Meet Russell, The Ice Cream Geek

A while back, Tina and I told you about how we met up with Russell, the self-proclaimed ice cream geek, and his wife, Kathey, at the 2010 Scooperbowl. As the focus of that post was the Scooperbowl, we didn't focus on Russell, but it's time now that we do.

Tina and I met up with Russell and over the loud music, got to scream about ice cream. It was a bit hard to really talk in depth about it. Later I went to lunch at Wagamama with Russell and Kathey and we were able to chat some more about ice cream and the process.

But for those of you who couldn't join us, you can visit his beautifully designed site.

Broken down into five categories, Russell's site is a goldmine of information.

1. Equipment talks about, well, equipment. Ice cream makers and containers to contain your creations are the topics of discussion for the time being, but we hope our ice cream expert will add more categories. For now though, the ice cream makers post is very thorough and there is a great link for cardboard containers.
2. The General category covers things that don't really have another place to be -- like meeting Tina and I!
3. In How To you can find a great article about transporting ice cream from Texas to Rhode Island!
4. Recipes brings us great recipes, such as one for a Spicy Peach Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream made with chocolate, cayanne, and peaches (wow!) -- with a great story of it's inspiration to boot -- as well as a a great review/contest between multiple chocolate ice creams.
5. Finally, Technical is my favorite category. With posts about stabilizers and butterfat, this geek knows his stuff. Best of all he has a butterfat calculator for ice cream. No, we aren't using this to find out how unhealthy the ice cream is, but instead it's a great resource for figuring out how to obtain the desired consistency to your frozen treats. Russell says it best when describing how butterfat figures into ice cream:
   
   

   If there’s not enough butterfat, the ice cream tends to taste icy and not very smooth—which is fine if you’re making a sherbet or a sorbet, but not great if you’re aiming for your own version of Ben & Jerry’s. On the other hand, if there’s too much butterfat, it starts to taste greasy like lard, and it sticks to the inside of your mouth. Or in other words, it has bad “mouth feel”.

   I've certainly had both the icy ice cream and the "bad mouth feel" type. His write up here tells you what butterfat to aim for for each of your desired types of ice cream. Neither category of "icy" or "bad mouth feel" are on his list, so if you want those, you are on your own!

Russell, you certainly are an ice cream geek -- or perhaps, more appropriately, an ice cream god. Whatever it is you are, keep posting!

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Blogalicious: Ice Cream Journal

Scoopalicious has a number of other favorite ice cream sites on its right hand side, and I keep a list of ice cream blogs in my Google Reader so that I can keep up with what is going on in ice cream land. Once in a while though, we like to give a special shout out to our neighbors in blogland.

Yesterday Tina and I got a lovely little "hi" email from our friends at Ice Cream Journal (Turkey Hill Ice Cream's Blog) and I thought it was due time to highlight their blog.

I love Ice Cream Journal for a lot of reasons. One of my favorite parts is "Ask Ernie" in which Ernie -- though I am not quite sure what his background is -- answers readers' questions about everything from specific queries about Turkey Hill Ice Cream to more general ones such as "What Causes an Ice Cream Headache?" Might it be no coincidence that my husband and I are naming our new puppy Ernie?

I also love keeping up with the surveys they post. Did you know that most people answering the current Turkey Hill survey proudly eat ice cream right out of the carton?

Though Ice Cream Journal rarely posts recipes for making your own ice cream (they do sell ice cream and it wouldn't make too much sense if they were giving out recipes to make your own), they do post a plethora of ways to use their ice cream from festive holiday snowballs of ice cream to today's Duetto Lemon Pie (thinking of you, former roommate Tara...!) And for those of you who do want to be a little creative and try making ice cream without a machine, the blog even has a recipe for, that's right, Tin Can Ice Cream. (And when you are done, you can use the cans to call next door to invite your neighbors to ice cream!)

Turkey Hill's Blog is a great one, and helps highlight the variety of blogs out there, from the small, do-it-yourselfers such as Tina and I, to the big companies who want to have a more personal voice like Turkey Hill...

I love making homemade ice cream, but when I am in the mood to buy it, it's Turkey Hill Choco Mint Chip all the way. The only way for it to be better? For me to call my friend Swati and invite her over to eat the mint chocolate chip out of the carton while watching TV together...

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Ice Cream Abroad: Ice Cream Ireland Blog

One of my favorite ice cream blogs to keep up with is that of Keiran Murphy, one of the owners (along with his brother Sean) of Murphys Ice Cream in Killarney and Dingle, Ireland. (I am also enamored with the typographic treatment of their logo.)

Keiran's blog, Ice Cream Ireland, is diverse, knowledgable and interesting. I love it for it's recipes, photos (see right for an excellent example!), ice cream making tips, and the culture of ice cream and Ireland in general I get from keeping up with the blog. One of my favorite posts ever was Ice Cream Made Easy, with Sean and his son Conor teaching us how to make ice cream. It is just wonderful!

I've never been to Ireland, but Murphys Ice Cream is on my list of places to visit.

Recently the brothers published a book, Murphys Ice Cream Book of Sweet Things, which I am dying to get my hands on, but it seems not to be available yet in the U.S., and I am trying to avoid the high international shipping costs. But if it continues to not be available state side much longer, I am going to cough up the shipping because I would love to have a copy.

Murphys Ice Cream belongs right up there with things I like from Ireland: The Frames, Damian Rice, U2, my brother-in-law and his family, my friends from Cork, Damian and Gemma, and Irish blooded American friends. Oh, right...and that fabulous accent. And the movie Once.

Images courtesy of Keiran at Ice Cream Ireland. Thanks, Keiran!