ice cream maker

Dimple's Mom

I'm going to get an ice cream maker. Does anyone know how the Rival compares with the White Mountain?

I'm tempted to get the electric model as I'm thinking no one wants to sit and crank. How long do you have to crank when using the hand crank model? We'll probably mainly use it when we have our apple pressing party and everyone will be busy with the apples. But it does seem like the hand crank has more of the old-fashioned appeal. Or does it just come down to the finished product, the ice cream itself?

Advice, please, from anyone who has and uses one.
Thanks.

Schwadamaga

I have an electric Cuisinart ICE-20. It works great for everything I do with it. A manual ice cream maker gives you better control over the air content in your ice cream if you wanted to make gelato. If you happen to have a KitchenAid mixer you could always get the ice cream maker attachment for that and get the best of both worlds. Good speed control and no manual labor.

Dimple's Mom

Since doing some reading online, I'm now thinking towards the two you mentioned rather than the White Mountain, which apparently is made by Rival now anyway. I do have a KA so that would be handy, if my older model will work with the attachments.

Seems I could get a good Cuisinart one at Costco too for less money. Since the KA and Cuisinart ones are considerably less money than what I was looking at, at this point it's more about quality of finished ice cream product than about cost of the appliance. Do you have any experience to compare one with the other?

I recently had a fabulous ice cream that was super smooth (at an ice cream store, not homemade) and was salty caramel flavor. I can't get that out of my mind - must try making my own! Have you made anything like that?

Fidel

We also use the cuisinart and love it. My wife does all the ice cream making but the machine does a fantastic job.

She did a caramel ice cream last year that was to die for. I can try to get the recipe for you if you would like it.

Schwadamaga

I know with my Cuisinart the smoothness has a lot to do with the recipe. The easiest recipe makes great ice cream and is super simple.
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine ingredients, then turn on the ice cream maker and pour the ingredients in. Wait about 25 minutes and you have some great vanilla ice cream.

If you are looking for a smoother recipe look for one that involves boiling the cream and milk and incorporating egg yolks. (I dont have that recipe memorized but can look it up later if you would like)

As far as brands go I don't know much other than the one I have. I had a hand crank growing up and I don't think I would ever go back to that... If I wouldn't have gotten the Cuisinart for a gift I'm sure I would have gotten the KA, just because it gives me so much more control over the speed. I have heard that a slower speed is what is needed for gelato. Finding Gelato where I live is pretty much impossible...

Dimple's Mom

Yes, please, I would love that recipe. Do you have the same model cuisinart as the one mentioned above?

Dimple's Mom

I may get the KA so I can make gelato. I have a pretty old KA. I got it in 1986. It's a K45SS. So I have to double check that it would work.

And I may get the cuisinart art one if they have it at costco when I'm there (I don't go often) just because it sounds easy to use and has good reviews. Plus, I'm most likely to make homemade ice cream for parties and big crowds, so it wouldn't hurt to be able to make two flavors simultaneously in two different devices.

There seem to be a lot of recipes for ice cream online so I'll have no shortage of ones to try. Will probably use the ones that utilize eggs some of the time as we have chickens and always have too many eggs laying around. Seems like a very good way to use them up!

Thanks for all the advice. Any tricks to using the machine itself I should know?

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

the electric white mountain ones are fine. you might also want to get one of the smaller size, where you keep the core in the freezer ready to go.

Fidel

Ours is a 2qt CIM-60 (I think). That's what it says on the bottom of the thing.

This is the recipe she uses:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramel-Ice-Cream-104852

Fidel

That's how ours works. We have two cores and keep one in the freezer while the other is full of ice cream.

Nothing beats the homemade stuff.

Gator Bait

 
I gave the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker to my mother for her birthday one year. I don't remember the model number but it came from Williams-Sonoma. She was in her eighties and had a love for ice cream. I was the one that always made it and I found that they work best if the freezer bowls are kept as cold as you can get them. As long as the bowl is cold enough it would make great ice cream. I always made a "frozen custard" with eggs. Use your Thermapen and never let a custard get over 170º or it will break (the eggs will form lumps). Also, you can make your custards in advance. Keep them in a well sealed container and they will keep for a day in the frig. If I had time I would chill them in the freezer before making the ice cream, cold is the key. When you get the hang of it you can start to eggsperiment with your own recipes. Try substituting half the milk with cream, add enough peppermint extract till it taste right and a splash of red food coloring. A couple minutes before it is done dump in some crushed peppermint candies. Serve with homemade hot fudge sauce and you will think you are in heaven. :laugh:


Gator

 

Boilermaker Ben

I have the Cuisinart ice cream maker, and I love it. The only downsides are that it makes just over 1 quart, where the old hand crank models usually made two or more. Also, you've got to plan ahead. The bowl must be in the freezer at least overnight before using. I keep mine in the freezer all the time, so I can make ice cream whenever I want. And you have to cool your ice cream base, if you're making custard.

Here's a salted caramel ice cream recipe. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/04/salted_butter_c.html

He's also got a "tips on making ice cream" page:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/07/how_to_make_ice_cream.html

Dimple's Mom

Thanks. I haven't gotten off the island yet, so haven't bought anything yet. Altho I will probably order the KA attachments off the internet.

I do plan to keep the bowl in the freezer all the time. We have a separate freezer in the garage, so plenty of room. In fact, I'd like to have an extra bowl or two. So hopefully if I pick up the Cuisinart one at Costco, it'll come with info on how to order extra parts and I can get an extra bowl.

Thanks for the recipe and tips link. I'm sure it'll come in handy.

Grillin & Chillin

Hi D.M.
I just noticed your post. I have collected White Mountain Freezers for years and restore them on the side. IMHO they are the best. The wood bucket and quality of parts are great. I have some of the old 2QT & 4QT green churns I bought off EBay and they make nice displays when not in use around the house. The cranking is not long, about 20 minutes or so depending on if your sitting outdoors on porch etc, have done it for less time with results of great soft serve that my wife likes. I do have one of their electric units but only use it for lots of company. Cranking out 2-4 QTs for 8-10 people is a good conversation time with the kids or a couple of us guys taking a few 5 minutes turns, just seems to taste better to me (probably in my head) but others seem to comment more on the ice cream when they see it done the old fashion way. You can buy tons of parts on EBay and build yourself exactly what you want with extra tub's etc. Hope this helps

Dimple's Mom

That was what I orig was looking at but I guess the new ones are made by Rival and not as good. Lots of comments about metal bits getting into the ice cream.

I'm not really a dyi so would not be restoring them! I do think the appeal is there for a party to let people taking turns and people would really like it.

The reality is that most often I'll make ice cream ahead for a party and have it ready to go and would not want to be cranking ice cream myself when there's so much else to do. I probably could get dh to do it. Our kids are grown and out of the house or at college.

If I could get an orig White Mountain (I'll have to start watching ebay, I didn't think of that!), I would get it to set aside and use just for parties. We do a big apple pressing harvest party every fall and it would be fun to have it for that, but I think I'd get a lot more use out of the KA attachment and/or Cuisinart machine.

Angela

Used to use the Cuisinart one but the White Mountain makes much better textured ice cream and freezes better. Bought the electric one also because I knew we wouldn't want to crank that long.

The differences between the Rival and White Mountain are that the Rival uses an aluminum can and the White Mountain's is stainless steel. The aluminum ones tend to get holes over time, at least in my experience. Also the White Mountain dasher is cast iron, not plastic which conducts cold much better and as a result freezes better.

Dimple's Mom

Okay, I bought the Cuisinart from Costco. The model number does not match up with what most posted here, the ICE-20. On the box it says CIM-20WEBPC.

I know that manufacturers will put specific model numbers on for specific stores. Like Costco, Sears, etc. So do you think this is really the ICE-20?

It was $40.

It came with two freezer bowls.