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.  My 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.  

I 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 I 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!