The Homemade Ice Cream Experiment

I was in our storage area the other day, and I saw that we had an ice cream maker. Specifically it is a RIVAL 4 quart electric freezer. I asked Carrie how long we had owned this ice cream maker. She said we got it as a wedding present – over 8 years ago – but we had never taken it out of the box or used it. So, with the oppressive heat seemingly going to remain for a few weeks, I decided to make homemade ice cream for the first time. I had dreams of making some unbelievable stuff that would out me on the level of a confectioner. After all, how hard could it be?

As I cracked open the directions I realized it would be a little more difficult than I had first assumed, but I felt up to the challenge. So, one morning I got up and began cooking (which seemed contrary to making ice cream, but I was going to follow the directions). Things started out badly from the beginning. I mismeasured the amount of flour needed and so was unsure how we stood on that front. Then, I could not get my mixture to boil without it burning. Finally, I got it to the point where I needed to put it into the refrigerator to cool and I did so.

When it was time to actually mix the stuff, I got everything ready, turned on the ice cream maker, and nothing turned. I checked to make sure it was set up correctly, and it was. Apparently, letting a motor sit for 8 years without ever using it is not good for it. So, I took the thing apart (8 hex screws) and manually turned the gears to make sure they would turn. They did, and after spreading some of the remaining grease around the pertinent parts, I sealed it up again fully confident that it would work. And it did – for about 5 minutes. The motor stopped turning again, and I was forced to manually turn it to get it going again. This happened a few times after that and eventually I assumed the ice cream was done and it was supposed to be shutting off.

Of course these delays had put me behind schedule and I was not able to properly inspect the ice cream before we headed off to our small group meeting at which I fully expected glowing accolades for my effort. After dinner, I broke out my ice cream and it was far more cream than ice. Basically it was tapioca pudding. It was far from smooth as there were chunks of flour mixed in. It was a disaster. I became the laughingstock of the small group and vowed to put the RIVAL company out of business. After all, I blamed the ice cream maker not my lack of preparation.

Well, in the light of day, I realized that the ice cream maker could be a piece of crap, but I needed to make sure that there is nothing that I can do to improve the performance before I looked into the warranty on an 8-year old, once used ice cream maker. For example, my recipe was probably too complicated for my first effort. My next batch will not have eggs and flour. I will continue my efforts in the vein of Thomas Edison, and if it takes 100 batches of ice cream to make a good one, than it is an undertaking worthy of my effort. Hopefully this Labor Day I will taste the fruits of my labor.