Rocher

A rocher is a technique of scooping ice cream (or any other scoopable food) that creates an elegant, oval shaped scoop. While not used at your average ice cream shop, this technique is commonly used in fine dining restaurants.A similar technique is a quenelle which uses two spoons to create an oval shaped ice cream with three sides. Rocher requires only one hand to scoop and is a quicker technique than the quenelle. However, it still requires skill and practice to make a perfect rocher. It ...

Overrun

Overrun refers to the amount of air that is added to the ice cream during churning. An ice cream with 50% overrun means that for every 2 litres of ice cream, you will have 1 litre of air added. At 100% overrun, you'll get equal parts ice cream and air. Commercial ice cream machines have powerful dashers that can add 100% overrun or more. Most at home ice cream makers don't have the same power and create significantly less overrun.

Frozen custard

Very similar to ice cream but it incorporates egg yolks. If you make an ice cream at home using around 3 or more yolks the chances are you're making frozen custard. Frozen custard made in a commercial business will only have a small amount of air added to it. This differs to ice cream that can have significant air pumped into it. Frozen custard needs to be eaten within a couple of hours of making and has a soft serve consistency.

French style ice cream

A rich, creamy egg based ice cream. This style of ice cream traditionally uses a custard base made up of egg yolks, sugar and dairy. French style ice cream generally has a higher proportion of cream than milk.

Float

A float, also known as a Spider here in Australia, is a soft drink served in a glass with ice cream on top.

Bombe

A French frozen dessert made formed into the shape of a bomb. The bombe comprises of several different flavoured ice cream for maximum visual impact.

Stabilisers

Stabilisers are added to ice cream to create a creamier, smoother product that stores better in the freezer. Common stabilisers include egg yolks, guar gum, xanthan gum and carrageenan.

Homogenisation

Back when my parents were kids, they used to have their milk delivered in glass bottles. At the top of the bottle was a thick layer of cream which was caused by fat globules separating from the water in the milk. Homogenisation stopped all that. It's a process where the milk is forced through cylindrical holes under immense pressure. This causes the fat to break up into smaller particles and when the milk is bottled the fat no longer separates. You'll notice that the homogenised milk you buy ...

Pasteurise

To increase the temperature of the ice cream base (milk, cream, eggs) to around 72 degrees C so as to kill any harmful micro-organisms. Pasteurisation makes food safer to eat and can also decrease the chance of food spoilage or fermentation. Commercial manufacturers of ice cream are required, by law, to pasteurise their products for sale. For those making ice cream at home, it is not essential to pasteurise the custard base. It is a good idea to rapidly cool the ice cream base in an ice bath ...