Make Ice Cream As Thick As Butter
Pros:
Easy-to-use and maintain, fully self-contained ice cream maker yielding professional-quality results.
Cons:
Tank-like weight means it will resolutely occupy the space you place it on.
The Bottom Line:
If you want small batches of exquisite, artisan ice cream, you've found your machine. This burly, no-frills, straightforward muscleman gives you exactly what you care enough to make.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I have to admit, if it's shiny, there's a pretty good likelihood I'll buy it. Shameful, I know.
But the Musso Lussino Ice Cream maker is more than just shiny. It's a solid, fully-contained churner of ice cream heaven. Key, here, is the compressor (refrigerator) that chills the unitary bowl. You can presto-up some ice cream in about 30 minutes of churning.
A note to address complaints of long churning time: Chill your mixture, first! And turn the compressor on for about ten minutes before starting so that the refrigeration is fully up to speed. Doing so is not surprising nor inconvenient - no freezer will overcome physics without ridiculous over-supply of coolant and energy.
Ingredients, of course, are crucial to any gourmand. I opt for Scharffenberger semi-sweet chocolate in my egg-yolk and cream base; or real vanilla bean; or what have you. Making a careful base adds 40 minutes or so to prep time, so allow an hour from start to finish.
The operation of the machine is blessedly straightforward: A button to turn on the compressor, a button to turn on the churner, and a wind-up timer for it all to turn off. If you turn on the compressor and then turn it off, there will be a ten-minute wait for the refrigerant to rebalance itself. Noise level is perhaps a bit high-ish, but not objectionable nor unexpected.
Though the churning bowl is not removable (the unit top contains the bowl, formed from a single sheet of stainless steel), clean up is very easy. I use hot water and a bit of soap with a sponge and paper towels. The bowl is not large. It typically takes two runs for me to freeze a half-gallon recipe of ice cream. Of course, I could just make less. But I think we all know that way lies madness.
The metal churning blade is very effective, manufactured to churn very close to the bowl edge, mixing the entire contents. I have found that I can over-churn if I am not careful, turning the cream to the consistency of butter. Which, of course, is what it is.
Scharffenberger chocolate-flavored butter? The heart palpitates.
With care, you can churn just up to that point and end up with exquisitely rich ice cream. It is important to temper the ice cream in a freezer for an hour or two, and then permit to soften a bit before serving.
Conversely, you can stop funding your heart surgeon's retirement and opt for delicious ices and even frozen yoghurt. It prepares these well. For my money, though, I throw caution to the wind and start with three pints of heavy cream and one pint of regular cream.
By the way, it is usefull in preparing a base to use baker's sugar to advantage fine granulation, dissolving, and easy mixing.
At any rate, the machine operation is simple, the freezing thorough and effective, and cleanup a breeze. Be prepared, however, to leave this attractive appliance in place: It is extremely heavy, perhaps 40 pounds. And it is pretty large, too; the size of a small microwave.
I have tried other romper-room ice cream makers with less than earnest results. This machine is the real deal.
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