Talenti - Sea Salt Caramel

   As promised, here is the second of my Talenti flavor reviews, albeit delayed.

   Sea Salt. That is what caught my eye with this one. It is a BIG thing these days if you use sea salt in anything, even more so if you use it in a dessert. But wait. Salt in something sweet? Yes. Adding a touch of salt, especially high quality salt like sea salt, will enhance the natural sweetness of the dessert. If you say 'Made with sea salt' on your ice cream description, page, label, whatever, then people will flock to it "like the salmon of Capestrano".

   As with the previous Talenti flavor, this one was exceptionally smooth. I have never had a store-bought ice cream (gelato) with this kind of quality and texture. Cuts like butter. (I have to test that guar gum out for myself to see if it will work for me)

   The caramel base was a bit like sticking your nose into an oven that has charred food droppings lying in the bottom. It tasted like burnt caramel. That should be saved for the creme brulees of the dessert world. Yuck. Now, this ice cream was not quite that bad, but it did have hints of smoke. But you might ask, 'That's what caramel is, isn't it? Burnt stuff." No. It is burnt sugar, but you can burn caramel too. This is done by allowing the sugar to burn, making an amber caramel; then letting that caramel sit in the pan even longer until it too becomes burnt and a deeper brown color. That is when the taste becomes drastically different.
   The salt did add a great flavor to the caramel though. It was the saving grace. I am a huge fan of adding salt into my ice creams whenever I can. I think ice creams today are far too sweet, so I counter balance all mine with a touch of salt (a little more than a touch in my flavor 'Roasted Honey Nut'). The initial notes are of sweet, and partially burnt, caramel, but then the saltiness flows in like the great flood of Noah's day. Salt is where it is at.

   Ok. I thought the ice cream stopped there. No, sir. Unlabeled and unseen, these dark squares appear in my scoop. I checked the label again. 'Sea Salt Caramel'. Alright, then what is this?

   That, my friend, is a chocolate truffle. Very tasty little devils, I might add. They too had a touch of sea salt, and it worked marvelously with the dark chocolate. Sweet and salty: the greatest combo since peanuts and butter...
   Peanut butter.
   What I mean is, they were good. But only by themselves. The flavors clashed horrifically. The flavor of the salty caramel was powerful and potent. The salty chocolate truffles were equally powerful, though on a smaller scale. This gave rise to a epic war inside the mouth. A battle for top taste. As a result, I was the one wounded, and confused about which taste I wanted. I had no other choice than to take them together, which led to a re-battle!
   The caramel should have been the only thing in there. There was no need for them to add those chocolate truffle squares. That pushed this flavor over the top, and flew me over the cuckoo's nest.

 

  So, naturally, I crushed up some Oreo cookies for a little more action (expelling the white stuff). Talenti gelato is so incredibly smooth that is became obnoxious. I had to do something to balance it. CRUNCH. Ice creams are made to have crunchiness in them. Oreos are perfectly crunchy. Caramel and Oreo? Yeah, much better.

Thanks for reading. I now have another Talenti flavor in the freezer, so watch out for it.

-Reese O'Shirey, Esq.

P.S. Can anyone name the movie I quoted at the end of the first real paragraph?

Flavor Review: Talenti - Cappuccino

   This week found me in foreign worlds. The world of gelato. Gelato is becoming quite a trendy thing in America these days because it is Italian and cool and new. It is actually not new. In fact gelato has been around much longer than our ice cream. Gelato is just the Italian word for ice cream. So, intrinsically the two are not so different.

   Some of the ingredients used to make gelato differ from those of ice cream, and the amounts they are used in also differs. Guar gum? What the devil is that? Not wholly sure, but I will wager it is used as a stabilizer that prevents it from freezing solid, so that it is smoothly scoopable.  It's possible that it also acts as an emulsifier. Emulsifiers, or thickening agents, vary from brand to brand, and it is not surprising to see that they vary in gelato as well. Eggs are the most commonly used emulsifiers, and, as you can see, Talenti uses them too. Their gelato is also less fattening, lighter I should say, than the other leading brands. They must use skim milk, and other low-fat ingredients.

   I have often seen the sumptuous pint containers of Talenti resting in isolation behind the freezer doors in Publix, but have never been able to scrape up the extra cash needed to purchase one. Their price tag usually bests that of Ben & Jerry's and Haagen Dazs by about $1.40, thus turning me always toward the later two choices. But, this time Publix had it in their parsimonious hearts to discount them. I had to do a double take when I made my routine pass through the ice cream aisle. Two for $7.00? That's $3.50 a piece! After checking to see if my algebra was correct, I hesitated no longer, and grabbed the tastiest looking two of the select few flavors offered at our Tuscaloosa branch (which just stocked B&J 'Peanut Brittle' and 'Late Night Snack' two weeks ago.......over a year late!).
   Feeling thrifty, I left, and consumed them...mostly for your benefit, the reader, so that you can fear the foreign and strange woods of gelato no longer. It is safe.

   My first review is on the first flavor I tested, Cappuccino. The thing that burned its impression into my mind was its consistency and texture. After taking out of the freezer where it had set for a day, my spoon cut through it like a knife through butter (attributed to those unknown ingredients like the guar gum). That is the power of gelato. Its smooth creaminess is what trumps our native ice creams. In this area, I have yet to find a commercial brand that matches Talenti.
   My first bite made me feel like I was walking through a library with a Starbucks over in the corner where little thin guys with beards are nestled with their burnt coffees and laptops and trend-fitting glasses, trying to fit the social standard of their aspiring "group" by writing poetry and looking somber. It was odd, and it took several blinks to let my mind know that I was, in fact, still in my dusty apartment and that I did not have a beard (but my glasses were sitting on top of my book shelf).
   It was the best commercially produced coffee ice cream I have tasted. It beat Ben & Jerry's easily. I could not distinguish the notes of chocolate or coffee alone. It was so well blended together that they arrived at the taste buds as one, inseparable flavor. That is how the taste of Cappuccino should be. But my complaint is this: it was too espresso-y. Though the blend was smooth, it tasted like burnt coffee grounds, and that leaves the off-putting picture in my head of a soggy heap of grounds sitting in that white paper thing in the top of a coffee maker. Not my kind of flavor. The flavor I strive to emulate is that of true brewed coffee straight from the beans. It even says espresso here on their webpage. They admit it. Nay, the real way to create a coffee flavor is to use the actual beans, and the flavor they contain by seeping them into hot milk and cream.
   A good addition to the base were the dark chocolate shavings scattered throughout. They provided a texture difference, when one grows numb to the smooth gelato, and longs for a crunch or a crisp. But they were only slightly better than if they had thrown in Hershey's chocolate chips. They had good taste, but there still lingered that waxy chocolate crap found when cheaply manufactured chocolates are frozen.

   No doubt that Talenti is classy ice cream, and it is better crafted than Ben & Jerry's. On the back of the pint they make the point that it is craft ice cream: "Crafted by Talenti". But they are of a different mold. Talenti strives for that Old Europe style gelato, where the flavors, in their simplicity, get at the real ingredients instead of slapping you in the face with something new in every bite like B&J does. There is nothing wrong with harnessing true flavors, but one does grow bored of the repetition and vapidity experienced near the end of a pint of plain ice cream.

   Look for my next post on the second of my Talenti flavors.

Reese O'Shirey, Esq.

Flavor Review: Ben&Jerry's Clusterfluff

Ah, the quest goes on.

   I am a massive enthusiast and infatuate of peanut butter, so when Clusterfluff hit the markets back in March, I was amped. The first time I tried it was when I was visiting my brother in New York City. The second day I was up there Clusterfluff appeared in the stores, and we bought it upon first sight. I have had it countless times since then, and it has never ceased to satisfy.
 
Clusterfluff - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Caramel Cluster Pieces, Marshmallow Swirls & Peanut Buttery Swirls.

   The word is a play on a phrase I will not speak in words here, but it is pretty clever, though I do not endorse such language. This is a very dense ice cream. Peanut butter ice creams always, in B&J's case, make for the richest, densest ice creams on the market.

   The peanut butter base is by no means subtle. It is more potent than their other peanut butter flavor, Peanut Butter Cup. It has a high sugar concentration, which is something that I frown upon in peanut butter bases. With the sugary add-ins, there is no need for a sugar-dense base. It is too much. Let the natural saltiness of the peanut butter accent the sweetness of the add-ins.

   The caramel cluster pieces are just out of place. I have yet to come up with an explanation as to why their presence is needed in such a tasty ice cream. What caramel has to do with peanut butter and marshmallows is beyond me ("This foe is beyond any of you"). I see a recurring theme here; one that I have pointed out in numerous posts. B&J loves their caramel. They will, sure as the sun rises each day, throw it in wherever the opportunity presents itself; and in the event that it doesn't present itself, they will force it in by any means necessary (as in the case of Clusterfluff).
   The clusters are not even crunchy. They have become soft in their freezer incubation, and do not provide any sort of textural pleasure. I love a good crunch in ice creams, but the chewiness of the caramel clusters ruins each bite they are in.

   Marshmallows in ice cream? Yes. And it is brilliant. I have been wary of marshmallows in ice cream for many years, but I became a fervent advocate after trying Clusterfluff. They are like rivers of billowing clouds where one can dance along in blissful comfort and dreamy delight...
   They are gooey, soft, sticky, and creamy. All of which add a huge combination of awesomeness that counteracts the badness of the cluster pieces. If you try this flavor for one reason it should be the marshmallow swirls.

   Now, for my favorite part: even better than the marshmallow river of dreams are the swirls of peanut butter. They are uniquely, and oddly, described as "Peanut Buttery Swirls". But I know the very reasoning behind this naming. As I do in my ice creams, B&J combines peanut butter with confectionary sugar, which sweetens it and gives it a consistency better adapted for swirling and freezing. The taste tapped from adding sugar to the peanut butter is astronomical. It sometimes blows my consumers' minds. Without fail, in each ice cream that I add the peanut buttery ribbon, it immediately becomes the favorite aspect. So it is with Clusterfluff as well.
   I wouldn't call them swirls. I would rename them 'ribbons' or 'oceans' or something that would get at how large and thick they are. As shown in the picture, one peanut butter 'cluster' (they gave cluster to the wrong add-in) was more like the size of a spoon of peanut butter I eat late at nights or mornings or lunchtime or whenever I see the jar, and delve deeply into it as a Dwarf delves into a mine, and come out with a heaping mount of peanut butter. That is how this ice cream does peanut butter.

   Peanut Butter ice creams are always the most fat saturated. This is saddening, yet I never shy away from them. In fact, it spurs me on to eat them more. And I love every bite of it. And you should too because ice cream is not something you should ever feel guilty about. It is a thing to be loved, desired, consumed with the whole being, and not to be made 'low-fat' or 'skinny'. Leave those weak terms of self-consciousness to the yogurt lab-mountain-places. I say wield your spoon as if were a double-edged blade, keen as an eagle's eye, and thrust it into every pint you can reach. That is where happiness lies.

-Reese O'Shirey, Esq.

A Weekend of Creation

   This post has been a bit belated due to some issues with a camera, but that has been resolved, and now I am able to share with the world what happened the weekend of the 9th of July. For the first time since Christmas, I and my two brothers were in the Shoals together, the original headquarters of Shireshack. We knew this to be a rare occasion, so we decidedly made the most of our fellowship. After rummaging through flavor ideas for days (we have a growing list in our Flavor Bank), we finally found two that were both unique and inspiring.

   Bananutella - vanilla bean infused banana ice cream with Nutella covered crepe pieces.

   -This flavor was inspired and endorsed by Austin's adventurous life in NYC, where he consumes crepes by the dayful. The inspiration came from the delicious city delicacy of crepes filled with Nutella, and topped off with banana slices.
   -It began with slicing a madagascan vanilla bean from Beanilla, and scraping its seeds into a pot of steaming milk and sugar. We steeped the seeds and pod for about forty-five minutes to allow that natural vanilla taste to seep into the hot milk. We chose to add the vanilla bean to add more flavor and dimension to the base.
   -We used overly ripe bananas, so ripe that they were given to us for free at our local produce market, Rick's Produce. This gave us that rich, brown banana flavor tantamount to banana bread. After adding the pureed bananas, and chilling the base overnight, it came out as thick as pudding. As I've stated before on a previous blog, when an ice cream base is like pudding before it is put into the ice cream maker, then that is a very good feat.
   -The crepes were made the same as pancakes, but less flour was used to foster a more viscous mix. We laved the crepes in Nutella, and set them in the freezer to harden, so that they would be perfect for adding into our ice cream.
   -The banana ice cream was one of the creamiest I have made. It was replete with flavor and balance. It was a smooth texture and taste until one of the crepe pieces was found. The crepe pieces were like small islands of chocolatenut bliss. This ice cream proved that banana and Nutella are perfect counterparts. Bananutella will definitely be a scoop shop flavor in the future.

   Boy Scout - sweet corn ice cream with a salty caramel swirl.

   -This flavor was inspired by our days of scouting, and hot summer days of selling Boy Scout popcorn door-to-door, and being chased off by dogs...

   -It was the famous Trail's End caramel pop corn that inspired me to attempt its conversion into ice cream. Yeah, now that it is explained like that it doesn't sound so bad, does it?
   -It all began with fresh sweet corn from Rick's Produce. We shaved off the kernels, and steeped them and the cobs into a pot of steaming milk and sugar for an hour to allow the milk to soak up that distinct corn taste. It tasted similar to a creamy, corn pudding. Very good.
   -We added salt to our homemade caramel to counter-balance the natural sweetness of the corn and the added sugar of the base, and also to emulate that popcorn taste, which always has a tinge of salt.
   -The base was super creamy, and refreshing. A great summer flavor. The salty caramel was a perfect asset to the ice cream, and the two flavors came together in an explosion of flavor in the mouth.
   -We do not have a final picture of Boy Scout because our ice cream maker decided not to cooperate, and we were left with a slightly-thicker-than-normal milkshake...even after hours of freezing...
   -Not sure what happened there, but I will be making it again to get a good hero shot, and to experience its tastefulness again. There is no doubt that Boy Scout will be a future scoop shop flavor. It is a very unique flavor combination, and inspires creativity and open-mindedness.

   We will be reviving these flavors soon so that more of you can test them out for yourselves. Thanks for reading.

-Reese O'Shirey Esq.

Flavor review: Ben&Jerry's Dulce Delish

   My quest for gourmet ice creams brought me once again to the doorstep of Ben&Jerry's wide world of flavors. I have come to terms with the fact that B&J use caramel in every other flavor they produce, you should too because it is really good caramel.

Dulce Delish - Rich Caramel Ice Cream with Dark Caramel Swirls.

   The base: Dulce Delish is a play on words for dulce de leche, a typical move made by B&J to spice up the experience. The caramel base that paved the backdrop for this flavor was deep, rich, dark, and mysterious. It was like a curtain blocking the view of the whole picture. I kept trying to pull it back, but it obstinately refused to move. Thus, I was left with a caramel base that tasted burnt, bordering the precarious line between tasty caramel and creme brulee. I am no advocate of burnt caramel (I've burned caramel, and it ruins the flavor). This turned me off a bit. It was not bad overall, but if it had been a normally cooked caramel base, then the flavor would have been luscious instead of "rich".
   However, a major plus to counteract the sub-par flavor was its extreme creaminess. Caramel, because of how thick and syrupy it becomes when cooked, creates a thicker ice cream than other variations of flavor.

   The swirl: the swirl was better than the ice cream. Though described as "dark" in the description, it did not taste as burnt as the base did. It had dark color, and huge flavor. It tasted tantamount to those chewy, square caramel candies found in individually wrapped plastics in those gold bags in Walmart candy isles.  I've always liked those candies, and this ice cream brought me back to those days of scoffing them down by the handful.

   Not my favorite B&J flavor, but it was not bad. I would have tweaked the taste a bit. When I venture upon Haagen Dazs' version of Dulce de Leche, then I will consume it, and compare the two. Thanks for reading. I will press on with my quest for gourmet ice creams, testing out the flavors of your local market so that you can boldly approach the ice cream isle, and confidently choose an approved flavor.




-Reese O'Shirey Esq.

Flavor review: Ben&Jerry's Peanut Brittle

   My quest reached great heights this week with the consumption of a very tasty ice cream. Because I made my own peanut brittle flavor for the Fourth, I decided to grab B&J's version to compare.


   Peanut Brittle - Peanut Brittle Ice Cream with Peanut Brittle Pieces & a Caramel Swirl.

   First off, this ice cream is super creamy. I'm going to hit each of the aspects of this ice cream separately.

1. Peanut Brittle ice cream: this was a flavor that, when first tasted, made me blink, and take another look at the pint label. Yep, it said 'peanut brittle ice cream'. I don't even know how that's possible. But it tasted exactly like peanut brittle, the old fashion good stuff that my grandpa used to make. They could have infused the cream mixture with peanut brittle candy, but I doubt it. It's more likely that they just added the right combination of ingredients to emulate the peanut brittle taste. Now, this is something that my brothers and I at Shireshack ice cream try to do with our flavors. This, however, is not something regularly seen in B&J flavors. Usually they just add things in that they think tastes good without trying to truly replicate a flavor's flavor...
   Peanut brittle is made by caramelizing sugar, corn syrup. This is what they would have had to put into their base to make it taste the way it does. It's brilliant. One of the best bases I've had by B&J.

2. Peanut Brittle pieces: these were of decent size, but not large chunks as seen in other B&J concoctions. They are literally small bits of hard peanut brittle, and their taste is powerful just as the candy is. They add a nice crunch to the creamy ice cream, which creates a world of differing textures; this is a great way to please the consumer.

3. Caramel swirl: for a long while I wondered why B&J put this in peanut brittle ice cream because I thought, "caramel has nothing to do with peanut brittle, and it tastes way different." I came to two conclusions--
   1. B&J puts a caramel swirl in an ice cream every chance they get. I'd boldly wager that 50% of their ice creams have a caramel swirl in them.

   2. I came to my second conclusion when I personally made my own batch of peanut brittle. As I said up above, the main source of that sticky mixture that comprises the molding for peanut brittle is sugar that is boiled into caramel. Ahhhh, that is why they did that. It works great. It's very smooth and sweet. Caramel is one thing B&J do extremely well...maybe that is why they use it so often.

   If you haven't had this flavor, then you are missing out on something spectacular. I guarantee that after you have eaten this flavor, you're life will be better for it. This flavor has been the best I have yet to encounter on my quest for gourmet ice creams. The way B&J did their peanut brittle base absolutely scores one for them in the gourmet column. Later this week (maybe tomorrow) I will be venturing to another realm of flavor. Stay tuned.















(It's worth every frightful calorie)


-Reese O'Shirey Esq.
                                                                              

Flavors for the Fourth

   The Fourth of July is the common name for Ice Cream Day. Not many people know this, but it's a fact. Everyone knows it's America's birthday, but a select few realize that the greatest way to celebrate America's forthcoming is to make and eat ice cream.



   Every year Grace Life Church of the Shoals holds a Fourth of July picnic (even if it's not on the 4th). This pleasant gathering is accented with blow-up items for the kids, Swamp Johns catered food, music, and wholesome family fun. But what brings the whole night together are the tables off to the side laden with buckets and buckets of homemade ice cream.

   Ah, the cold, creamy joy that is held in each bin can be felt as 6:30 approaches slowly, and the lines begin to form well in advance. This year, Shireshack made it's first appearance (last year I had the help of one of my partners, Austin Shirey, and we went under the alias 'Shirey Bros. Ice Cream Co.') Same ice cream, different name, different flavors, better quality. I took it upon myself to make two batches for the special occasion because I wanted to get my flavors out there, and also because I've had raving feedback about them and more and more people have been anxious to try it ("be anxious of nothing...except ice cream", I think it says.) The two flavors were a celebration unto this country, despite not having any patriotic colors or names. I used my favorite food ingredient: the peanut. Peanuts are widely and bountifully grown in the great state of Alabama, so I took advantage of them heartily.

1. Yellow Brittle Road - vanilla malt ice cream paved with homemade peanut brittle.

   I've been developing this flavor mindfully for sometime now. I've had Ben&Jerry's and Haagen Daaz's versions, but they left me in want for something greater, something tastier that would do the old, classic snack justice. My Grandpa used to make his own peanut brittle, and, as a kid, I ate some much of it that it made me sick one night. I hadn't eaten it in nearly 10 years. Couldn't stand the thought of it. Since then I've matured and wisely began eating it again. I missed out for a long while.
   Peanut brittle is elementary to make, but difficult to perfect. This was my first time testing it out. I had been talking over its inclusion into ice cream with my counterparts, and we decided that a unique way to introduce it would be to crush it into small pieces, so that it resembles Butterfinger in texture (not taste). And this is what I did. To facilitate this, as if it (the peanut brittle) knew what I intended to do with it, it came out slightly softer in form than the normal peanut brittle. Usually it is like a brick, and can crack a tooth. Mine, after it had hardened, had the crunch, but chewed like hard taffy. This worked perfect for what I wanted to do.
   I chose a malt base because vanilla alone was too simple, and plain. But vanilla malt added another element of flavor that would not complex things; rather, it would intensify them by creating a canvass in mild taste and flavor. It worked perfectly. I have to tweak a few things, like its inclusion amount, to make it a flavor I would sell in a scoop shop. The peanut brittle was the star of the ice cream with its huge crunch (a highly desired aspect for me) and bold taste, but it was supported by a brilliant base.

2. Roasted Honey Nut - extra-salty peanut butter ice cream ribboned with caramelized honey folded with roasted peanuts.

   Peanut butter is my favorite ice cream. Now that that is out there, we can proceed, and you can get an idea about why and how I do what I do with the amazing nut.
   Over the years I have grown tired of tasting pints of candy ice cream, and ending with dissatisfaction. By candy ice cream I refer to their "fake" taste fostered by their usage of liberal amounts of sugar. So, I chose to counter this commercial mistake by adding salt to my ice cream. You might be saying to yourself, "Hey Reese, there's already a bunch of salt in peanut butter." Well you're right, but not enough. Not enough for ice cream, that is. You see, ice cream contains sugar, it has to, or it would be tasteless cream. I add extra salt, and lots of it, to not only counter-balance this sugar effect, but to enhance the peanut flavor and to over-balance that sugar/salt scale so that it weighs down onto the salty side as opposed to the opposite outcome. If you had the pleasure of trying this one, you'll then know what I am talking about. It's salty. And it's good. It's the best ice cream I've ever had. Not to toot my own horn...but "Toot, Toot."

   I caramelize the honey by pouring an entire jar into a pan, heating it to boiling, and allowing it to cook there for several minutes. This does magical things to honey. Its color deepens to a dark amber; its flavor ripens and intensifies to a richer, sweeter, more powerful taste, which is recognized when it begins to aromatically release in warming waves from the stove top. That is when you have achieved greatness with honey. To this I had home-roasted and salted peanuts, and let them cook for a bit with the honey to let the flavors seep in and out.
   This ice cream is the essence of salty and sweet. That was the hope, and that is the outcome. Very salty counteracted with very sweet. It lights the taste buds up. It tricks the mind, and as a result you are rewarded with unparalleled tastiness.

   I had great, positive feedback about the flavors. Thanks to all who tried them out, and to those who were to afraid of them and settled for the bins of icy, plain, in-the-box, eggless, vanillas and chocolates, then I am sorry, and I urge to you take a step of faith and reach out toward greater things.
   This weekend my Research Director in NYC comes home to the Shoals, and together with our eldest brother, who is in charge of design, we will be churning out magic. Call us Wizards of Ice Cream if you want. Check back later this weekend for details, thoughts, and processes of our churn outs. Thanks for reading.

Eat more ice cream.

-Reese O'Shirey Esq.