Smores Ice Cream

I'm so excited to present to you Yumma Yumma's very first guest blog post. And its by none other than Superking himself; English major, computer genius, and ice cream maker extraordinaire!!  Superking likes to make up his own recipes but we did get a few ideas from another blog, Spache the Spatula.

ah, summertime.  the mild, vernal climates of spring have begun to ebb, and mother nature beckons us to the maternal clutch of her warm embrace.  her calescent similitude and clarion skies are harbingers of all things exuberant, things we so dearly reckon with such a season:  a holiday spent frolicking amongst the heaves of azure sea, scintillating displays of dignified patriotism, midgets in powdered wigs playing backgammon whilst they regale one another with tales of butterscotch pudding and adult diapers.  it is summer.

having noticed it was now June, and because it was over 9000 degrees outside (fahrenheit, kelvin … look, when it's this hot it's irrelevant), AND because my wife bugged me a bunch - it was ice cream time.  but what flavor?  i've done chocolate, peanut butter, honey, strawberry (and a buncha others i can't remember) we scoured the internet looking for something unique - and we found it.  s'mores.  yumma yumma.

this recipe differed a bit from my usual forays into home made ice cream.  this one did NOT use a custard base (no eggs).  SIDENOTE:  yep, raw eggs.  i know.  salmonella, and yellow fever, and in-grown toenails, and AIDS - the government says you will experience all these things if you prepare food using raw eggs.  i guess i've just been lucky so far.

anywho, the Cuisineart mixer/churner was in place and the freezer bowl was -9000 degrees for extreme coldness.  the hardware was in place, but now to prep the ingredients.

first i heated up some heavy cream.  at lot of recipes for ice cream call for milk.  lame.  heavy cream (in nearly all cases) is far superior because fat in food tastes awesome.  don't believe me?  ask your tongue.  the only time i wouldn't use all heavy cream would be if the additional ingredients have a high fat content (e.g., peanut butter).  and even then, it would still taste crazy delish.

once the cream was warm/hot (not lukewarm, but not boiling) i proceeded with the marshmallow infusion.  did i measure anything?  no.  numbers are for accountants and idiot savants.  it took a bit for the marshmallows to melt into the cream but a few minutes of patient stirring ensured proper infusion.  bear in mind that there's oodles of air in the marshmallows and as they meld final-scene-of-Terminator-2-style into the cream, the mixture will wax increasing in volume.  don't panic (or do).

having prepared the base, our classic s'mores flavors were going to be provided by crunched (NOT pulverized) graham crackers and chopped chocolate.  the semi-sweet Ghiradelli bars were the obvious choice, our base being pretty much processed sugar suspended in liquid fat.  milk chocolate in this ingredient would doom any of it's consumers to instant and cataclysmic diabeetus.  

hee hee, just kidding!

only good chocolate please

freezer bowl + churner  + lid = hammertime.  let's churn us some ice cream.

i dumped the base into the churner and let it churn for a good 20 - 30 minutes.  it was fairly warm when i added it, so it didn't really start to thicken until it got chilly willy.  REWIND:  remember the part earlier i mentioned, about how the volume goes crazy mad when you add the marshmallows to the cream?  well, now that it was cool it got way lower.  i arrived at an impasse:  go with the current volume of ice cream (barely a quart), or really quickly heat some additional cream and toss in the remaining marshmallows.  In an almost 1980s movie montage'esque fashion i dumped the remaining cream in a pot, cranked the burner heat to 11, and dumped in the remaining marshmallows.  like a boss.

Superking;s kitchen chaos

once the mixture was sufficiently heated, it joined the already churning base in the churner.  a few minutes later it thickened and the mix-ins joined the battle for culinary glory.  was it pretty?  no.  was it perfectly sanitary?  no.  executing something this epic takes a lot of dirty work.  this is an uphill battle for epicurean superiority.  this is guerilla cooking.  (i was gonna say "this is Sparta", but that whole joke is really played out - i mean, the movie came out in 2006, and even if it was more recent, its relevance to this blog post would be weak at best.  in that pivotal scene, King Leonidas of the Spartans was conversing with an emissary off an encroaching foreign land whose desire was - by negotiation or by force - to seize control of the Spartans' lands and alter their entire system of governance.  i'm only making ice cream.  i hope you see the conundrum i'm faced with here.  perhaps it is best we move on.)

can I lick the freezer bowl?

at about 40'ish minutes in, it was ready.  i pulled the mixing arm, only to realize that i forgot to (beforehand) find an appropriate container.  i tore through the (questionably) organized plastic container cabinet and found a container and matching lid.  i scooped the ice cream into the container.  the few remaining bits of chocolate, and marshmallow, and graham cracker were dumped on top of the gooey concoction and hermetically sealed before placement into the freezer.

it turned out yumma yumma (if i may say).  my wife seemed pleased with it (and refused to share it).  so, i guess we've got a point in the win category on this one.  geez, i can't believe i wrote so much.  really, if you're still reading this - you deserve a ribbon or a medal or something.  i personally woulda said "tl;dr" a while back and bailed.  anyways, go make some ice cream.  enjoy your summer.

Mokomandy's

Who would have ever thought Korean food and Cajun food could go so well together?? A while back a good friend of ours (thanks Jay) recommended this crazy little restaurant nearby that served just that...a combination (not a fusion so they say) of Korean and Cajun cuisine.  This place may be located in the middle of the Northern Virginia suburbs riddled with boring ol' chain restaurants but Mokomandy's is anything but boring or a chain. In fact, between the cool atmosphere, the amazing food, and friendly service, for a moment you might think you actually teleported to the city somehow.  This "casual fine-dining" restaurant hand-crafts every single dish bringing a modern twist to both cuisines creating a unique and delicious dining experience.

Their menu offers small plates, medium plates, and large plates.  Superking and I stuck to mostly small plates so we could try as many items as we could stuff in our mouths! Here's a look at what we ordered...

Fois Gras Dumplings...juicy braised duck wrapped in a beautiful little dumpling pouch and served with a house-made plum sauce and a tiny radish and sprout "salad".  The duck was perfectly moist and flavorful, the plum sauce had a lovely sweetness, and the radish provided a crisp fresh crunch.

we actually wanted to order their Gator Croquettes but they were all out

Oyster Po' Boy Sliders...3 juicy little oysters breaded in cornmeal topped with lettuce, tomato, and a remoulade sauce all on their own adorable little brioche buns.  I'm not a fan of oysters...I've tried them several times prepared several different ways...not a fan.  But these, honestly didn't even taste like oysters (I mean that in a good way!). They were actually quite tasty! And not slimy!

Wild Boar Bowl...this was one of their medium plates, or bowl rather.  Braised wild boar meat in a bowl with kimchi rice, kochujang (a red pepper bean paste), laver (a type of seaweed I think), a few carrots, a fried egg, and sweet potato chip for garnish.  The red pepper paste provides a little spicy kick and the boar meat was tender and juicy!

At one point during this course, the hostess walked by and noticed Superking liking a certain hot sauce on the table. She stopped and asked with a devilish grin, "would you like something hotter?" Tentatively Superking says yes. She returns a moment later with a non-descript, non-labeled bottle filled with a dark sludgy sauce and says, "this is our Ghost Chili sauce."  For those of you who may not know, ghost peppers are among the hottest in the world.  To put this in perspective...the scoville chart which measures hottness of peppers says that a simple little jalapeno is about 4,000 scoville units.  A habanero is roughly 200,000. A ghost pepper...over a million.  In other words, don't go near these things unless you have a death wish. Luckily there are other ingredients in their Ghost Chili sauce besides just the ghost peppers to help cut the heat a little but its still pretty daggone hot! Use very very sparingly!

Ssam...no thats not a misspelling, and its not short for Ssamuel.  Its basically like a Korean taco where you use a lettuce leaf as the shell and inside is pork (though there were also chicken and veggie options), purple rice, kochujang, sesame, radish, and scallions. The lettuce cups were crisp and fresh and the pork was tender and a little spicy.  Every flavor was perfectly balanced and delicious.

One last small plate we had to try before delving into dessert...Wagyu Carpaccio.  You just don't see a lot of Wagyu so its hard to pass up.  This carpaccio was served with a nice clump of greens on top drizzled with soy sauce, sprinkled with pine nuts, daikon radish, and believe it or nor a few slices of pear! It sounds odd but the pear added a bright sweetness to the savory salty wagyu carpaccio with the soy and nuts.

Finally we order dessert and as we're waiting the owner brings us a dessert we didn't order. "Oh I don't think thats ours," we said. The owner replies, "I know but we made an extra one so we thought you'd like to have it!".  Ok, an extra dessert can't hurt, right?

Chicory pudding with chocolate sauce, pecans, cane syrup salted caramels, and fresh cream.  Omg! It was light and fluffy and creamy. Flavors of coffee and chocolate and caramel. And these lovely caramel wafers buried beneath all the chocolate sauce and cream; it was like finding buried treasure!

Then came our real dessert...Beignets. Ah, beignets! Even saying the word makes me happy.  Beautiful little donut holes, fried crispy on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with 4 sauces...chocolate, caramel, strawberry jam,  and cane syrup.  We even dipped a few bites of our beignets in the leftovers of the first dessert...yumm!

Left: caramel; Top: cane syrup; Right: strawberry; Bottom: chocolate

Needless to say, we were so stuffed when we left they practically had to call a crane to roll us out to the parking lot.  But every bite was so worth it.  A cool urban atmosphere, friendly attentive service, and awesomely delicious and unique food. Its very refreshing to find a hidden gem like this so close to home. Can't wait to go back!

the aftermath

Honeysuckle Sorbet

Summer is officially here!! Aside from the horrid humidity and suppressing heat we get here in Northern Virginia, I love the summer.  Cute skirts, flip flops, the beach, and ice cream.  I mean, I eat ice cream all year round. I'd eat it every day and at every meal if I could. (Yes, I know I'm a little obsessed with the stuff.) But there's something special about eating frozen treats like ice cream and sorbet and Popsicles in the summer. They taste better and they remind me of childhood and vacation. *Sigh*

my honeysuckle bush

it was hard work picking all those little flowers

Late in spring every year, my front yard is enveloped by a sweet aroma.  I walk outside my front door and down my sidewalk. Next to my sidewalk is a nice big tree engulfed by a huge honeysuckle bush. This year when it bloomed, the sweet honey smell was just so intoxicating. I knew there must be some way I can harness the power of this beautiful flower. So I began searching for recipes.  The first one that popped up was this one for Honeysuckle Sorbet.

Yumm!! Seemed easy enough too.  Let's go for it!

honeysuckle blossoms

soaking in water overnight

mmm...sweet honeysuckle water...

Ingredients:
5 2/3 cups cool water
4 cups honeysuckle blossoms, tightly packed but not smashed*
2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups water
Few drops lemon juice
Dusting of cinnamon
Directions:
Add cool tap water to flowers. Place in a nonreactive container (glass or stainless steel) and let stand on the counter overnight.
The next day, make a simple syrup by heating sugar and 1 2/3 cups water in a saucepan over low heat until the mixture is clear, then boiling it for a minute or so, until the syrup begins to appear lustrous and slightly thick.

sugar + water

= syrup

Remove from heat and add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent the sugar from recrystallizing. Cool the syrup.
Strain the honeysuckles, gently pressing the blossoms so as not to waste any of your efforts.
Combine the honeysuckle and the simple syrup and add just the merest dusting of ground cinnamon — a hint will enhance the honeysuckle flavor; even a bit more will overpower it. [I've been told that the secret to a really good sorbet is alcohol. Particularly vodka. It helps keep the sorbet from becoming too hard. I actually used about 2 tbsp of peach flavored vodka.]

peach vodka

straining blossoms

Put the mix in a glass baking dish, let it freeze a little, stir and smash with a fork. Wait another couple of hours and do the same thing until it's almost frozen through, then put it all in a blender so its gets nice and snow-like. It need to be taken out of the freezer a few minutes before you serve it. [Or instead of doing this step, pour the mixture right into your ice cream maker (it will be warm and very liquidy) and let it churn about 40 minutes. It will still need to go in the freezer for a bit before its the right consistency.]

churning in...

the best little ice cream maker

Makes 1 generous quart. [My ice cream maker is 2 qt and not all the mixture fit in.]
* Note: Four cups of flowers is the least you will need to make this worthwhile. If you're using more, adapt the ingredients as follows: Use 1 2/3 cups water for each cup of flowers for the initial infusion. For the syrup, use 2/3 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar for every cup of flowers.

almost frozen

This sorbet had a sweet honey flavor with a slight hint of peach. A perfect flowery perfumey sweetness to welcome in the summer!

served with fresh blackberries