Burnt Orange Ice Cream (Page 854)

RECIPE #744

• Date: Monday, May 26, 2008 -- 11:30pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companions: Matty and Russ P.
• Recipe Rating: C+
  

I got a little tired of looking at all the pink, so The Gourmet Project now has a new, more serious, less pink template. I must be maturing! Anyway, I picked this ice cream to make for dessert the night Matty and Russ returned from Las Vegas. I wanted to like this ice cream, I really did, but I just didn't like it. In fact, since the night we first tried it, it has been sitting in the freezer untouched. Issue number one with this ice cream is that the "burnt orange" wasn't burnt at all. The recipe starts with making a caramel from orange juice and sugar, cooking it until "deep golden." Note: to get a burnt taste, you have to actually get a little burn on your caramel. That's just how it works. But that's not what the recipe directs you to do. So maybe this would have been more appropriately named: Caramelized Orange Ice Cream. Ok, so there was no burnt flavor. That wasn't my real issue with it though. I just don't think citrus flavors are suited very well for something so rich. This recipe had a cup and half of heavy cream, a cup and a half of whole milk, and 6 egg yolks in it. That is a very rich ice cream base. As a flavor, orange suggests something light, something refreshing. Orange is an excellent sherbet flavor. But with all that creamy heaviness, this ice cream was like an orange creamsicle gone mad. It just didn't work for me.

This recipe isn't online.

My best friend Emilee's younger brother graduated from the West Point Military Academy this week, so my special gentleman and I drove down there for a few days to celebrate with them. Em and Brian traveled there from California with baby Sam, who I hadn't seen since the day he was born. On Friday we went to the graduation parade. One picture is Emilee and Sam watching the parade (ok, ok, maybe Sam isn't exactly watching...). The other is a picture of the graduating class.



















We had a fun trip down there, but it was also very odd. We stayed at a Medieval-themed Resort and Spa (how that happened is a long story...). This place was weird -- more than weird, it was creepy. Apparently built in 1971, this "resort" clearly hadn't been upgraded or repaired in the last 35 years. The Medieval-theme translated to dark, dank rooms and hallways, and scary furniture and light fixtures everywhere. The other clientele seemed to be exclusively 250+ pound men in wife beaters, covered with tatoos -- a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. The "resort" was essentially empty though (imagine that!) which only added to the creepiness! I have traveled a lot, but this was hands-down the weirdest hotel I have ever been in. Despite being a "resort and spa" the rooms had no clocks in them, no irons, no hair dryers, no extra pillows or blankets, not even a Gideon Bible. The first couple hours we were there, as we wandered around the grounds of the place, I couldn't stop laughing. It was just so absurd. Everything was called a "palace" or a "kingdom," yet was completely in shambles. It was funny.

Despite the creepiness, our trip was fun, and certainly memorable.