A Public Service Announcement

Please pardon the image quality (I believe that this still shot was taken with the same camera used to make the Zapruder film), but if you look closely at the top of the second column from the left, you will see the faint image of a red and white striped candy cane which is the official announcement that Christmas has arrived in July.

A few summers back I strolled into The Creole Creamery one Sunday afternoon in July to pick up a pint of salted caramel ice cream which was intended to last for the entire week but almost never made it to see Monday morning. It so happened that TCC co-founder David Bergeron was working behind the counter that day, and he had the unfortunate duty of informing me that salted caramel had been 86ed for the time being.

I used a few choice expletives to display my disappointment, and David's only response was to smile and say, "If we carried everyone's flavor all the time, then no one would want to try something new. But you're in luck: July is not over, so we still have peppermint available." And that's when I learned about one of the most important pieces of information regarding TCC's flavor cycle.

You see, the peppermint ice cream at TCC is the flavor that launched a 1000 ships. In the infancy years of TCC, peppermint was only on offer in the month of December for obvious seasonal reasons. There was only one problem: customers wanted peppermint year round. They were like addicts banging down the door of a dealer whose Colombian supplier went on vacation 11 months out of the year. In order to stave off a protest, TCC decided that the peppermint flavor would make a cameo appearance every July.

And as such, there are now 20 days left on the official July 2012 peppermint countdown. Lovers of the sweet, herbal, slightly spicy pink flavor are advised to immediately proceed to the either the Uptown or Lakeview location and stock up for the 4 month drought between now and December. Five gallon tubs are available by special order.

The Creole Creamery - Birdie
4924 Prytania Street
(504) 894-8680
Open daily at noon; Sun-Thur till 10pm; Fri-Sat till 11pm
6260 Vicksburg Street
(504) 482-2924
Open daily from 2pm to 10pm

Gelato a Mario Batali

You likely have an ice cream maker. Or someone you know really well has one that they never use. Find it and make some ice cream, gelato, or sorbet this weekend. The process really could not be any easier.

I've been fooling around with ice cream recipes for a few years now. But last weekend I used Mario Batali's Gelato base recipe and the results far exceeded any other attempt. Ponchatoula strawberries have arrived with a vengeance, so I started out making strawberry ice cream. To do this I hulled and chopped a pint of strawberries, mixed in a tablespoon of sugar, and a splash of Grand Marnier. Let this macerate for about 30 minutes.

First, you bring 3 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of cream, a 1/2 cup of sugar and whatever flavor you wish to use up (vanilla, chocolate, Skittles, etc...) to a bare simmer. Mashing the strawberries with the back of your spoon will help intensify the flavor.

While the mixture gently warms, whisk together 14 egg yolks (save the whites for omelets) with a 1/2 cup of sugar. The yolks will go from bright yellow to a subdued pastel yellow.

As the berries steep, they give off an amazing aroma. The Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae from Creole Creamery is my default order and I have always wanted to make a peanut butter and jelly ice cream. So I added in a heaping spoon of peanut butter to the cream mix. This turned out to make peanut butter ice cream with a bare whisper of strawberry. Still good, but Lindsay had this to say, "That was a stupid idea."

Once your yolks are whipped and the cream mixture is warmed, ladle about one third of the cream into the yolks, whisking all the while. This will temper the yolks. Then add the tempered yolks into the pot with the remainder of the cream. Continue whisking and cook on a very low heat for about 7 minutes and watch as the gelato base thickens. Strain thoroughly into a clean stainless steel bowl and chill rapidly (an ice bath in your sink works well).

Then freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.

The delicious end result, even if I didn't reach the exact taste I was going for, was a thick smooth gelato with amazing depth of flavor. Next weekend straight strawberry will be made. Those cookies in the picture, those are Tagalongs. As far as I am concerned, one can never have enough peanut butter.

I Scream, You Scream

Lakeview has been adding new eateries with fervor over the past few months. Recent openings in the 70124 dining scene have fulfilled three key groups in the Blackened Out Food Pyramid: buttermilk drops, po-boys, and now ice cream thanks to the opening of the second location of The Creole Creamery on Vicksburg. I appreciate the strategic placing of TCC directly across from St. Dominic's church - perfect for an afternoon Mass filled with repentance followed by a sinful reward of a double scoop of salted caramel (above). I am not sure there is a better flavor on this planet.

In other news, while waiting out an early afternoon rain storm inside TCC a few weeks back, The Folk Singer and I chatted up the counter girl, who offered some keen insight into the churnings behind The Creole Creamery. She said that after TCC was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives last year, they were slammed with people embarking on a Guy Fieri culinary tour of NOLA. "Well, we just came from Joey K's, and so now we want a Sky Scraper," they would say. Some of the wannabes even spiked their hair and wore pinky rings. But I guess since The Pope started sporting 7 jeans, we have no room to judge.

Another little tidbit she let us in on is that TCC will be featured on this month's New Orleans episode of Chefs vs. City, which is the same show that Rene and I auditioned for back in March. Like Rob on Swingers, we were still optimistic because we had not heard an "official no" yet, but for now it seems that the dream has died. Oh well.

Our source tells us that the Chefs vs. City competition included a Tchoupitoulas Challenge, which is sort of like an ice cream eating Olympics, except that in this case one team got to pick their flavors first so the other was stuck eating Avocado & Cream, Beet Generation, Wasabi-Pistachio, etc. All I know is that had Blackened Out been competing, we would have destroyed 8 scoops of Steen's Molasses Oatmeal Cookie and Poblano Lime and THEN finished the other team's Tchoupitoulas just for sh*ts and giggles. But I guess Rene and I don't have what it takes like Brian Boitano does, so we will just have to stick with our day jobs for now.

At this time TCC in Lakeview unfortunately does not have the Tchoupitoulas because the positioning of the bathrooms is... shall we say... less than ideal for those valiant warriors who come up short on the challenge. But we were offered a few tips in case we ever decide to take the plunge:

1. Plain favored ice creams are preferred because they are easiest on the stomach.
2. Same goes for fruit toppings and syrups because they have less sugar than the chocolate or caramel alternatives.
3. Her most valuable piece of advice though was this: "Some people ask for the Tchoupitoulas and then get gummy worms as one of their toppings. I'm like, 'Dude, there is no way you are finishing this thing if you get gummy worms. They are like the kiss of death.' But they never listen to me."

But rumor has it that the Tchoupitoulas might be soon coming to 70124. Apparently there is a Lakeview resident who has put in many a request with TCC to bring the Tchoupitoulas to Vicksburg Street. This particular individual is one of TCC's best customers - frequently sending his wife to fetch a double scoop of Bananas Foster while he lays on the couch and watches football.

But until then, we will have to settle for the Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae. Life sure is rough on the lakefront.