Vanilla Ice Cream Taste Test

In planning for last weekend's cooking, I planned to make some more of the Grilled Cinnamon-Sugar Peaches we wrote about recently.   In preparation for that, I had Juli pick up some more vanilla ice cream, as the carton we had was almost empty.   She decided to pick up a couple different kinds, so we could conduct a taste test.

The three we tested were Kemps Old-Fashioned Homemade Vanilla, which is what we usually go with, Blue Bunny Original Vanilla Flavored Ice Cream and Breyers Smooth and Dreamy No Sugar Added Vanilla.   Although I like some of the Breyers flavors (especially their French Vanilla), I was pretty wary of the Smooth and Dreamy.  In my experience, ice cream with no added sugar is pretty much bad.  Still, it was something to try.

I grilled up some peaches and served them with small portions of each of the three ice creams (the picture below includes two ice cream samples; the white-colored one is the Blue Bunny, while the yellow one to the right is the Kemps).  We both sampled each and compared our impressions and rankings.   The results were as follows.

Breyers Smooth and Dreamy No Sugar Added Vanilla.   This one was just plain bad.  Like, truly awful, to a degree I didn't think possible for ice cream.  Even a not-very-good ice cream is still at least okay, just because it is ice cream.  This stuff, on the other hand, didn't seem much like ice cream at all.  It had a very artificial flavor that reminded one of cornstarch and chemicals more than vanilla, and an unpleasant texture - too light, yet somehow stiff.  It didn't taste of cream at all, or even particularly of milk, and it was so full of thickeners that it barely melted at all even after sitting for 10 minutes.  I suppose that might be a plus if for some reason you wanted to use it as a decoration rather than eating it, but as ice cream it was a bust.  It was a struggle for either of us to eat more than one bite.  We recommend you avoid this vile stuff at all costs. 

Blue Bunny Original Vanilla Flavored Ice Cream.   This one wasn't bad, but it wasn't really very good, either.  It tasted more like milk products and vanilla than chemicals, but the flavor was nonetheless pretty anemic.   The texture was not bad, but it was overly airy, and there seemed to be more ice crystals throughout the ice cream than one generally finds in commercial ice cream.  I'd rate it a little bit below your average soft-serve vanilla..  Juli likes soft-serve vanilla a lot more than she liked this one.

Kemps Old-Fashioned Homemade Vanilla.   It's not really homemade, of course, but it has a flavor that reminds one of a really good homemade ice vanilla ice cream..  The texture was thick and creamy, and it tasted of cream and vanilla, with no unpleasant undertone or aftertaste.   It's a bit more expensive than the Blue Bunny, but well worth it.  In my opinion, Kemps Homemade Vanilla compares well to much more expensive brands like Ben & Jerry's, and it was easily the best of the three brands we tested on this occasion.

We might do another taste test like this in the future, pitting the Kemps against some other brands of vanilla ice cream falling within roughly the same price range, to see if we can find one that rivals or surpasses Kemps.   Meanwhile, we'd love to hear which brands of vanilla ice cream you prefer. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Taste Test

I like a lot of different types of muffins, but lemon poppy seed is among my favorites.  I can get a really good lemon poppy seed muffin at Smokey Row Coffee House on Cottage Grove in Des Moines, which is pretty close to my office, but for awhile now I've been thinking about making some of my own.  The problem was, I had a couple different recipes that looked quite good, but I didn't know which one to try.  Finally it occurred to me to try both, and see whether they were equally good, or whether one was a lot better than the others.

The first recipe I tested was one for Lemon Poppy Seed Buttermilk Muffins from My Gourmet Connection.  I've had mixed results with My Gourmet Connection recipes.  The site features a really diverse bunch of recipes, but I've found the occasional dud, and more often than not I've found myself using the recipes there as a point of reference for my own creations, rather than making them as written at the site.   That said, I'd recently made a different muffin recipe printed there, and that one had turned out great, so I wanted to give their lemon poppy seed recipe a try.  I figured the buttermilk would provide some extra tang that would go with the lemon juice and zest.  

The second recipe I tested was the Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins recipe form Annie's Eats.  I've not made very many of the recipes featured there, but the ones I've made have turned out well, and there are several recipes from that site on my "need to make this one of these days" list. 

I made one batch of twelve muffins from each recipe, following the recipes as written.  The only way in which I deviated from the published recipes was that I did not use paper liners to line the muffin pan as suggested in the recipe from Annie's Eats.  Juli and I then tried both muffins to see if one was better than the other.

It wasn't even close.

The first muffins I made, the ones using the recipe from My Gourmet Connection, were not very good at all.  They turned out dry and dense and weren't very flavorful.   The lemon flavor was quite muted, even with the use of lemon extract.  Indeed, the most notable aspect of the flavor of these muffins was that they left an unpleasant, slightly bitter aftertaste. 

After trying one bite, Juli said "I've made ones from a mix that are better than this."   For my part, I'd have to say these were among the worst examples of a lemon poppy seed muffin I've ever tried.

In contrast, the muffins I made using the recipe from Annie's Eats were just plain delicious.   They were light and moist and flavorful and full of lemony goodness.  Even better, they were topped by a glaze made of powdered sugar and lemon juice.  These were better than the other batch of muffins in every single way.  The picture below shows clearly how much more these muffins puffed up in the tin than did the other ones, even though both were made with approximately equal amounts of batter.

I'll definitely be making these ones again, and the only change I foresee making from the recipe as published on the blog is that I'll probably add a couple drops of yellow food coloring to the batter, in order to give the muffins a bit more color.

Making these two batches of muffins reminded me of how much I rely on a couple different tools.  Specifically, the Microplane Rasp Grater and our old Oster juicer.   I use the rasp grater all the time, for all sorts of things, but it most frequently comes into play when I need some citrus zest.  Those who have followed our blog for awhile will probably recall that I use citrus zest a lot, and this tool makes zesting a quick and easy task.  There's a reason why the various Microplane rasp graters are considered the best in class by America's Test Kitchen and pretty much everyone else.

As to the Oster juicer... well, it's old.  Really, really old.  But it still works like a charm.  This also sees heavy use in our kitchen, because fresh-from-the-fruit lemon, lime and orange juice beats the bottled stuff hands-down.  I hope it doesn't break down any time soon, because I doubt anyone makes a similar device that is half as sturdy and reliable as this thing.

Chicken Korma with Peas and... Naan from Wal-Mart??

For supper on Thursday, I wanted to make a simple, basic, no-fuss Indian recipe, because after a long week, I didn't want to spend all evening making dinner.   With that goal in mind, I made up a very basic chicken curry, and decided to toss in some peas as well, to give the meal a better nutritional range (not to mention a bit of color) without making another dish.  Along with chicken in a rich curry gravy, we had basmati rice and naan... but there was something unusual about the naan.  Namely, where I bought it.

Who'd have thought you could find naan in the bakery of a Wal-Mart in a small Iowa town?

Maybe Wal-Mart's been carrying bakery naan for awhile, at least in some of the bigger stores or more diverse markets, but this was the first time I've noticed it.   I was walking past the deli and bakery section when it caught my eye.  I literally did a double-take, because at first I couldn't believe my eyes.  As it turned out, they actually had two types of naan:  the basic tandoori naan I purchased, plus garlic naan.

Even more surprising, it's pretty good.   Not as good as what one would expect from a good Indian restaurant, but nonetheless a quite serviceable naan.  All it took was a couple minutes in the oven.  And the price wasn't bad, either.

We support Wal-Mart's trend toward carrying a more diverse range of products, and especially a more ethnically diverse range of food products, so I'm sure we'll be buying this again.  It went well with tonight's meal.  The chicken korma was also good.   Despite a fair bit of chili powder, the flavor is quite mellow, due to ample amounts of cream and almonds that balance out the heat.

Speaking of the chicken korma, we've got some pictures, plus the recipe, below. 

Chicken Korma with Peas

yield = 6 servings

1/2            cup sliced almonds
2               tablespoons butter, ghee or vegetable oil
1               large white onion, chopped fine
5               green cardamom pods, crushed
5               whole cloves
2               teaspoons hot chili powder
1 1/2         teaspoons ground cumin
1               teaspoon ground coriander
1/2            teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2            teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2            teaspoon salt
1/4            teaspoon ground allspice
2               tablespoons freshly-grated ginger
1 1/2         teaspoon minced garlic
4               boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into
                 bite-size pieces
3               tablespoons tomato paste
1               cup chicken broth or stock
3/4            cup heavy cream
2               cups frozen peas

Dry-roast the almonds in a small skillet, stirring often, until golden brown.   Reserve 1/3 of the almonds, and finely grind the rest in a spice grinder, food processor or mortar. 

Add the oil to a Dutch oven and heat on medium high until shimmering.  Add the onion, cloves and cardamom pods and cook until the onions have started to brown, stirring often.
 

Stir in the chili powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, black pepper, salt and allspice and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds), then add the ginger and garlic and cook another minute.  Add the chicken and stir-fry until the chicken is no longer translucent (about 5 minutes).  Stir in the tomato paste and cook until fragrant, then stir in the chicken broth or stock, cream, frozen peas and ground almonds.  Cook until the liquid has thickened nicely (about 5 minutes), top with the remainder of the almonds and serve. 

Serve atop basmati rice with naan.