How To Guide: Toasted Sesame and Honey Gelato

Toasted Sesame and Honey Gelato

I finished making my Toasted Sesame and Honey Gelato a few days ago, but just haven't found the time to put it up onto my blog until now. I promise I'm not failing my goal of posting a recipe every two weeks...yet! Yum, Gelato!

I followed a recipe from the book "Making Artisan Gelato" by Torrance Kopher. This book has a good mix of history, technique, and recipes. I actually read through this cookbook front to back, which is typically not something I do with cookbooks! With gelato, it's all about the perfect ratio of ingredients. I've tried a few recipes from this cookbook and they've all turned out amazing. I've tried some online recipes from different websites and they were always too icy at the end, because there was too much liquid ingredients and not enough fat and sugar to counteract.

Due to copyright reasons, I won't be posting this recipe. However, I highly recommend purchasing the book if you're interested in making your own gelato at home. The results are better than what you can get at the grocery store, and comparable to what you can get at a good gelateria! I'll explain the basic gelato-making process below.

How to Make Gelato

 1. The gelato ingredients are pretty simple. No chemicals or weird ingredients here! The base of a gelato usually consists of whole milk, heavy cream, egg yolk, and sugar. You don't want to try going low-fat here. It will cause the ratio of liquid, fat, and sugar to get out of balance, leaving you with an inconsistent and less tasty finished product. The other ingredients vary depending on what flavor profile you want to create. In this case, I'm adding sesame seeds, honey, and toasted sesame oil.

2. The first step is to mix the egg yolk with the sugar in a non-reactive bowl. This process actually "cooks" the egg yolk, so you don't need to worry about consuming raw egg yolk. However, if you are still concerned, you can use pasteurized eggs. Whisk the egg and the sugar together until it is foamy. If you look closely at the second picture below, you'll see that there are small bubbles in my egg mix. This is the consistency you're looking for.

4. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat up the whole milk and your flavoring ingredients while constantly stirring. Once it reaches 170 degrees, take it off the heat.

5. Now comes the step of tempering. Be careful with this step, since a mistake could mean starting from step 1 again! Slowly pour a fifth of the milk mix (step 4) into your egg and sugar mix (step 3), all while whisking. This is very important! You don't want to pour too much of the hot milk mix into the egg yolk too quickly, or pour the liquid in without stirring, because either of these mistakes will cook the egg! And who wants cooked egg flavor in their gelato??? Continue this process until you've mixed half of your hot milk mix with the egg mix. Tempering allows the egg yolk to be heated up without actually cooking it. Slowly pour the mixture back into the hot saucepan, all while stirring.

6. Heat the mixture until it reaches 185 degrees, then take it off the heat.

7. It is easier if you have a hand blender or an immersion blender for this step, but a blender will work fine as well. Just be careful of the hot liquid, and don't fill the blender more than half full! Blend the mixture to a smooth consistency.

8. Get an ice bath ready by using two non-reactive bowls. I generally use two glass bowls for this step. You can prepare an ice bath by putting ice cubes in a bigger bowl, and then setting a smaller bowl on top. Once you have prepared the ice bath, pour the heavy cream into the small bowl.

9. Pour your heated mixture through a strainer and into the heavy cream. The strainer will catch any "chunks" that your blender may have missed and help ensure a smooth consistency in the final product. I added my sesame seeds at this step, but you can also wait until step 11 to add your mix-ins.

10. Stir your mixture every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. The goal of this step is to cool the mixture down quickly and evenly. You will notice the mixture becoming thicker as it cools down. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

11. Time for the gelato machine! I have a "Lello 4070 Gelato Junior" machine, but any ice cream maker should work. If you have a removable container and blade, I would recommend putting those in the freezer prior to this step. This ensures the gelato mix remains cold as it transfers from the refrigerator to the machine. Follow the instructions for your specific machine.

12. Once the machine has finished, pour the gelato into a freezable container. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for a few hours to harden and finish the process.

 13. Enjoy your tasty gelato!