Test Run
Well, I pulled out our old recipe and updated it with eggbeaters, and tried it out on some well-fed trail friends this evening.
Vanilla Ice Cream
4 eggs (I use a dozen)
2 cups sugar (I cut it to 1 1/2 for family)
7 cups milk (This amount varies.)
3 cups cream
3 Tablespoon vanilla (use the real stuff.)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or less)
I used roughly the eggbeater equivalent of a dozen eggs. Also, I make this in my 6 quart freezer. Hand crank. Yes, it matters.
Place everything in a mixing bowl. witholding most of the milk, and beat it to nearly a froth. Pour in freezer, adding milk to about 4/5 or so of the capacity. Start crankin'. When it is done, you will have ice cream trying to push the lid off. Maybe.
Serve, and stand back for the comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a tasty batch of ice cream. The eggbeaters are certainly an adequate substitute for the real thing, but they are a substitute. I found the texture to be somewhat crystalline. Some folks actually preferred this, saying that today, so many products are so smooth, they taste (feel) artificial. And they would be correct knowing all the agents put in today's food just to give it a certain texture. But the original recipe gets its texture honestly by being the real deal. Whole milk, whole cream, raw eggs. And of course, pay at the pump, if you are so inclined. (Your heart health.)
About sugar: several people commented this evening that they enjoyed the ice cream because it was not too sweet. Commercial taste tests have shown that the sweeter item trumps the less sweet item. People, rats, monkeys, college students, they are all alike in this. So, food designers, looking at cost, take out the good stuff (expensive), and add sugar. And it sells. Trouble is, many of us just do not like the choices on the grocery shelf, and wish for something else. So, we make our own. And for me, I like it less sweet, so go with the 1 1/2 cup choice if I am not serving a crowd.
This ice cream will certainly be on my list for the appropriate trip. You know the one. Someone places hot peach cobbler on your plate, the next guy drops two big dollops of home made ice cream on top, you pour some fresh coffee in your mug, grab your chair by the fire, and conversation kinda tapers off until the low moans, and appreciative murmurs run their course. You think you might even sleep all night, then the trail leader sets tomorrow's start time back one hour, and you remember why you worked so hard getting here.
I hope it is like that for you.
Dale
