Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book by Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield, Nancy Stevens
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Book Reviews of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
Book Review: The Hobo Philosopher
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I bought this little gem when we were doing research on ice cream for our new adventure. We opened our own ice cream parlor. We didn't use this book to make ice cream. We had no intention of making our own ice cream. It is very complicated and you need a lot of expensive equipment.
We bought it to learn about ice cream. We learned a lot. What constitutes a top quality ice cream etc. The knowledge in this book helped us in selecting which distributer to buy from; what questions to ask and so on. We "stole" lots of ideas dealing with ingredients and different techniques that we incorporated into our sundaes - we made sundaes out of many of Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavors.
That was many years ago. I since sold the business and used the profits gained to start my own publishing company and publish my own books. Something I had always dreamed of doing. I still have the book. It is also autobiographical and tells the Ben & Jerry story. It is a cute book - really neat.
Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie" Salisbury Beach, Lawrence YMCA
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" Novel - Lawrence, Ma.
"The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.
"Noble Notes on Famous Folks" Humor - satire - facts.
"America on Strike" American Labor - History
"A Baker's Dozen" Short Stories
Book Review: Incredibly fun and easy book to use
Summary: 5 Stars
First, the "warning": This book was written over 23 years ago, prior to all the health scares about using RAW EGGS. If this is the deal breaker for you, before you buy this book, check your markets to see if they sell pasteurized eggs such as Davidson's or another brand. IF you are concerned about this factor and IF you've found safe eggs, THEN buy this book. If you can't be bothered, then move on and don't whine about the raw eggs!
Now, on to the review: I've owned this book for 23 years and have worked my way through every single recipe, many times over. Chatty, illustrated in the style of it's time (very Peter Max or Moosewood-ish), it is a user-friendly 1st owners guide to making incredible ice creams, sorbets, sundaes, brownies and other delights. It's fun to read about the beginnings, literally, of both Ben & Jerry, their various metamorphosises along the way to creating their company. The ingredients called for are very common and easily found such as strawberries, plums, Oreos, etc. The entire book is in colour and charmingly illustrated, making it easy to follow directions and not become bored by the whole experience.
If you just want a basic, simple, easy book that has kid and adult friendly recipes, then THIS is the one for you! If you grow beyond this book, then I highly recommend Mathew Klein's "The Joy of Ice Cream", which has more exotic and adult flavours such as Chocolate Almond Brittle and Buttermilk Peach. That one came out in 1985 and is my second ice cream companion.
Book Review: Who needs secret recipes anyway?
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, Dastardly Mash no longer exists. If you like it, you're going to have to make it, and the recipe is in here.Offering another general review of what may be one of the best (if not best, at least the first) books on ice cream you can buy would be a bit pointless, so I'm going to talk a bit about what they did with this book instead. "Secret recipes" are a big deal -- a guy named Todd has put together quite a successful line of cookbooks based on copying famous foods, and everyone from Coca-Cola to Boston Market has their secrets -- a syrup, a marinade, a cookie. But when Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield published this book in 1987, right around the time Ben & Jerry's was just hitting the big time, they were letting the cash cow out of the bag and doing it in print. Hasn't hurt them a bit, and the book is sixteen years old now.
Now obviously it's not going to be easy to duplicate the concrete-dense mouthfeel of B&J's ice cream without one of those pricey self-contained ice cream makers from Simac or DeLonghi, but you can still play with their recipes and recreate their flavors (such as the above-mentioned Dastardly Mash) and have a lot of fun doing it. The point is that Ben and Jerry realized that having fun with food is enhanced by learning about it, and nothing is gained by keeping that learning secret.
Buy this book. Make some ice cream, and enjoy it. And make sure you pass on the recipe to anyone who asks.
Book Review: The best home made ice cream!
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this book along with my new Kitchen Aid ice cream maker. The book is delightful, written with lots of humor and interesting stories of how Ben & Jerry started their business. Oh, and the recipes are great too! Really, there are some wonderful recipes in this little book. I was concerned about using raw eggs. I live in a very small Canadian town and was unable to get pasteurized eggs. I went online to see what temperatures kill Salmonella and found that "storing below freezing will destroy most of the bacteria". Most??? Sorry, not for my family. I adapted the recipes to make a cooked custard first. Most of these recipes have milk, sugar and eggs as a base. Just whisk the sugar into the milk and whisk in the beaten eggs. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring with a spatula constantly. I used a candy thermometer and you should stop at 175 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The minute you see a boiling bubble, take it off the heat and whisk vigorously. Cool the mixture in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, and whisk it about every 30 minutes until it is completely chilled. Then you add your cream and whatever else you are putting in and pour the whole thing into the ice cream maker. Voila!! Perfect ice cream every time!! This book will also give you the motivation to invent your own flavors, as you will see that the base is, well, basic. You will be limited only by your imagination! Enjoy!Book Review: Add an ice cream maker for a great wedding present
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a terrific book, and it solved my perpetual problem of what to give people I know well enough to go to their wedding but not well enough to drop $800 on a wedding present. The recipes in this book make great ice cream. Toss in a decent ice cream maker, and you have a present that no one else will think of, that the receipients will appreciate, and one that they will use over time. (For what it's worth, I usually give the Donvier hand-turned machine because it makes dense, smooth ice cream that reminds me of gelato.)Anyway, about the book and what makes it so great: Ben and Jerry tell you how to make their most popular ice creams, and a bunch that I never saw before. They provide multiple recipes for chocolate ice cream, and write clearly about how they are different. A friend of mine once made all the choclate ice creams and had a tasting party. It was interesting to see how different they really were. (And this book taught me the secret to great chocolate ice cream taste: a pinch of salt--really!)
If you are worried about using eggs, you will want to use a pasteurized egg product in place of the raw eggs. Other than that, this is a terrific book. Lots of good ideas, excellent recipes, and enough discussion about how to create new flavours to encourage even the most reluctant recipe-inventor to go hog wild.
I wish there were a sequel.