Cream of the Crop

The first annual Homemade Ice Cream Contest was held at Central Market on
Sunday afternoon, July 28. More than 30 hopefuls submitted their best efforts
for the opportunity to win shopping sprees, engraved ice cream scoops and free
cooking classes. Central Market employees competed too, for the right to judge
the contest. Each one provided a list of the top 10 reasons why they should be
chosen for the job. I joined the lucky judges in the upstairs cooking school
and we began the serious and arduous task of tasting more than 31 flavors.
Entrants were divided into two categories — Traditional and Most Austintatious
— and the ice creams were scored on appearance, color, texture and taste.

The Grand Prize entry, Mint to Be, garnered a $200 shopping spree for Bobbi
Fuller of Cedar Park. The former software engineer is busy at home with two
small children, but she found the time to pull out the electric Richmond
Cedar Works freezer (won years ago at a bingo game) and whip up a winner.
Bobbi and husband Mike started making ice cream in May this year, sticking to
their familiar recipes for vanilla or mint chocolate chip. According to Fuller,
Mint to Be was a fairly recent inspiration. It was the top vote getter overall,
finishing first in the Austintatious Category.

It was just so “Austin” for a sorbet to win second prize in an ice cream
contest. The potently tart Grapefruit Tequila Sorbet from Michele Haram was the
unanimous choice for “most likely to order a second round.” Austintatious
Honorable Mentions went to a chunky Bee Caves Caramel Crunch from Linda Adams
and a very distinctive Kiwi Vanilla made by Brandon Kercheville. There were
several interesting ideas in this category though some of the ice creams seemed
to have suffered during transportation to the contest.

The Traditional Category winner was Fresh Lemon ice cream crafted by John
Oliphant, a local Air Force retiree. Oliphant’s father made ice cream at a
small Delaware creamery for many years and taught his son secrets that Oliphant
now guards judiciously. He flatly stated that no one else could make Fresh
Lemon Ice Cream but him and declined to share his formula. Oliphant did divulge
that the secret to the texture of his ice creams is the ratio of ice to salt,
stressing that the correct “brine” is much more important than the actual
recipe. His current quest is for some black raspberry pur�e to transform
into one of his frozen delights.

Super Kool Krunch was the Traditional second place winner, created by Abigail
and Wayne Hutchison and their 8-year old son, Stuart, of Buda. The Hutchisons
make ice cream year round in a Rival machine. Their super new flavor
features creamy vanilla layered with a granola-like crunch and caramel syrup.
Lloyd Langston of Bastrop submitted a delicious batch of homemade Cookies &
Cream for the traditional third place prize. Bess Cohen received an Honorable
mention for the Big Red Ice Cream, dubbed “South Texas Select” by the judges.
Then there was a semi-melted, creamy, chunky, chocolate and Kahlua-infused
concoction titled Texas Crude from Delaine Jechow that was termed the
“Milkshake with the Most Potential.”

Central Market plans to make this an annual event and many of these
contestants are already planning their entry for next year. Congratulations to
all the winners, some of whom generously agreed to share their winning recipes,
which appear as submitted below. The recipes haven’t been tested but they have
been judged. There is plenty of summer left to try them all.

(makes 2 quarts)

10 small round peppermint candies, crushed

10 Oreoreg. cookies, chopped

2oz semi-sweet chocolate baking bar, shaved

5-6 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 cups cream

2 cups milk

1 1/2 tbs peppermint extract

The night before making ice cream, combine the crushed peppermint candies, the
cookie chunks and the shaved chocolate in a covered container and freeze
overnight. Whisk the eggs and sugar together well and then whisk in cream, milk
and extract. Pour into the canister of ice cream freezer and freeze according
to manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is ready, stir in the frozen
candy, cookies and chocolate. (The frozen ingredients won’t raise the
temperature of the freshly made ice cream)

(makes 2-3 quarts)

2 cans Eagle Brandreg. Sweetened Condensed Milk

2-4 mashed bananas

1 small can crushed pineapple w/juice

10 pkg frozen strawberries

30 oz Big Redreg. soda

Combine the sweetened condensed milk, bananas, pineapple and strawberries and
pour into the canister of ice cream freezer. Stir in enough soda to fill the
canister to about 2/3 full.

Process according to manufacturer’s directions.

(makes 2 quarts)

for the crunch:

3/4 cup quick-cook oats

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup pecans, chopped

4 tbs butter, melted

Smuckersreg.Caramel Topping, squeeze bottle

for the cream:

2 cups Heavy Cream

2 cups light cream

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsps vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine crunch ingredients and spread on a jelly
roll pan. Bake 15 minutes. Cool completely and chop finely in the food
processor. Set aside. Whisk together the creams, sugar, vanilla and salt and
pour into the canister of ice cream freezer. Process according to
manufacturer’s directions. When ice cream is ready, pack ice cream into a
freezer container, alternating layers of cream and crunch, swirling caramel
topping in between.(Alternately, stir crunch into individual servings and swirl
with caramel topping. — V.W.

This article appears in August 9 • 1996 and August 9 • 1996 (Cover).