Gelatos n Ice Cream

Jappy,

I normally read this side of the column but don't participate as you guys are pros, however, I can answer your questions as I've made both many times.

First, ice cream is exactly what it says it is: ice CREAM which the dominant ingredient being cream. Normally, more air is infused in the process to make if lighter. It is much heavier than gelato in taste and weight because of the density of the cream.

With that being said, gelato has a base, in Italy, of 100% milk and no cream at all. We add a small amount of cream here in the USA as we don't have access to the high butterfat content milk they have in Europe. It does make it lower in fat than ice cream and a flavor & texture that is like nothing else in my opinion.

Your basic recipe that you are using is pretty close if you are making a basic non-fruit flavor such as vanilla, amoretti, chocolate, pistachio, hazelnut, etc. as the acids in the fruit will affect your "custard". To give you an idea of how gelato started, a basic Italian pastry filling was made and was then chilled but it was overchilled and the formation of this new dessert started. As most pastry creams are similar in recipe to what you have above, you have the base for gelato. The flavor change by the infusion of whatever flavor you want to add for your basic 'custard' or 'cream'.

When making one with fruit flavors, you follow a different recipe using sugar, milk and a small dose of cream with a dash of lemon juice to enhance the flavor of the fruit. As the fruit has acid, the addition of the egg yolk and the cooking will break down the custard so it's why the fruit is a non-custard base, more like an ice milk.

I hope I answered some questions for you and thanks for letting me contribute here.

Doug

The only real difference between a custard ice cream and a gelato is the amount of overrun. Keep it at 20% or less and you have gelato, let it go much above that and you have ice cream.

Jappy,

As I mentioned, in traditional flavors, like chocolate, vanilla, hazelnut, etc, egg yolks are used as you need it to make the 'custard' style base for your gelato. However, if you are going to make a fruit flavor, using fresh fruit, then you just use the sugar/milk/cream.. no eggs as the acids in the fruit not go well with the custard.

If you are making basic flavors, like I mentioned, then by all means, use the egg yolks and follow your recipe. I checked mine and it's about the same.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy it. You could end up being the gelato king in India!

Jappy,

One other thing.. the texture will be very smooth and creamy yet low in fat. Think of it like a soft serve or frozen custard ice cream but with less cream to it. There's nothing like it and I just got back from an Italian market who does make it.... just heaven and like a trip to Italy without the airfare:D

If you need more help, let me know and I'll send you the recipe I use.

Ciao...

It's the amount of air incorporated into the product. When you process frozen desserts you will notice that the volume at the end is greater than the volume that initially went in the machine. That's primarily due to air and is called overrun. If the volume increases by half you have a 50% overrun.

I prepare ice creams and sorbets at the restaurant in which i work, and basically, as everyone has said, Gelato generally does not cream as its base. However, gelato does contain more egg yolks than traditional ice cream. Depending on the quantity used, generally Gelato contains almost 3 times as much egg yolks than ice cream, however, due to this fact, Gelato isnt exactly a low-fat alternative to ice cream. Of course, each chef has his or own method on how to make a true Gelato. The joke is, There are more methods to making a Gelato as there are Italians who can throw an insult (LOL). But seriously, the real difference aside from the omission of cream is the churning process. Most ice creams machines here in America are not equipped to make a proper gelato. They spin at too high of speeds therefore whipping too much air into the base. If you have an ice cream machine that has a variable speed control of the churner, you might be able to make a good gelato. But even if you don't you can still make delicious ice creams. Here is my tip for ice creams in general and it has never failed me at work: Do not heat your egg yolks and sugar over a double boiler. Unless you watch it very carefully, you will have a good chance of curdling (cooking the eggs). Instead here's what I do: I whisk in the sugar, egg yolks, and flavorings in a bowl. Then I place the mixture in the cooler to cool completely. Once cooled, I boil my milk and/or heavy cream until almost foaming over. Then I add the cream/milk mixture into the cooled yolks and sugar. The heat of the cream/milk combined with the cold yolk mixture will sort of balance each other out so that while the yolks will cook enough to destroy any potential bacteria, it wont get too hot to cook the yolks. Whisk until the mixture is encorporated, then cool down and place in ice cream machine. My method is 4 cups cream (or whole milk), 14 egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar, and then whatever (non-fruit) flavorings you wish to add. As mentioned by some chefs on this forum, do not use egg yolks for a fruit-based ice cream/ gelato. In fact, I've come to the pont now that whenever I make a fruit-based ice cream, I skip the cream altogether and instead make a sobet. I have a devised a method of making fruit sorbets that actually have the texture of ice cream, without actually even having any cream in it at all. But that's another topic.