Frozen Dessert

This ice cream is just fun. We use the natural starch in the popcorn to thicken the ice cream base; then we use a whipped cream canister to create small popcorn like bites in the liquid nitrogen. You can serve the popcorn ice cream in a bowl (with spoons on the side, of course), and watch grown-ups revert to childhood as they discover your secret.

We created this ice cream on a whim one day. We were debating what to do with a batch of grilled potatoes that were striking for their sweet, smoky flavor. Aki tasted and joked that they would make an amazing ice cream, and Alex took the idea and ran with it. We were both surprised by how good the resulting ice cream tasted, and it has since become a staple in our repertoire. Ice creams with a savory slant are becoming more common, especially in warm weather. We like to serve this with caviar, steak tartare, and as a garnish for chilled potato leek soup.

Adding homemade nonfat Greek yogurt is one of our favorite ways to add the richness of dairy to recipes without making them heavy. It has a wonderful creamy texture and tang that balance the sweetness of white chocolate. It’s important to use a good-quality white chocolate because it makes a real difference in the flavor of the ice cream. We like Valrhona, although several premium brands are available in supermarkets and gourmet stores. You can deepen the flavor by caramelizing the chopped white chocolate in a 250°F (120°C) oven for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Depending on the season, this frozen yogurt is wonderful with fresh berries or macerated citrus slices.

Meyer lemons are believed to be a cross between the Mandarin orange and the common lemon. They are available seasonally and have a delicate floral aroma and less acidic juice than common Eureka lemons. Here we make a traditional lemon curd and then thin it to make the ice cream base. If you want to use just the curd, simply eliminate the milk. We use it to balance the richness of the curd and produce a smooth, creamy ice cream that is not overly heavy on the palate. The bright Meyer lemon flavor really makes this a standout.

This is an unusual use for an underutilized vegetable. Parsnips are naturally sweet and flavorful, with a delicate earthy flavor. This ice cream was originally developed as part of a caviar dish with sake-cured steelhead trout roe, nasturtium leaves, and fruit leather made from tart cherries. Its creamy color makes people think of vanilla or sweet cream, but once they taste it they are caught, intrigued by the unusual flavor, and they often make a game out of guessing what flavor it is. The caviar dish was a great success, and since then we’ve paired the ice cream with strawberry pie, chocolate tarts, and rhubarb crumble. It goes almost anywhere vanilla ice cream does and adds an extra layer of flavor and an element of surprise.

Brown butter refers to butter that is heated quickly in a sauté pan until the milk solids just turn golden brown; it is then used immediately for cooking. It is a delicate operation because if heated a few seconds too long, the butter solids turn black and an unpleasant bitter taste is all you have to work with. Brown butter has developed a cultlike following and is now made specifically to be used as a flavoring agent in nontraditional recipes from sweet to savory. While we were working on ideas for increasing our output of brown butter, Michael Laiskonis, pastry chef at Le Bernardin, blogged about his experiments with brown butter. He shared a technique of reducing heavy cream until it separated into clarified butter and milk solids. This led to a discussion in the blog comments about the best way to extract the most milk solids from dairy and how to get the best yield of brown butter solids to play with. The discussion culminated with a tip from Cory Barrett, the pastry chef at Cleveland’s Lola Bistro. He suggested using nonfat dry milk to increase the yield of caramelized milk solids, and recommended letting them brown slowly in butter, then steeping them overnight to increase the butter flavor. This is why we love the Internet. It brings like-minded people together. Thanks to Michael and Cory, we now have access to a new approach, which yields a bounty of brown butter solids to be integrated into innumerable dishes. For our brown butter solids, we melted 2 sticks (224 grams) of unsalted butter and added 1 cup (80 grams) of nonfat milk powder. One of our favorite uses for brown butter is this ice cream. Just wait until you taste it.

The brilliant white milk ice cream with a chewy texture of my childhood was made with sahlab (also known as salep; see page 46), the ground root tuber of a member of the orchid family, and mastic, a hard resin exuded from the lentisk tree. It has become something of a mythical ice cream, as it can no longer be found in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, countries that used to make it. Sahlab is very expensive, and what you buy is often adulterated. Be careful not to use too much mastic, as the taste would become unpleasant.

This is a modern version of dondurma kaymakli without sahlab. Mastic and rose water give it an exotic allure. The mastic, a resin exuded from the lentisk tree, is sold in small, hard, translucent lumps, like crystals. It must be pounded or ground to a fine powder with a pestle and mortar, together with a pinch of sugar.

This wonderful ice cream is quite different from the usual orange granita. Make it a day before you want to serve it.

This too is modern.

This is not an old, traditional ice cream but one developed by Egyptian expatriates in Europe with traditional ingredients and flavorings. It is very rich. Some Indian and Middle Eastern stores sell blanched and slivered or ground pistachios. If they are not available, you will have to buy shelled pistachios and blanch them for a few moments in boiling water to detach their skins, then peel them (a time-consuming labor), and grind them. Use 1 cup shelled pistachios to obtain 1 cup ground ones.

Buy very ripe melons with a sweet fragrance that you can smell from a distance.

A brilliant white milk ice cream with a chewy texture made with sahlab (called salep in Turkey), the ground-up root tuber of a member of the orchid family, is very difficult to make successfully at home, so here is a modern version that I also love. It is without sahlab, so not chewy, but the traditional flavorings of mastic and rose water give it a special appeal. You should pound, then grind the tiny lumps of gum mastic (see page 6) with a teaspoon of sugar to a fine powder with a pestle and mortar (or use a spice grinder). Use very little as otherwise the taste can be quite unpleasant.

The flavors of mango, lime, and chile are inspired by Mexican street food. Granitas can be made a day or two before serving. Granitas are just as satisfying as ice cream, and you don’t need a machine. The flavors are limited only by your imagination.

This tart sorbet is great on its own as a palate cleanser, but it tastes even better when paired with store-bought vanilla ice cream. Whichever kind of grapefruit you use—pink, white, ruby red, or yellow—the hibiscus ensures a lovely deep-pink color. If you don't have an ice cream maker, turn the sorbet into a granita by freezing it in a 9x9x2" metal pan and mashing any big chunks with a fork after 1 hour. Freeze for 1 hour more, then scrape until it's as flaky as shaved ice.

Savoring dark chocolate daily is linked to lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that can lead to excess belly fat. Chocolate and flat abs? Fab.