Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker
Customer Review: Spectacular Ice Cream
Summary: 5 Stars
[...]. I generally find Cuisinart quality to be low; Kitchen Aid makes much higher quality gear. But this is a winner and tremendously good value!
I have now made 2 batches cinnamon rum ice cream from a BonAppetit recipe, and it is spectacular [try it with apple pie or apple tart!]. I live in Scottsdale and made it on a day when it was 99*. After 35 minutes [recommended] of processing, it was very thick, and after 4 more hours in a 0* freezer it was hard as a rock.
Here are some tips with folks who have had trouble:
Don't follow the methodology in the Cuisinart book that comes with the machine. Follow the BonAppetit method. I've copied the recipe below for reference.
Make sure your freezer is at least 0* on the shelf where upon will freeze the bowl and place the ice cream to set.
Place the bowl in which you place the cream, and into which you then strain the custard, in the freezer for at least an hour; take it out just before you use it
After mixing the strained custard and cream, chill it for at least two hours in the fridge before making the ice cream
Process in the Cuisinart for the full 35 minutes; make sure the processing spot is cool - turn up the A/C if necessary!
After turning the processed ice cream in the container in which you will freeze it, put saran wrap on the surface of the ice cream; this will prevent any crystals. Seal it tightly with the Tupperware/container top and freeze at 0* until hard.
Lastly - this is ICE CREAM, after all, so calories be damned. In the second batch, I used half-and-half instead of whole milk. Wow! Really, really good.
* 6 large egg yolks
* 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
* 1 1/2 cups whole milk [or Half-and Half]
* 3/4 cup sugar
* Pinch of salt
* 2 tablespoons dark rum
* 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Whisk egg yolks to blend in medium metal bowl. Pour 1 cup cream into another medium bowl; set fine strainer over bowl with cream. Whisk milk, sugar, pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup cream in heavy medium saucepan; bring to simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into egg yolks. Return mixture to same saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat until custard thickens slightly and instant-read thermometer inserted into custard registers 160°F to 170°F (do not boil), about 5 minutes. Pour custard through strainer set over bowl with cream. Whisk mixture to blend; then whisk in rum and cinnamon. Chill custard until cold, about 2 hours.
Process custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer ice cream to container. Cover; freeze until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.
Customer Review: Awesome machine! But a word to the wise!
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't freeze the tub in liquid nitrogen! Yeah, I know the book doesn't say anything about not using it; because I'm sure their engineers and technical writers never dreamed that someone would try! It seemed like a good idea to freeze the tub in liquid nitrogen. It worked great, so good in fact that the custard froze solid before it could churn. Maybe better for a sorbet or something... Who knew!
So yeah, put the tub in your freezer for at least 24 hours! I'm not one for reading manuals, and of course I didn't! I froze it overnight and didn't see that line in the manual I didn't read that says it MUST BE FROZEN SOLID... Yeah, like that! If you have a deep freezer, that's a good place! The tub will freeze solid like a bad winter in Alaska! If you're not sure, shake it. Is it solid or do you hear water or slushy floating around??? Go figure...
If you're making a sorbet and try the liquid nitrogen freeze, let me know how that works! Next, the cooked custard recipes work the best for me. I find that uncooked custard tends to come out grainy from the sugar. Although, I suppose you could substitute powdered sugar and fix that.
Refrigerate your custard overnight while the tub is freezing. Better yet, heed the directions and leave the tub in the freezer all the time. Refrigerate the custard overnight and pop it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes before going into the churn! About 35 minutes later, enjoy...
My only complaint is the motor is a bit noisier than I expected it to be. It runs somewhere in the 62-65dB range, which isn't quite as loud as a blender or a food processor... but, you don't leave the blender running on the counter for 35 minutes either.
I put it in the laundry room and closed the door. All is good! If only they made a 20 quart model, two quarts doesn't seem like that much...
Here's a good custard base recipe!
9 ounces sugar
8 egg yolks
3 cups half and half
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
Mix half and half and cream in a sauce pan and put over low heat to scald.
Slowly mix the sugar into the egg yolks. Continue mixing until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage.
Very, very, very, very, very slowly drizzle the scalded cream mixture into the egg and sugar mixture and mix. Be slow! You want to temper the eggs, not scramble them.
Once all is mixed, let stand 15 minutes. Return entire mixture to sauce pan and cook to 170 degrees. The slower you can cook it and the longer it takes to reach 170 degrees, the happier you'll be when it's done.
Refrigerate overnight, freeze for 15 to 20 minutes before churning.
Churn for 35 minutes.
Freeze solid afterwards if desired!
Customer Review: A definite 5 star Buy
Summary: 5 Stars
I almost did not buy this product from the people who were complaining about it on 3 issues of it took too much freezer space, it was so loud to operate and it made runny ice cream. As I just finished making ice cream a few minutes ago and it went very well, I'm glad I did not listen to the bad comments which appear to be from people not using common sense.
For openers, I have had an Oster for 20 years and a Rival which lasted 6 months which were as loud as a jackhammer. This Model 30 is quiet like a fan running and is pleasant by comparison.
Secondly, the freezer container is not big in taking up space. If you have a normal sized fridge, this will be just fine as if you put in a 5 quart pail of ice cream, this container is smaller than that, and it should not be a problem for anyone.
Granted it is recommended the owner keeps the container frozen in the freezer when not in use, sealed in a plastic bag so as not to freezer burn (dry out the liquid freeze coolant), so people should be aware of that, but that should not be an issue on space as it is coffee can sized.
Third, all ice cream is semi liquid in viscosity whether it comes from a manufacturing plant or homemade. It is only frozen solid after it is put in a freezer, that is why it is not called freezer cream when it is made, but ice cream as it is chilled and thickened stirred cream.
Perhaps Cuisinart should write more elementary directions for some buyers to alleviate the bad feedback, because this quiet machine, works if you freeze the container and understand that you have to put the product into the freezer to get it to hard freeze stage like all ice creams.
I was very pleased with this product. Pleased that I ordered this on a Friday from Amazon with super saver shipping, and they shipped by Sunday and the machine arrived on Thursday afternoon.
I hope the machine lasts as I do make ice cream often, but except for a new machine smell when using it this first time, all went well and it was a joy to use compared to the cheap Rival I wasted money on.
So I would definitely recommend this product using common sense to anyone.
If it assists people, the recipe I use:
1 quart heavy whipping cream plus 1 cup goats milk (can substitute whole cows milk)
1 cup sugar
1/8th teaspoons salt
For flavoring I used 2 tablespoons cream de menthe added the last 2 minutes of blending as the manufacturer instructs.
25 minutes I had a malt consistency ice cream product which is exactly what I desired to put into a container for ice cream in a few hours.
Hope this helps.
Customer Review: 24 Hour Freeze for Canister is Critical
Summary: 4 Stars
My first few attempts using this machine rendered a hard, ice-like product without the creaminess I associate with homemade ice-cream. The problem was the freezer was not properly freezing the product and not enough air was being whipped into the product in the process. Upon further experimentation I realized it was critical to respect the 24-hour freeze period for the cannister (not 6 hours, the advertised minimum) and to keep all ingredients extremely cold in the refrigerator before preparing. The simplest way to accomplish this is to pre-mix your ingredients in a Osterizer-style blender and then simply refrigerate overnight or longer, making sure your refrigerator is kept on its colder settings. You will know if the temperature is correct if about halfway through the freezing process (15 minutes or so) the ice cream has bulked up to about one-and-a-half its size, with the colder frozen parts accumulating on the sides. The final product should be the consistency of soft ice cream and should be noticeably bulked-up from the thick, milkshake consistency you placed originally in the canister. After some experimentation, the machine is making ice cream as creamy and fluffy as any you can buy from the homemade ice-cream stores. I tend to add almost pure fruit to my fruit-based ice creams, utilizing less cream than the recipes in the enclosed kit. My strawberry is so red, for example, that there is no need for any sort of food coloring. I use approximately one large plaster container (or two of the smaller, standard size plastic containers) of strawberries per batch. The result is an extremely fruity ice-cream or frozen yoghurt. A blend with half strawberries and half raspberries (both fresh) is even better. Fresh blackberries and all cream is superb as well. As for chocolate, I recommend using regular cocoa for the mix and special dark syrup to give it an edge. The special dark powder (Dutch processed) is very rich and delicious but turns the cream blend almost black in color and needs quite a lot more sugar to counterbalance the bitterness. (And I am a fan of dark chocolate ~ but we are talking extremes here). Purely by mistake, I discovered that adding a can of sweetened condensed milk, with no additional sugar ~ then equal parts of cream and whole milk create a nice medium-consistency blend that is neither too hard nor too soft. Of course, adding more melted dark chocolate and several egg yolks will create the harder, denser product associated with the high-fat premium ice creams, if you want that effect. In short, I am very pleased with the machine after I fiddled a bit with the mechanics of how to use it to its very best advantage.Customer Review: Great maker, gives all types of recipes needed.
Summary: 5 Stars
Some people have complained about the lack of recipes included, but really it covers all that you need. There are only 5 types of ice cream and everything else is just a different flavor of one of these kinds.
Powder based: Follow the chocolate ice cream. You only have to substitute what ever other powder you're using if it is a flavor other than chocolate (of course understand how that powder mixes into liquids and compensate for additional liquid/powder as needed).
Solid chunks: There are a few such as strawberry or melon. Follow them and just use what ever fruit you wanted.
Creamy puree: This would be things like peanut butter (which has a recipe included). Use this when you have an oily / creamy puree that you're making ice cream out of.
Smoothie puree: This is when you're making a solid chunk type of ice cream but using only the flavor and ingredients, no chunks. (Melon ice creams can be done like this.)
Tips for modifying ice cream:
** Texture: If you want fruits to have a softer texture when they start to thaw, try freezing them first. Due to the properties of ice crystals when water freezes, freezing fruits or veggies will destroy the cell structure and make them soft / mushy).
** Melting: Try using Splenda or another sugar substitute rather than real sugar. Real sugar causes things to have a lower freezing point, which not only takes more time to make but doesn't stay solid at room temperature as long. We've found that use of Splenda helps keep things frozen better.
** Odd flavors: Ever drank a juice and wanted to make it ice cream but can't because the flavors are hard to come by or you're unsure of the quantity or maybe you just like that mixture as is? There is an easy way to use it in the ice cream. Follow the vanilla recipe exactly, except in place of milk you'll use a "flavored milk" made from that juice. To make the flavored milk, use powdered (dry dehydrated) milk and follow it's preparation instructions exactly but with one modification of using an equal amount in juice (or juice concentrate to help up the flavor) instead of water that the powder milk calls for.
** Scraping the bowl: Because the base itself is what spins, then there is an easy way to scrape the inside (if you're making a limited amount of ice cream, such as for a pie topping or multi-flavored layered ice cream pie / cake). Just open the lid and remove the mixer attachment, then hold a spoon in place and let it spin.
With a bit of creativity you can have a lot of fun making various ice creams and ice cream cakes / pies.