Spices, cheese, ham and tequila are churned into creamy treats
May 1, 2017
Ice cream, long a favorite American treat, is a blank slate, ripe for the addition of just about any flavoring and limited only by a chef’s imagination and the ingredients at their fingertips.
To keep ice cream fun and interesting — and diners coming back — more chefs are churning it out in-house, using savory ingredients and influences borrowed from main menus, or whimsical combinations that go together so perfectly that diners may wonder why they didn’t think of them first.
“The inspiration came from wanting a fun combination,” said Tina Contes, chief confectioner at Dough in Tamp, Fla., about the shop’s off-menu special, the Doughnut Ice Cream Sundae.
“Doughnuts à la mode are popular with our guests. We wouldn't want them to have to compromise and choose doughnuts or ice cream,” she said. “I also thought if you could have a great scratch-made dessert and hold it in your hand it would be accessible and fun for everyone.”
The combo dessert, which will move to the main menu this summer, features a honey glazed raised doughnut with the bottom of the hole left intact. It’s dipped in chocolate, topped with sprinkles and filled with a choice of housemade ice cream.
In addition to classic flavors, this summer guests can choose to add one of two new flavors: cold brew, with chunks of KitKat candy, and whisky cherry, with hints of brown sugar, oak, toffee and dark fruit.
Creative combos are intrinsic to the menu at Hinoki & the Bird in Los Angeles, a Japanese restaurant that uses California ingredients.
For dessert, executive chef Brandon Kida offers a matcha affogato, an Italian-meets-Japanese dessert made with vanilla and green tea ice creams and black sesame shortbread that is drowned tableside in frothed matcha tea.
Cultures mash in the Matcha Affogato at Hinoki and the Bird in Los Angeles.
“Ice cream, regardless of what country you’re in, is a comfort food for all,” Kida said. “When a chef puts his twist on classic ice cream-based desserts, or any food with such a wide appeal, diners will love it.”
The culinary team at Morcilla, a Spanish restaurant in Pittsburgh, is collaborating with Millie’s Homemade, a nearby artisanal scoop shop, to create exclusive ice creams using an array of spices and kitchen scraps.
Currently on the dessert menu is arroz con leche ice cream, a whole-fat ice cream made with toasted jasmine rice, star anise, vanilla bean and orange zest, served with marcona almond streusel and membrillo-sherry sabayon. In the works is a ham-flavored ice cream made with leftover bones and scraps from the Spanish hams featured on Morcilla’s menu.
Among the “gelato al minuto” flavors offered by chef Doug Psaltis at RPM Italian, which has locations in Chicago and Washington, D.C., are pistachio with wild Italian strawberries and burrata gelato with imported Italian cheese, candied tomatoes, basil, extra-virgin olive oil and Maldon sea salt. They’re made with locally sourced milk and are churned to order in an Italian gelato machine.
Arroz, the newest restaurant from Washington, D.C.-based chef Mike Isabella, offers dishes that incorporate the flavors of Spain and North Africa, including desserts such as the ras el hanout ice cream sandwich. The dessert features ice cream flavored with the traditional Moroccan spice blend (made with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and other spices) that is served between chocolate cookies rolled in ras el hanout pecans.
Creamy Boozy, tequila ice cream with churros and berries at Agave in Oakland, Calif.
Similarly, at Agave Uptown in Oakland, Calif., chef Octavio Diaz showcases the flavors of Mexico with made-from-scratch tequila ice cream.
Diaz serves the creamy, boozy treat three ways: a scoop or two topped with an assortment of berries, as a Oaxacan ice cream sandwich with tequila ice cream on top of fried sweet dough (made from plantains and topped with cinnamon sugar), or with freshly made churros for dipping.
“As a classic, ice cream is refreshing and will never get old, but people love innovations to classics, which is part of our theme at Agave Uptown,” Diaz said. “Tequila ice cream is a part of our culture, and we wanted to share that.”
