Hi everyone and welcome to the first episode of The Ice Cream Science podcast! 😀 In this episode, I sit down to chat ice cream with chef Michael Dalla Libera. Michael is the co-owner of Crèmerie Dalla Rose, an artisan ice cream shop based in Montreal, Canada.
In this episode, we discuss:
· Introduction and the impact of COVID 19 (00:01:10)
· Shop locations (00:13:02)
· Machinery (00:18:54)
· Why he started an ice cream shop (00:27:35)
· Custard vs non-custard base (00:29:25)
· Popular flavours (00:35:11)
· His role in the business (00:37:46)
· How he learnt to make ice cream (00:42:47)
· What the first 3 months of opening were like (00:43:07)
· Why I purchased the Emery Thompson CB-200 (00:47:33)
· Advice on upgrading an ice cream machine (00:50:32)
· Is he happy running an ice cream business? (00:55:20)
· Vegan ice cream (1:04:40)
· Heating an ice cream mix (01:11:41)
· Stabilisers (01:20:30)
· Inclusions in ice cream (01:30:44)
· Soft-serve ice cream (01:40:02)
I hope you find this episode useful. Please feel free to leave any feedback, positive or negative, in the comments section below 😀
I’m sorry it took me so long to find this but it was a great listen. The things I liked included the idea you seemed to be just having conversation and if you were working from a list of questions to ask, it did not come across that way. The topics covered all seemed to have a nice depth to them, and I can’t recall anything that didn’t seem like there was enough coverage of.
Like others, I’d love to have a ‘feed’ for this so I can put it my podcast app and just have the new episodes downloaded whenever they come out.
If it wouldn’t too prying, I’d love to hear how you developed some of your flavors, touching not only on the trials and errors you had in development, but also on the inspiration for the a given flavor.
Enjoyed the podcast immensely, was very organic and truthful. Nice to see that even shops who have a following and have an audience are just like a home chef trying to figure things out with different additives and processes.
Id like to know more about how different suppliers of fats make a difference (farm from where the cream comes from, organic sugar that isn’t as hyper processed as white bleached sugar etc.), for eg. I am from the US and getting cream from a smaller dairy is more expensive in comparison to the bulk priced uber popular creams but the flavors are significantly better. I don’t think thats placebo but something to do with the quality of ingredients. I most definitely know that Europe has better dairy and produce in comparison to most of north America but wanted to see if you had experimented with higher quality dairy to see the differences.
Id highly recommend making turmeric/saffron/cardamom mixed into an ice cream as those flavors are amazing beyond measure.
Thanks much once again, and if you guys do chat please make it public. We get to learn so much
Hi there, I really enjoyed the conversations about the vegan coconut ice creams. I also enjoy spending time reading through your website.
I love making ice cream but have recently been diagnosed with a dairy intolerance! Do you have any dairy free ice cream recipes/tips. What would be the best way to make a dairy free custard base?
Any help would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks, from Richard
Heating the mix to 100’C was surprising. Even a straight pasteurization with HTST in Canada only requires 80’C for 25 seconds or as low as 69’C for 30 minutes. I find low 70’s works the best. For rapid cooling, ice baths for sure but get yourself some ice paddles. You can get your temperature down to the required 4′ in the allowable time.
Hi,
I loved the podcast well done. I have a question related to cooling ice cream mix after heating. What do the professionals use to cool the mix? I have been using a cooler with ice but this is impossible to scale up much bigger. I feel there has to be a better way to cool the mixture fast after heating to let the ice cream mix age. Thanks
Hey Ross,
Thanks for getting in touch. Professionals use a 30 to 60 litre pasteuriser that can both heat and cool the mix rapidly, these are pricey bits of kit though. You could try a blast freezer if you’re cooling batch sizes less than around 3 litres, anything more than 3 litres in one batch will be unlikely to cool sufficiently in the required time. I’d also recommend adding 10 to 15% salt to your water before you freeze it if you’re using an ice bath, this will depress the temperature of your ice bath considerably and reduce the chilling time.
I hope that helps.
All the best,
Ruben
The Podcast was amazing! Hearing from two people with so much experience, and love for ice cream was very insightful. I loved how you guys went in depth about the processes, different styles of making your bases, what your customers like etc. It was really cool hearing how similar your popular flavors were, even though you’re in the UK and he’s in Canada! I’m wondering if your mind has been changed about stabilizers after that conversation? I myself was on the fence, but since I am starting a home delivery, pint based ice cream business, after that conversation I think I am going to start using stabilizers. (I previously was not)
Hey Danny,
Thanks for getting in touch. Glad you like the somewhat awkward podcast! For stabilisers, I think there are three points worth considering: 1. production time – stabilisers help reduce heating times; 2. cost – stabilisers held reduce the cost of the mix by reducing the fat and solids content; and 3. shelf life – stabilisers increase shelf life. For me, I don’t include stabilisers when I’m making ice cream for private events or for my membership because I know that for both, the ice cream will not be stored for a considerable amount of time and cost is not really an issue. I have recently started supplying businesses with wholesale ice cream and for my wholesale recipes I do include a stabiliser because I know that my customers will be storing the ice cream for a while before they sell it, I need to reduce my production time because I’m making a lot more, and I need to reduce the cost of the product to make it attractive to wholesale customers. I think it’s all about knowing how your product is going to be handled, knowing what your customer wants, and also what you feel comfortable with including in your product.
I hope that helps.
All the best,
Ruben
loved the episode and level of detail. Would love an RSS feed to plug into my podcast app.
WOuld love if you made this available on itunes
I really enjoyed the podcast. There are very few equivalent resources available where there is in-depth discussion on process, recipe, equipment etc. Keep up the great work!
Will the podcast also be available on Spotify and/or iTunes?
Excellent topic. I didn’t finish to listen the podcast yet, but I will. I really liked the subject and for me it’s very interesting. Thank you guys for that material.
I really enjoyed the conversation about machinery and stabilizers.