Public health historian David Merritt Johns has written an unusually thorough and lucid piece in The Atlantic on this unlikely research phenomenon: a series of scientific studies shows a health benefit to eating ice cream. And the researchers have been trying—and mostly failing—to find flaws in the results. What’s really going on here? Nutrition health research is fiendishly difficult. It’s prone …
Let’s take a look at Rum Raisin, an old favorite. I’ve chosen this topic for 3 reasons: Nostalgia: this was one of my favorites when I was a little kid. It’s supposed to be a grownup flavor but I just loved it. Other people have told me they had the same experience. Even people who as adults don’t like rum. …
Over the years I’ve had a few requests for soft serve help. Not from Mr. Softee competitors* or would-be usurpers of the throne of the Dairy Queen, but, maybe surprisingly, from chefs. They felt that something nostalgic (and maybe a bit kitschy) would work with their restaurant concept, but they wanted to keep their standards, stay in control, and …
Introduction Vegan ice cream is everywhere these days, and it’s not just herbivores who demand them. Some pleasure-seekers are trying to reduce their impact on the planet. Others are bothered by the treatment of dairy cows at industrial farms. Others are lactose-intolerant. Others are just jumping on a bandwagon. A marketing executive at a national brand told me that interview …
Buying too many ice cream books is one of the job hazards here at Underbelly. To help save your valuable time and money and bookshelf real estate, we offer the following highly opinionated recommendations. These are tailored to our typical readers: enthusiasts, pros, and aspiring pros who are familiar with the basics, and want more. Ice Cream, 7th Edition, Goff+Hartel …
Early drafts of the fruit theory posts have been slow going—and people have been bugging me for something they can use. So here’s a sample sorbet recipe, developed with strawberries, but which also works well with peaches (they have similar solids and sugars levels). This will be the best sorbet you’ve ever had, if you use good fruit. I’m quite …
We’ve been working on fruit flavors for several months now. It’s been a purée of trial and error, scientific research, computer analysis, discovery of new ingredients, and trips to the farmers’ market. Now that good fruit is finally showing up here in the northern hemisphere, we’re ready to share what we’ve learned. Why so much wonkyness? Isn’t it supposed …
We’ve been serving you 21st century food with 1990s design and technology. No longer! We hope you enjoy our new look. The Underbelly blog is now hosted on our own server, with cleaner design and no ads. We’ve imported all the old content, including comments, so everything will be easy to find. You no longer need a Blogger account (or …
I made another batch with the recipe from the last post, this time with Michel Cluizel Plantation Los Anconès chocolate, along with the Cluizel cocoa powder. This was an intense trip. I’ve always loved this chocolate, but never knew quite what to do with it, besides, of course, just eating it. It has an unusual and intense flavor profile, full …
Welcome to our second deep-dive into flavor. I’ve had more requests for chocolate than for all others put together, and I’m not surprised. Who doesn’t love it? And who hasn’t had problems with it? Chocolate’s up there with coffee when it comes to technical challenges, but it presents its own unique vexations. Chocolate also resembles coffee in that …
