Category Archives: Recipes

Kitty’s Raspberry Rosewater Sorbet with Pistachios

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I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day for all the typical reasons, but my friend Catherine (aka Kitty B) suggested a flavor that sounded very promising: rosewater and raspberry. Perfect for the holiday that we all love to hate. With the Middle Eastern element of rosewater I decided to toss in some chopped toasted pistachios, because why not?

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Pure pink.

 

This is a very simple, yet elegant sorbet that you can do a lot of different things with (different berries, flavors, or nuts being the most obvious modifications). Rosewater can be found at specialty stores pretty easily, and a little goes a long way — if you find it too fragrant, you can dial it back to two teaspoons.

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You Can’t Spell “Bernie” without BNR

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Habeas Custard doesn’t believe in political parties (don’t get me started on nationalism, either), but today is the New Hampshire primary and, interestingly, ice cream has become part of the race — at least on the Democratic side. Ben Cohen, one of the founder’s of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, has begun a fundraiser for Bernie Sanders based on income inequality. It’s a version of mint chocolate chip ice cream in which the chocolate is in the form of a disc at the top of a pint, and the mint ice cream is at the bottom. In a metaphor for the 1% and the rest of us, you have to break up the chocolate 1% disc and mix it into the rest of the ice cream.

Another Ben (also known as BNR), a friend of HC, contacted me about this and I responded with a version of “Well, anyone can do that.” It’s not very difficult. Moreover I don’t believe in gimmicks (beyond the gimmick of naming your ice cream blog after a legal term and then never discussing the law despite being a lawyer) — and this reeked of gimmickry. Plus, it’s basically crème brûlée but with hard chocolate, and then mixing it up? Please. That’s more trouble than it’s worth, and messy, as seen in the video. I’m not a Coldstone Creamery.

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All you need: base, chocolate, and mint.

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Jason’s Burnt Blood Orange & Almond

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I’ve long been a fan of Tim Mazurek’s blog Lottie + Doof, which is a very thoughtful series on food, culture, and how we talk about eating in the U.S. His style was in some ways an inspiration for my own tone here, and I frequently make his recipes (in particular, the ginger beer, which is a staple in my refrigerator). He also has a great eye, as demonstrated by Lottie + Doof’s photography, and the black bowls pictured below were recommended by him in a gift guide.

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Raw ingredients in goth bowls

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Robot Coffee

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If the last entry was a play on a BiRite classic, this one is a reinvention of one of Humphry Slocombe’s best-known flavors: my version of their Blue Bottle Vietnamese Iced Coffee.

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#rivalry (photo by AM)

In SF, Humphry Slocombe is the punk rock analogue to BiRite’s mainstream power pop (how’s that for a belabored analogy?). I actually first learned of them from the New York Times Magazine, because I am not cool. Humphry Slocombe does many weird flavors (although their flavors have gone a bit more mainstream in the last few years, to my mind), many of which I love and many of which I love to make (Rosemary’s Baby and Roasted White Chocolate Lavender among them). Continue reading →

GH’s Faux-canelas

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An update! HC’s friend Charlie (who got married in the last post, L.A. Story) wrote to tell me that he was looking up a Jeni’s recipe and that it used cream cheese. This would explain the consistency that I found so unusual! (I corroborated this with HC’s friend Joe, who among other things was once a pastry chef, who agreed with me.) Mystery solved — maybe.

On to today’s installment. Bi-Rite is one of the Bay Area’s treasures, a grocery store and ice cream shop with two locations (one near Dolores Park, the other near Alamo Square). The line for the Bi-Rite Creamery can extend down the block, in an archetypal display of our local love for queuing.* I love a lot of their flavors, particularly Crème Brûlée and Brown Sugar with Ginger Caramel, but Ricanelas (cinnamon with snickerdoodles) is also very good.

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Mona’s Lime Sorbet with Candied Ginger

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My mom’s reaction to my giving her the credit for my interest in cooking was typical for our family (“Why did you say I was the reason?!”). In our family we’re not great at compliments. As I told her, “You know, some parents would be happy about their children given them credit, even if it wasn’t deserved.”

I spent four years in grad school in Ann Arbor (#goblue) and one of my favorite spots to hang out was Zingerman’s — the famous deli, specialty food store, and café. I spent many hours there studying intellectual property and technology policy. One of my favorite Zingerman’s traditions is that many of their sandwiches are named after different people — something I’m going to adopt here.

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So Basic

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In my mind, there are two main types of ice cream bases — those that use egg yolks, and those that don’t (which are based solely in milk and cream). I use the egg yolk version most often. It creates the typical mouth feel we associate with ice cream. Unctuous without greasiness, it’s that smooth sensation you remember whenever you hear the phrase “cookies and cream.”

The downside of yolk-based ice cream is that the flavors you add won’t come through as cleanly as they would with just a milk/cream base. I actually don’t think this is a problem. If you use fresh ingredients for flavoring — spices, nuts, and everything else — I don’t think this is much of an issue. I find dairy-only bases to be too icy and harsh for proper mouthfeel. They lack the proper viscosity.

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