Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Poetic Disappointment: Raspberry Chocolate Ice Cream

Really? How could ice cream be bad?
I'm still asking myself this very question. After all, it seemed to have everything going for it -- chocolate, cream, awesome raspberries. But, somehow, it just fell... well, flat.  I'm still perplexed.

The sad story began on a Saturday in August. The raspberries were as close to perfection as they come -- big, ripe, juicy and local. We'd just procured them from the market, and had nibbled a few out of hand just to be sure.  Sheer perfection so far as we could tell.
And we had a nice, fresh container of whipping cream, just begging to be made into something wonderful.
A bit of sugar, some cocoa powder -- the anticipation began to mount.

We cooked up all the good stuff on the stove until the sugar was fully dissolved, and then we took everything off of the heat and added those luscious raspberries to the mix.  The pan sat on the stove, covered, for a while -- giving the raspberries just a smidge of time to soften.

And then everything went into the blender...

... where it was whipped into an oblivion.

It was gorgeous stuff -- light, fluffy, silky.  It looked like a dream.  We scraped it into a bowl, chilled it, and then gave it over to the ice cream machine.

It looked pretty perfect when it came out. 
But the flavor?
Flat. Strange. Not-quite-right.


We tasted. And retasted.  And scooped. And licked.
It didn't really get better.

But, we really HATE wasting food. So we made the best of things. It took us a number of weeks -- but we ate every last bit of the ice cream. The second round was "enhanced" with a bit of chocolate syrup (which made it passable).  The third (and final) round accompanied a batch of seriously fudgy brownies (so good, we almost didn't notice the ice cream).

As you might have noticed, we were so disappointed, we didn't even take photos of the final product... but we did write a little bit of bad poetry.

Ode to Chocolate Raspberry Disappointment
Oh you --  brown creamy treat,
For which we had high hopes.
We sacrificed ripened fruit in your image.
We whipped you in our blender,
Praying for whirled peace.
In exchange, you gave us Brain Freeze.
And an appetite for disaster.

Cold and sweet, but not satisfying.
Like a winter day in August.
We masked you in chocolate syrup.
And still you would not satisfy.

Oh you --  brown creamy creamy treat, 
You are not worthy of our pleasure.
Your looks deceive and taunt us.
Chocolate Expectation flaunts
What it can never hope to deliver.
Your whipped creamy goodness
Is but a facade.

And so, we sing of your deceit.
And warn our neighbors.
We spare even the landfill your presence --
And eat what we cannot savor.

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©BURP! Where Food Happens

24 comments:

  1. you two are crazy ;)

    ~r

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  2. LOL, I absolutely hate when that happens. Especially with when the ingredients are hard to come by.
    ~ingrid

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  3. Sorry to read that. These things happen in the kitchen.

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  4. That is a bummer! Does sound like it should be divine! I will just pretend that it tastes heavenly on my tastebuds! Thanks for the poem! :-) jo

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  5. Sorry that it didn't turn out well, and at least you know now. Thanks for the poem.

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  6. I actually prefer my chocolate ice cream separate from my fruit-flavored ice creams, so I would not have enjoyed this even if it did turn out. And by not enjoying it, I mean I would have only eaten half a bowl ;-)

    LOVE your poem!!

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  7. Love the poem! I just can't believe that it was not fabulous! It sounds just wonderful.

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  8. I'm dreaming of making ice creams lately too... I wonder if a pinch of salt could have helped? And maybe not blending up the berries- blending them in semi-whole near the end? The seeds may have lent their bitterness...

    I'm sure your next flavor will rock!

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  9. Aw. Sorry that happened. I hate it when good ideas don't come out the way you hope.

    Maybe next time try making raspberries into a syrup and then swirling it into the ice cream?

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  10. Was the raspberry flavor not strong enough? I find that often happens when I use them in recipes

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  11. Your pics are great! Sorry that the flavor doesn't match up. And that's the challenge and mystery of cooking. What fun!

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  12. Ooo haha... that little poem had me laughing out loud!! Sorry to hear of your icecream disaster, but well, shit happens I would say... :) Still looks good though in it's fluid form!

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  13. I am sorry that your ice cream didn't work out. That is always heartbreaking...I wonder what didn't gel...maybe more raspberries would do the trick.

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  14. Oh! I am sorry for your disappointment...unfortunately sometimes things do not work as we expect...

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  15. What a bummer that it didn't turn out. If you try it again try adding some Chambord or Raspberry Schnapps to bump up the raspberry flavor. That might help.

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  16. Bummer! So sorry that didn't work out :( I made an ice cream recipe that did that to me too. It looked beautiful but tasted awful. Sigh.

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  17. I hate when this happens!! But good for you for giving it a go AND for eating every bit of what you made! And thanks for sharing the poem! So talented!

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  18. I had something similar happen when I tried to make some chocolate peanut butter ice cream recently. The first batch was horrible. I was shocked. How can ice cream EVER be bad??
    I had to make it again with a new recipe. Fortunately that one was good.
    I see that you've tagged this recipe with "lebovitz". Was it one of his? The one I made first (the bad one) was a recipe of his, though others have come out great. Who knows?

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  19. Kristina - Yes, this was a Lebovitz recipe... sounds like you had a similar experience with the chocolate peanut butter recipe. Just not sure what went wrong... but we'll definitely be trying again at some point. Probably a different recipe, though.

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  20. What a bummer!
    I made some candy sushi this last week that was so-so, after weeks of planning and thinking about it, so I know how you feel.

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  21. Oh no! At least you got a great "ode" out of it! :)

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  22. Love the poem! I just can't believe that it was not fabulous! It sounds just wonderful.

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