Scooped

May 1, 2012 12:09 PM

I'm making ice cream for my friend's wedding at the end of this month. I need to figure out how many gallons of ice cream I should make, how to store them and how to serve them. Can you help us navigate the logistical details?

Approximately 120 people will be in attendance. The wedding will be outside (I know....), and the caterers have offered to take care of serving the ice cream.

I have plenty of experience making ice cream, but never for such a large crowd, so I really don't know what I'm doing. Have you ever done this?

We do have plenty of other fall-back desserts in case this idea falls flat, so I'm not terribly worried.

posted by chara to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

For the serving bit, I like the idea of pre-scooping into muffin tins with cupcake liners, and then re-freezing. After they have frozen solid, take them out of the tins and single stack in Tupperware. I would say one half cup scoop for each guest as a serving and maybe make 1.25 servings per guest, less if you are concerned about having too many leftovers but I think they would get eaten. At the wedding borrow (or have people chip in and buy it for the couple) a small chest freezer and take them out as needed. Make sure the freezer isn't set to frozen solid as they will be difficult to eat when the outside melts and the inside is hard.
posted by yb2006shasta at 12:33 PM on May 1, 2012 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: I like this idea, but I won't really have access to a freezer because the wedding will be outside. Can I rig up something using a cooler and dry ice?
posted by chara at 2:11 PM on May 1, 2012

I think the amount depends on whether the ice cream is meant to be served alongside the cake or as a dessert in itself. Half a cup would be right in the former case, but in the latter you'd need at least three times that, I think (but then I love ice cream).

In my experience, trying to freeze just a small amount of ice cream sometimes results in freezer burn; maybe something to watch out for if you want to freeze individual servings.

Could you (or rather the person paying for the wedding) rent one of those coolers they use for outdoor ice cream stands, the ones where the ice cream is in big tubs? Maybe the caterers have one or know where to find one.
posted by Perodicticus potto at 2:37 PM on May 1, 2012

I once did an ice cream social for abotu 60 people using all homemade ice cream. We made them in those small Danviers home freezers. We took out each portion, packed it into tupperware (didn't bother with pre-shaping) and just kept making batches until we had enough. For batches of the same flavor, we just layered batches together until the container was full. The total was maybe eight gallons - and we had a lot left over.

Since the caterers are happy to serve, I wouldn't bother with pre-portioning. Plus I agree that you are likelier to get off flavors and freezer drying with that method. Just hand off the Tupperwares full of pre-made ice cream. And I agree about renting or buying a large cooler. Just use regular ice, but make sure your plasticware is very well sealed and/or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap so that no meltwater enters the ice cream.
posted by Miko at 2:42 PM on May 1, 2012

I wish I could tell you more helpful things, but here's all I can offer:

1. I've made ice cream for about 20 people before. I only have a 1 qt ice cream maker, the kind where you freeze the canister, and it took me a long time to get all the flavors (I think there were 5, 1 qt. each) done. IIRC, that was a reasonable amount of ice cream for that many people, and I didn't have crazy leftovers.

2. We had ice cream served at our wedding (but made and served by pros, not us.) We had 4 flavors, in whatever quantity those standard stainless steel gelato trays are, and it was way more than enough for our 80 guests. 2 people were able to serve everyone without crazy long lines or anything.

3. I strongly recommend against dry ice. Sometimes salespeople bring ice cream bars on dry ice to my workplace and they're so hard you could break your teeth on them. You would NEVER be able to scoop at that temperature.
posted by juliapangolin at 2:46 PM on May 1, 2012

Contact your local party or catering equipment rental places to see if they have two-gallon ice-cream makers. Will you have access to electricity? If so, it is likely you can rent a small freezer unit; the rental place usually drops it off before and picks it back up after the event. I have no idea about pricing. Good luck! It sounds like a lot of effort, but potentially a lot of fun, too.
posted by miss patrish at 3:45 PM on May 1, 2012