it is tasty, and I wanted to share it. We made this flavour for the Malton Hotel in Killarney, and it’s been quite popular in our shops as well. Warning: it packs an alchoholic punch!

Murphys Hot Toddy Sorbet

Ingredients:

  • 340 gr sugar
  • 500 ml spring water
  • 100 ml whiskey (we used Kilbeggan)
  • 75 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey (or more to taste).
  • 2 cloves.

HotToddySorbetWhat to do:

  1. Boil the water with the cloves, then remove from the heat.
  2. Remove the cloves.
  3. Stir in the honey and sugar, until completely dissolved.
  4. Cover immediately and cool completely.
  5. Stir in the whiskey and lemon juice.
  6. Taste it to make sure you like it!
  7. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring at 1 hr intervals to break up the ice.

Notes:

1. It’s hard to make sorbet without an ice cream machine. You will need to interrupt the freezing process and stir, or you will be left with a block of ice! The more times you do this, the better the consistency will be.

2. Since both honey and whiskey vary so much in flavour, make sure you taste this before you freeze it, and add a bit more if you wish…

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Signs of Spring in Dingle

Crocus Although the weather has turned colder again, there are definitely signs that the winter is behind us and things are looking up.

A crocus has popped up in my garden, the daffodils are abundant, and in the fields all around us are the cutest spring lambs.

Spring lamb in Dingle

Seeing the little creatures appear and bounce about always makes me happy. They show that life goes on and that summer is coming.

Maybe it’s because I have my own little one on the way, but I’m feeling a bit sentimental!

I don’t really know what this year will bring in Dingle, but I’m not pessimistic. Friends with guest houses have reported strong bookings from April on, and we haven’t seen any drop off in sales. 

It may well be that even in tougher times people still need to get away to somewhere special and hopefully cheer themselves up with ice cream!

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A Refined Coffee Bean

Espresso with Coffee Beans We’ve been moving more and more toward organic with all the coffee in our shops, and yesterday our coffee supplier brought us in the most amazing bean – a Peruvian triple certified bit of magic. It’s grown at high altitude, is 100% arabica and is triple certified (organic, Fairtrade, and Rainforest Alliance). While that’s all very good, what really has impressed me is the taste. It’s just so clean and refined.

Our worry, however, is that when it comes to coffee in Ireland, many people seem to prefer a very harsh taste. We’ve always tried to have smooth coffees, but some people complain that our coffee is weak. There’s a full shot in every drink, and there is just as much caffeine, but they seem to be convinced that we’re putting less coffee in because it’s not super-bitter.

In a way, it goes to the crux of what we try to do. In most things, a delicate flavour is the mark of high quality. Think of a cheap or expensive vodka or whiskey – the cheaper ones are harsh, the better ones are smooth. It’s a big question of whether enough of our customers will appreciate the amazing, but delicate flavour of this bean. We know there will be those who will consider it far too “weak.” 

We’ll be testing it out on customers, but I think it’s the bean for us. We’ll just have to work on convincing people of its merits. My brother thinks that for those who want a more robust taste, we can use a second grinder with a dark-roast bean. After all, tastes do vary, and he is probably right that we should be giving people a choice.

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Chocolate Poll

 We’re trying to improve our chocolate ice cream, and it’s meant lots of chocolate tasting around the place (not too many complaints from that, mind you).

Chocolate is a very tricky flavour, I think, since people rarely agree on chocolate. It’s either too dark or too light, it’s either too rich or too thin. We’ve always done a medium strength chocolate, using real melted chocolate, which makes it very luxurious, but not really strong enough for serious cocoa-heads.

I think the way we will go now is to do a range of chocolate ice creams, from milk chocolate to dark chocolate. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to know what the average preference is out there, so please take a moment to vote!
[poll id=”3″]
Thanks!

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Twitter, twitter, tweet

cormorant Although I have been blogging for some years now, I have been a bit slow to embrace some of the other new media, such as Twitter. One of the reasons, I suppose, is that it’s hard enough to cope with the volumes of email coming at me already and to try to keep this site current and interesting (on top of making ice cream, etc.). 

Still, I can’t stand the idea of everyone else out there having fun and me being left out, so I’ve decided to give it a go! We will see where it takes me. For anyone interested, I’m @ kieranmurphy. Follow me, I’ll follow you! (My brother and partner in ice cream is here, by the way.)

As part of my Spring internet housekeeping, I’ve also finally put up a Murphys Ice Cream page up on Facebook, so if you want to contact us via Facebook or become a fan, check us out here.

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Black Sesame Ice Cream

blacksesameic One of the most dramatic flavours I encountered on our Tokyo trip was black sesame ice cream. It has a nutty, roasted flavour and it tastes like no ice cream I’ve tried before. Of course, black sesame is used quite a bit in Asian cooking, but it seems very well suited to ice cream. This is not a flavour for everyone, but there are people who have tasted it in our shops over the last week who have simply raved. If you want to try it, here’s a recipe:

Murphys Black Sesame Ice Cream

Ingredients:

  • blacksesame125g sugar
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 230 ml cream
  • 200 ml milk
  • 40 g black sesame seeds

What to do:

  1. Put the sesame seeds in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir until they start popping and you can smell the flavour.
  2. Remove from the heat and cool.
  3. Transfer to a blender and blend it until fairly smooth.
  4. Beat sugar and egg yolks together until pale yellow.
  5. Bring the milk to a simmer.
  6. Beat the milk into the egg and sugar mixture in a slow stream. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat.  Stir until the custard thickens (around 65C).
  7. Allow the custard to cool.
  8. Whip the cream and fold into the mix.
  9. Stir in the sesame.
  10. blacksesameic2Freeze the ice cream using a domestic ice cream machine.
  11. Otherwise, cover and place in the freezer, stirring every few hours to break up the ice crystals.

6 Servings.

Notes:

1. If you have trouble finding black sesame, check your local Asian food market.

2. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

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Blogging in Weekend Section

 Shane Hegarty, formally of Present Tense, has a piece on blogging in today’s Irish Times Weekend section, where he lists 20 of his favourite Irish sites. Thanks for including me, Shane, and I miss your blog! 

PS. Best of luck to all the finalists at tonight’s blog awards!