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| What's Your Favorite Flavor? By: Nicola Pioppi It’s only gotten hotter since Athena’s last issue, and we’re all looking for ways to refresh ourselves; what better treat than ice cream? Grocery stores offer a variety of flavors and shapes, but if you’re interested in some truly unique ice cream, consider your local ice cream shop. Most small ice creameries make their product on the premises and in small batches, but that doesn’t stop them from getting creative. This writer's own favorite ice cream shop is Dave and Andy’s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dave Tuttle and Andy Hardie were two friends who founded the business in 1983. While Dave has left the ice cream business for the potato chip business, Andy still runs the small store in Pittsburgh, which has created over 400 flavors in its history. AMG sat down with Andy to ask about his and Dave’s original inspiration for the store. As a business major in college, Andy knew that he wanted to be involved in a small business, and ice cream seemed the way to go. “We kicked it around, did some experimenting,” he said, “And our original flavors were chocolate, vanilla, cookie dough, and cookies and cream.” One the day we stopped by the shop to talk with Andy the daily offerings were vanilla, chocolate, cookie dough, and birthday cake, which replaced cookies and cream, and is currently the best-selling ice cream. Birthday cake ice cream is a blend of vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, mixed with home-made (surprise!) birthday cake. Six other flavors are offered on a seasonal basis, including, mango, mexican chocolate, oatmeal raisin cookie, and strawberry. When I asked if there had ever been any unpopular flavors, Andy laughed. “Last summer we had a White Chocolate Honey Habanera Swirl ice cream…it was super spicy,” he said. “I liked it, but I guess not a lot of other people did.” While this sort of creativity makes the ice cream store popular, the real draw is their homemade waffle cones. You can smell them baking from down the block! If you want ice cream that is even more unique, try making some yourself! You don’t need a hand-crank or a fancy machine to do it; just the ingredients and two containers. The list of ingredients is short; you’ ll need: 1 cup milk or half and half (the more fat the better; Dave and Andy’s has 14% butterfat, and to be legally considered ice cream in the U.S., it must contain at least 10%) 2 tablespoons sugar ½ teaspoon vanilla flavoring or cocoa powder 2 quarts of ice (crushed works best) 1 teaspoon salt (most ice cream makers use rock salt, but kosher works well too) First, mix the milk, sugar, and flavoring and put it into a quart-sized bag, or a one pound coffee can. Make sure the bag or can is sealed tightly. It’s a good idea to double-bag. You can use any kind of container really, but coffee cans work well because of the metal’s conductivity, while storage bags ensure an even coating of ice around the mixture in the next few steps. Next, put the ice and salt into a gallon-sized bag or a three pound coffee can, then put the other container, still sealed, into the bag or can with the ice. Then you shake the bags or the cans; in ten to fifteen minutes, the liquid mixture should start to solidify, turning into ice cream. The idea behind ice cream is that the cream is slowly freezing, creating the smooth texture of ice cream, rather than a cube of frozen cream; this is why you want an even coating of ice around the cream mixture. This is just a basic ice cream recipe; a “Philadelphia-style” ice cream. You can add any fun things you can think of to the ice cream: sprinkles, chocolate candies or fruit! My favorite thing to add is peanut butter. Andy’s advice is to use good, high quality ingredients. And remember, there’s nothing wrong with plain chocolate or vanilla! |
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