ice cream wet dream

rosemary popcorn (reflection of reflection of elysian fields farm)

chicago was antelope sausage and roasted red pepper gelato, tobiko and tamales and tangerine truffles, but one of the most remarkable things we ate was hidden under the lamb at alinea, a “popcorn soup” we recounted almost hourly in the days that followed. back home, we concocted this homage: a single-strain four-egg rosemary ice cream, steeped with fistfuls of buttered popcorn; plus granola, crushed blackberry, the hand of memory an aromatic utensil.

lavender juniper white chocolate

reached a whole new level of textural perfection with this one, altering our milk-to-cream ratio forever as a result. leftover lavender was put to use the following evening on some super bossy grilled lamb. snagged the last baggie of juniper berries from christina’s; expect to see more juniper ice creams in the near future

red beet

nick said “i just want to make an ice cream that tastes like dirt”— so we did. and the color was too beautiful to believe but it still tasted like dirt and we almost didn’t mind when someone left the paper quart in a sink full of dirty dishes and rendered the whole batch inedible

apricot basil

warm brown butter walnut marmalade; store-bought organic sugar cone because the sourdough cones aren’t ready yet

carrot cumin orange ginger

I recently started working at Flour bakery and cafe in fort point. It’s really inspiring to be around incredible food and so many people that are passionate about it. this ice cream is inspired by a soup we had one day.

thai iced tea

thai tea is a popular blend of tea from thailand. the flavor is a complex combination of cinnamon, vanilla, anise, cardamom, and cloves. over the years I have developed a love for iced thai tea especially served with boba from bubble tea shops. when iced, thai tea is usually flavored with sweetened condensed milk, which is also used as the sweetener for two of my favorite coffee beverages- vietnamese coffee and the spanish latte. the recipe for this ice cream is also sweetened with condensed milk and contains no actual raw sugar.

pink lemonade chocolate chip

this ice cream was created by simply replacing sugar with powdered lemonade mix. while it is a bit, dare I say ‘immature’ for our tastes, it’s still a fun and interesting flavor. the bitterness of the dark chocolate offsets the sweetness of the ice cream. we decided that if we one day open an ice cream shop (and who knows, maybe we will) that “the kids would love it.”

lemon with balsamic-poached cherries

delicate, tart, addictive. the only problem is that this batch made far too much; have nearly two quarts chillin in a tupperware. friends, neighbors, kind samaritans, bon vivants everywhere: come on over to my house for a scoop or six.

s’moked

bittersweet chocolate base with a shot of espresso and ~2T mexican smoked salt; burnt marshmallows that were marinated for an hour or so in brown butter, brown sugar, cinnamon & black pepper and then scorched over the kitchen stove. chocolate campfire. (marshmallow sous-vide to come)

coconut saffron

lately i’m all about short ingredient lists: there is a ceremoniousness, i think, an elemental architecture in threes & fours, the pleasing arrangement, the source of each at the front of the mind. so when i saw this quick trick from david lebovitz, i knew—despite 1 of 4 ingredients being the world’s most expensive spice—that it’d be my inaugural project in my new place, with my new machine. i rode my bicycle to super 88 for color therapy and palm sugar, came home and took all of 15 minutes to mix up the soup. salt geek that i am, i added a pinch of apricot murray river salt, which seemed right for the color palette of this flavor. it might be my new fave.