Savory Icecream

March 27, 2012 5:51 PM

Savory icecream recipes?

Please note whether you're offering a brainstorm or a tried-and-true combination (both are welcome). If you want to recommend local ingredients, I'm in the Central Valley of California. I don't like pickles or bell peppers.

Thanks!

posted by aniola to Food & Drink (27 answers total)

Bleu cheese ice cream seems to be the standard for chefs who do savory ice creams on cooking shows.
posted by xingcat at 5:55 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

My dad makes a buttermilk and jalapeno ice cream that he serves with bacon crumbles on top. Skeptics don't last long.
posted by cmoj at 5:56 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop has recipes for avocado, green pea, basil, parsley, and black pepper ice creams.
posted by mollymayhem at 5:58 PM on March 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

I've heard about a lot of parmesan ice creams. this combination sounds yummy to me.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:59 PM on March 27, 2012

Here in Boston, local fixture Toscanini's does a miso ice cream, and it's delicious. No recipe, though!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:00 PM on March 27, 2012

I mix dried thyme and salt into vanilla ice cream and it's fantastic.
posted by acidic at 6:08 PM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

La Casa Gelato in Vancouver has curry flavoured ice cream. I have actually tried it and it is delicious. Here is a recipe that would probably approximate it, though there was no carrot in the ice cream I tried.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:13 PM on March 27, 2012

I've made the parsley and the black pepper ice cream from Perfect Scoop, and I've eaten avocado ice cream. All three are tasty. I do wish I was able to better replicate Humphry Slocombe's Salt & Pepper flavor, or their Balsamic Caramel, which is very balsamic-y and on the somewhat savory end of things.

Speaking of, Humphry Slocombe's flavor list might give you some good ideas. I had ice cream there once that tasted a bit like tom kha gai broth.
posted by soleiluna at 6:13 PM on March 27, 2012

Hey, soleiluna, Humphry Slocombe has a book coming out.
posted by mollymayhem at 6:20 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Gazpacho!
posted by it's a long way to south america at 6:21 PM on March 27, 2012

Curry carrot!
posted by Threeway Handshake at 6:35 PM on March 27, 2012

I worked at a place that did apricot chipotle ice cream pops. Spicy and smokey, totally awesome. They were sweetened, but if you didn't add sugar I think it would still be pretty amazing and basically savory. Same goes for the lemon and olive oil flavor we had. (Oh how I miss you, Locopops...)
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:43 PM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dark beer is another standard. I once had a steak that came with a small scoop of stout ice cream and another small scoop of horseradish ice cream, and it was one of the few food nerd gimmicks that I thought really worked well enough to be worth repeating. Sadly, the restaurant clsoed before I made it back.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:45 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

cmoj: "My dad makes a buttermilk and jalapeno ice cream that he serves with bacon crumbles on top. Skeptics don't last long."

You're getting that recipe. Right now. And putting it on here. Because I want to make it. And if you don't, well, I'll be very sad.
posted by theichibun at 6:47 PM on March 27, 2012 [13 favorites]

I had a basil and meyer lemon sorbetto the other day that was quite tasty. If a recipe doesn't exist, maybe find a meyer lemon and fresh mint recipe and try subbing fresh basil?
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 8:33 PM on March 27, 2012

I am brainstorming a bunch of carmelized onions and sauteed garlic/shitake mushrooms mixed in a buttermilk base for some kind of umami bomb of stroganoffy goodness. When I say a bunch, I mean buttload.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:37 PM on March 27, 2012

Oh and also maybe lox. Like a frozen schmear.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:38 PM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

You'll want Jeni's book.
posted by OHSnap at 9:54 PM on March 27, 2012

I've always been interested in trying oyster ice cream, which was apparently popular in the early U.S. You can read more and get a cookbook reference here.
posted by DrMew at 11:12 PM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

The mighty Heston Blumenthal's bacon and egg ice cream.
posted by Quantum's Deadly Fist at 2:04 AM on March 28, 2012

Seconding miso ice cream, though I do not know Toscanini's. It's even great... dipped in quality restaurant ramen. Don't forget plain, old salt flavored ice cream. Crab and lobster were available in Japan but I don't do seafood.
posted by whatzit at 3:15 AM on March 28, 2012

In Rome I ate a Basil Gelato that was rather good and "basil-ly" but perhaps not as savoury as you would like. As I vaguely remember it being sweet + basil. (and clearly I don't have the recipe).
posted by mary8nne at 4:01 AM on March 28, 2012

I had a big cone of tomato for one scoop and honeydew melon for the second. It worked surprisingly well.
posted by ifjuly at 8:39 AM on April 5, 2012

You're getting that recipe. Right now. And putting it on here. Because I want to make it. And if you don't, well, I'll be very sad.

I doubt there's a recipe. He just makes buttermilk ice cream with, I guess, pureed jalapenos in it. I'll see if I can get him to be more specific.
posted by cmoj at 9:54 AM on April 5, 2012

This recipe is both savory and sweet and always gets raves.

Buttermilk-Jalapeno ice cream:
3 parts buttermilk (any kind will do, but Bulgarian is great for the tang)
1 part heavy cream
1 shot tequila (makes the ice cream smooth)
juice of half a lemon
pinch of salt
teaspoon vanilla extract
about 1/4 to 1/3 cup jalapeno preserves
some like me to add a little sugar (Not my choice)

Play with proportions to please yourself.
Serve with very crisply fried crumbled bacon for sprinkles. A shot of good tequila on the side doesn't hurt either.
posted by txmon at 2:21 PM on April 9, 2012 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: This thread on making unsweetened chocolate icecream is also relevant. Sugar apparently helps make icecream soft. So do eggs and alcohol.
posted by aniola at 9:29 PM on April 26, 2012

I frequent the Bent Spoon in Princeton, NJ, and they do a lot of different unusual flavors, including savory. I've had and enjoyed basil, corn, avocado, ricotta, and olive oil ice creams from them. The asparagus wasn't my thing, and the chocolate habanero was interesting but too spicy for me.

Besides the aforementioned Jeni's, Mt. Desert Ice Cream and Bi-Rite Creamery are worth checking out for flavor ideas.

The one brainstorm I've had and always wanted someone to make for me is maple ice cream with caramelized bacon.
posted by booksherpa at 8:53 PM on April 27, 2012