Sucking you in with a mild-mannered cover, the opening line of the intro: ”Hey bitches, thanks for buying our ice cream book” is not exactly what I was expecting…
As I very quickly found out, this book is not your usual warm fuzzy ice-cream love-in…yet it is. Humphry Slocombe store owners Jake Godby and Sean Vahey obviously are in the midst of a steamy hot love affair with ice-cream…not with each other, as the book kindly points out…but certainly with the ice-cream.
Flavours like ‘Elvis (the fat years)’ and ‘Salt and Pepper (a.k.a salt-n-pepa…push it real good)’ are testament to their modern (and some would say wacky) ideas, but it all seems to work. The back-story on how Humphry Slocombe came into being is fantastically witty, fun, and in some places disturbing but certainly entertaining. They take you through the dingy back streets of their suburb and its residents before walking you into the basics of how to make some absolutely wicked ice-cream.
When it gets down to it, this is a recipe book, so does it deliver?
the trial
Because we are running headlong into an Australian summer I was really excited to pull out my ice-cream machine and get it cranked. Caramel is king in our house, so the Balsamic Caramel seemed like the only place to start. The Humphry Slocombe boys say that this is one of their softer ice-creams, so in retrospect I should have lowered the temp in my freezer to get the ice-cream machine’s bowl as cold as is possible for a domestic freezer.
Caramel has a tendency to burn and burn fast, but if you keep an eye on things you should be ok. When making the custard I’ve found four hands are better than two. I am always paranoid that the egg is going to scramble…and scrambled egg does not equal custard…so I employed the hubby to slowly pour the hot cream/milk/caramel combo over the egg whilst I whisked my little heart out. I could have used one of the easier recipes to start off with, but the balsamic caramel looked too good to resist!
thumbs down
The only thing I struggled with was having the list of ingredients on a different page to the method, so I was constantly flipping back and forth. Once I have made the custard base again I think this won’t be so much of a problem, but it was getting pretty annoying by the end.
thumbs up
The final product was A-MAZ-ING, the tang of the balsamic vinegar with the sweetness of the caramel was sublime. Very intense though, so two scoops is more than plenty in one sitting. I made a quick batch of almond praline to go with it, I took the caramel to the brink of burning…and just managed to bring it back…but the slightly burnt caramel flavour ( like the top of a creme brulee) actually fit like a glove with the vinegar.
the wrap
The recipes are easy to follow, have handy tips and any bits and bobs are handled in the ‘Dumb answers to your smart questions’ at the back. If you can make the custard base, you’re set; it is the base for almost all of the flavours. Overall, it is an entertaining read with great recipes. The style might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is rough and tumble and the guys are authentic to themselves and their community…it is not your typical sweet, fairies and gumdrops type of ice-cream book. If you are after fairies and gumdrops you might be more comfortable with something else, but you would be really missing out on some adventure and great ice-cream.
I ♥ ice-cream xx
