Froyo by nicolle bustos

Contents > Interview: Frozen Dutch / PAGE6

> Interview: Stephanie Gonot / PAGE7 > Charlie Harry Francis / PAGE8 > Banana Split / PAGE14 > Lauren Hillebrandt / PAGE15 > Big Gay Ice Cream / PAGE16

Editor in chief Nicolle Bustos editors Jasker Kamp Maurizio Di Iorio Laurette Ziemer Tracy Harris Eric Sonstroem Lucy Cohen Blatter photography Stephanie Gonot Wyne Veen Lauren Hillebrandt Jennifer Abessira design Nicolle Bustos

interviews

Jasker Kamp

Interview: frozen dutch What are you doing at the moment? Reint: “Making chocolate ice cream. With a very strong chocolate flavour.” Where do you get your inspiration from? Reint: “The Flavour Bible by Karen Page. I use that book quite a lot. The book shows you which flavours of vegetables and fruit match. The idea for our apple ice cream with star anise was born after reading this book. On Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture by Harold McGee is also a very useful book. But the recipe for the chocolate ice cream was given to me by an old Italian ice cream maker from the small village San Gimingano (Tuscany). Only he made it with grappa.” How do you make the best possible ice cream in the world? Reint: “Searching, trying, adjusting, tuning. Making ice cream is most of all a big experiment and a search for the best ingredients. Especially in the first year of Frozen Dutch that was the case.” When did you start with Frozen Dutch? Reint: “In december 2008. I started alone, without any culinary background. Well, that’s not entirely true, I followed a course ‘How to make ice cream’ for four months. But that was pretty much it. Before I began with this ice cream adventure I owned a company that forecasted markets based on econometric models. Different stuff. But I had it with that business. I was done. I wanted to do something real. I wanted to make a quality product.” When did the idea of making ice cream crossed your mind? Reint: “When I visited a friend of

“

We are Frozen. We are Dutch. hence the name. But those aren’t the only two words that describe us. Far from it. We could have called ourselves Creamy Awesomeness. Because of the pure, natural dairy that we get from happy Dutch cows.”

mine in Turkey, in Antalya. He owned a pension there. I noticed that they don’t know the ice cream that you can buy in Holland. They have ice cream, but with a different matter. Slobbery. At the same time the most beautiful fruit is available over there. We would be making ice cream together, that was the idea. Soon after we started I had the feeling my partner wasn’t in it for the full hundred percent. A little while later I started Frozen Dutch in Amsterdam.” When do you know when the ice cream has that unique flavour? Reint: “Chefs and ice cream addicts tried the ice cream. Excellent reviewers. They gave me a hard time and sent me back to my kitchen. And I went back and back again till it was right. But that’s just the fun of doing this.” What’s your goal with Frozen Dutch? Reggy: “Upgrade ice cream. You can do so many things with it.” Like what? Reggy: “Ice cream is a dessert, that’s the basic idea. But did you know that you can match ice cream with meat?” Where can you buy Frozen Dutch? Reint: “Café-restaurant In de Waag was one of our first customers. Villa Ruysch also sells Frozen Dutch, just like aOceaan Deli, Boerenjongens and Van der Donk Chocolates. But our most important outlet at the moment is Marqt, the organic supermarket with outlets in Amsterdam, Haarlem and Utrecht. At Landmarkt, the organic supermarket in Schellingwoude, you can also buy Frozen Dutch. Also outside Amsterdam Frozen Dutch.

interviews

interview: Stephanie Gonot

breasts. That picture then got me interested in using ice cream in other contexts, and from there I moved on to using food products in general. I realized that with food you not only get color, texture and a cultural context but that you get the thought of a flavor and how that food makes you feel when you eat it. Food can be a powerful object in a composition.

These two series are composed by photographs of foods and objects savvily arranged, with a graphic precision and a relationship among lines, volumes and colours that creates an explosive mix of pop and surrealist suggestions. How much is there of improvised and of previously elaborated? I tend to have at least a general idea of what I’d like to include in a photograph before beginning. However, I never know exactly how the materials (mostly the food) are going to act, so sometimes I have to change plans and end up making a completely different picture with some of the same “ingredients.” For example, I had the idea to make a pyramid out of 40 or so Jell-O cups removed from their plastic containers, but didn’t realize how unstable Jell-O can be (I mean, who thinks of Jell-O as a good building block for a pyramid??). The structure collapsed on itself once I started on the third levelbut instead of throwing everything away I added an over-ripe frozen banana to the mess, re-framed my camera and found an entirely different image. The ironic touch always includes stirring ambiguity and a point of view about objects’ physiognomy that catches the spectator off-guard. Sandwiches pierced by needles, cigarette stubs put off on cakes and ice creams squashed or melted on the ground – they are pictures of convulsed beauty and charged with tension. I keep little lists on my phone and in notebooks of different food/ objects which pique my interest.

Maurizio Di Iorio

Let’s talk about your latest series, “Food” and “Fad Diets”. Irving Penn used to say that you can get obsessed by anything, if you stare at it long enough. In the past, you have worked in an ice cream sandwich truck; was your obsession for food born out of that experience? Working in an ice cream sandwich truck definitely triggered my obsession with food as an object to be photographed. And there’s actually one photograph that started it all… Shortly after beginning to work in this truck I had the idea to take a picture of my friend holding McDonalds vanilla cones over her

“

I guess I just think of objects and look at objects until I find combinations which make me feel a little strange. I want to make images that stick in your mind or make you look twice. Or make you think of a certain object or food in a different way. I’m much more about the final image now and how it fits in with the rest of my work.”

Laurette Ziemer

Charlie Harry Francis Freeze company: Madcap Charlie creates delicious job with liquid nitrogen ice cream parlour

ick Me I’m Delicious was dreamt up by award winning food inventor Charlie Harry Francis. He grew up on an ice cream farm in the depths of South Wales with his Dad, the ice cream maker, and his Mum, an incredible baker and confectionary maker. He wanted a way of combining these two skills to make delicious custom ice cream creations, right in front of people’s eyes. The first ice cream contraption was born in 2011, forged in the freezing fires of mount ice cream, it is the portable nitro ice cream parlour. Top secret construction of the second contraption experiment was completed in December 2012 with the launch of the World’s first ever nitro ice cream buggy - honk. As we speak, top secret martial art engineers are working on the next contraption which is mind bogglingly amazing and we can’t wait to show it to your all but it’s not quite ready yet. ‘Instant’ ice cream made using liquid nitrogen? It sounds like something that you’d find on one of Heston Blumenthal’s TV shows. In actual fact, you can already book a Bristol-based company to create liquid nitrogen ice cream for private functions and corporate events. And, even more excitingly, owner of ‘Lick Me I’m Delicious‘ Charlie Francis has recently won funding in a national competition – Take One Small Step, run by Barclays Bank – which he plans to use to open an instant ice cream parlour in Bristol.

PEOPLE

ow did it begin? I had been working in the advertising industry but it had got a bit boring for me so I decided to set up on my own. My parents have been making ice cream in Wales for 30 years and it made sense to go into something where I could draw on that experience. How did you finance it? I entered a competition with Barclays bank, the (now defunct) Take One Small Step competition. It was like the X Factor for businesses, entrants got given a text number and a website address and had to get as many votes as possible from a panel of judges and members of the public. I spent a lot of time giving out free samples of ice cream and ended up winning £50,000 from that. I also put in another £20,000 of my own savings. How did you research your business? My aim was to create a machine of some sort that could make any flavour of ice cream. At the time a chef friend of mine said he had started using liquid nitrogen to freeze his ice cream and the process made for a silky smooth texture of dessert. I built my first contraption, a portable flat pack ice cream parlour, with a lot of trial and error. Like any entrepreneur when you set up in business you can’t know everything and I spent a year speaking to people in the cryogenics industry to some eccentric professors, people who were willing to share their knowledge. You can get so much expertise for free if you look for it. I spent a year learning, and then six months or so working with different suppliers to build the contraption. How did you spread the word? Much of my business comes from events where your image can be quite prominent.

CHARLIE FRANCIS’ TOP TIPS “Follow your passions – if you really care about something, you’ll be able to plough through the inevitable hurdles. Use a business head at all times as well as you heart. A bad idea is a bad idea. Have fun. If you’re having fun people pick up on that and are more likely to support you. Enter competitions and apply for awards whenever possible – they are absolutely invaluable.” and mint sauce, and prepares each ice cream in front of each guest. “People love it, ” he beams. Charlie has just gone into partnership with a racing car designer. They have come up with a wacky buggy which allows Charlie to drive his ice cream parlour around.

PEOPLE

The ice cream of the future “I had a list by my bed that had all sorts of dreams on it,” he recalls. Charlie had landed a job in London working for a marketing company. “One day out of nowhere this idea of making and selling ice cream and bits came to me. It was now or never.” He quit his job, moved to Bristol and, living off his savings, started looking at ways of selling ice cream. “I thought of opening a shop but with a business head on I knew that was a very high risk,” he explains. His eureka moment came one day when he saw superchef Heston Blumenthal on TV using liquid nitrogen in one of his culinary inventions. “It dawned on me that this was the way I could make my ice cream different from all the rest,” he says. Charlie tracked down some of the UK’s liquid nitrogen experts and asked them to help him come up with a way to freeze ice cream.

by WYNE BEEN

“Most of these experts work in the cryogenic industry, freezing people, but they were really happy to help me.” Charlie and a chippie friend designed and built a wacky flat-pack parlour. “This was all done in my flat, as was inventing all my unusual flavours of ice cream. The name came up one night over a few drinks with friends,” he remembers. In need of funding, Charlie entered and won last year’s Barclays Take One Small Step competition worth £50,000 as well as a Shell LiveWIRE £1,000 award in January.

He says: “The money allowed me to finish making the parlour which I call my contraption, and order a specialist van for transporting liquid nitrogen.” His first event was last November and he took his flat-pack system and the newly invented machine which resembles a coffee machine, to a party with 200 guests. He produces new flavours in keeping with the party or event, ranging from raspberry mojito or chocolate orange brownie to roast lamb and mint sauce, and prepares each ice cream in front of each guest. “People love it,” he beams. Charlie has just gone into partnership with a racing car designer. They have come up with a wacky buggy which allows Charlie to drive his ice cream parlour around. He says: “It’s Willy Wonka meets Henry Ford. I’ve never had such fun!” Charlie Francis always knew he wanted to be his own boss, running something a bit out of the ordinary. But it wasn’t until he came up with the bizarre but amazing idea of a liquid nitrogen ice cream making parlour, that he knew he’d hit the jackpot.

FLAVOURS

Banana split Tracy Harris

A savory reward on a hot summer’s night and the perfect dessert to share on a date.

In downtown Wilmington, there used to be a restaurant called Hazard’s. The proprietor of the restaurant was Ernest Hazard. Like most merchants in Wilmington today he wanted to find a way to attract the students of Wilmington College to come to his restaurant. It was a very blustery winter in 1907, so business was slow and the employees didn’t have a whole lot of work to do. So Hazard decided that a good way to get some business was to create a new dish that was so unique everyone would want to try it. So he offered to furnish unlimited ingredients to the employees and have a contest to see who could come up with the most unusual dish. Surprisingly enough, the winner of the contest was Ernest Hazard. He took a long dessert dish, arranged a peeled banana and three scoops of

ice cream in it, and added a shot of chocolate syrup, a little strawberry jam, and a few bits of pineapple. On top of this, he sprinkled some ground nuts, and garnished his invention with a mountain of whipped cream and two red cherries on its peak. After winning the contest Hazard faced another dilemma. What would he name the dish? Some help was needed with this aspect of public relations, so Hazard enlisted the opinion of his cousin, Clifton Hazard, for the job. Hazard made the concoction for Clifton and asked him to take a taste test. He then told him that he had an idea in mind for the name, a banana split. Upon hearing that, Clifton told him that he didn’t think that the name was one that would help him get any extra publicity. He didn’t think that any-

for banana split. On April 30, 1988 Selinsgrove’s 2nd record-setting banana split was created - It measured 4.55 miles long and consisted of: 2,500 gallons of ice cream; 33,000 bananas; 600 pounds of chopped nuts & 450 gallons of topping.

one would ever walk in and ask for something called a banana split. There are those who might dispute Wilmington’s claim, but nevertheless, thousands of people will flock to Wilmington to sample an old-fashioned banana split during the second weekend in June. They’ll also hear the story that has endured the years of how Hazard created the first banana split. Festival goers will still enjoy the many food booths and craft and collectible booths promoting the 50s and 60s, a classic car cruise in, games for the entire family, and free entertainment. But the highlight for most will be the “build your own” banana split booth. A savory reward on a hot summer’s night and the perfect dessert to share on a date; what gave the banana split such a sweet reputation?

FLAVOURS

////soda pop

It’s basically the same as what is going on with the Mentos and Soda Fountain, except not as messy. This is because ice cream itself is in fact a kind of foam. If you looked at ice cream under a microscope, you’d see ice crystals, liquid, and air pockets. This foamy mixture of liquid, solid, and air is crucial to ice cream’s flavor and consistency. To help keep this foamy microscopic structure, ice cream contains chemical ingredients called “thickening agents.” These are designed to help foam stay foamy. Bubbles When you pour soda

over ice cream, the soda makes its bubbles as it usually does. But these bubbles don’t just pop; they are held in place and stabilized by the thickening agents in the ice cream. You get a glass full of thick ice cream soda foam. Bubbles of air in the ice cream provide nucleation sites around. However you make it, as soon as the soda hits the ice cream you get fizzy, frothy, tasty bubbles.

FLOAT We were recently introduced to soda pop ice cream and love how easy and affordable it is to make. You basically just choose your favorite soda, add a can of sweetened condensed milk, throw it in an ice cream maker, turn it on and 30 minutes later you have a creamy blend of deliciousness. The variations are endless, we did Sunkist for a dreamsickle taste and next were going to try Big Red. If you add the ice cream af-

ter the soda, most of those soda bubbles have already formed and popped before the thickening agents can get to work. Do you know how it works? It’s basically the same as what is going on with the Mentos and Soda Fountain, except not as messy. You are knocking the carbon dioxide in the soda out of solution. Bubbles of air in the ice cream provide nucleation sites around which carbon dioxide bubbles can form.

Eric Sonstroem

There’s an art to creating the perfect ice cream soda. Although you start with just two ingredients–ice cream and soda–you end up with three–ice cream, soda, and foam. Foam Vs Soda An A Moment of Science listener and ice cream soda aficionado, noticed something curious: When he put ice cream in his glass first, then poured soda over it, his glass filled with too much foam. Put the soda in first, and he hardly got any foam at all! What was going on? Carbon Dioxide Gas It turns out there’s a big difference between foam on a glass of plain old soda, and foam made by soda and ice cream together. When ordinary soda foams, it releases carbon dioxide gas. This forms bubbles that rise and pop pretty quickly. Things get more complicated when ice cream is added to the mix.

TRENDING

Lucy Cohen Blatter

big gay ice cream The Big Gay Ice Cream truck, manned by Doug Quint, keeps on truckinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

TRENDING

he Big Gay Ice Cream Shop is located at 125 East 7th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A. The shop features Big Gay Ice Cream’s full menu (including signature cups/cones, sundaes, shakes, and floats), daily specials, and select BGIC merchandise — plus an array of items from Melt Bakery, La Newyorkina, Oslo Coffee, Danny Macaroons, Bacon Marmalade, Treats Truck, and more. Big Gay Ice Cream began as the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, a summer experiment by founders Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff that began rolling the streets of New York City in June 2009. Described by The Village Voice as “a cross between Mister Softee and Mario Batali” the menu combines traditional softserve ice cream with imaginative toppings such as wasabi pea dust, Nilla Wafers, Dulce de Leche, olive oil and sea salt, and other rotating offerings. These are dispensed the way ice cream should be — with humor and good cheer. With this playful attitude, BGIC spins a new take

on old-school soft-serve by creating fun and unique toppings that appeal to a diverse mix of clientele. The truck has been blessed with excellent mentions online, in print, and on television — both domestic and international. Features include those from The Daily News, The New York Post, Time Out NY, NBC, ABC, Logo, Daily Candy, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Rachael Ray Show, multiple Food Network and Cooking Channel shows, and both NPR and CBC Radio. The New York Times sums up the truck as follows: “The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is manned by the charming Doug Quint, a bassoonist who Twitters, like a latter-day Pied Piper, his daily menu [and] location. [He] gives the same information on his website. Mr. Quint’s operation doesn’t aspire to be artisanal. He celebrates the Mister Softee tradition, with a wink. Toppings, like saba (Italian grape syrup) and sriracha, are the draw. I was too timid for the tamari, but the marriage of ginger syrup.

TRENDING

by JENNIFER ABESSIRA

“

One of the reasons we wanted to have a store was to give people another way to get this ice cream — a lot of locals wouldn’t wait on this line,” Quint said. The truck’s big draw isn’t the ice cream — it’s standard vanilla and chocolate soft-serve — but the specialty concoctions. Here’s just one day in the life of one unusual — and hardworking — ice cream man. 1. First stop: Truck depot. Quint and Petroff own the Big Gay Ice Cream business, but not the truck. Quint heads to a truck depot in Hunts Point around 10 a.m., where he cleans and stocks the rental

(which looks just like a regular Mister Softee-style truck) for about an hour and gets gas (about $100 for a tank). Quint buys most of his ingredients, such as the wasabi peas and curry powder he uses as toppings, at the Fairway in Harlem on weekends. 2. Cruising down Second Avenue. Quint drives down Second Avenue from the Bronx to his Union Square location. It’s a bumpy ride, but he takes it in stride, waving back at many of the onlookers who wave at him. 3. Pit stop at the store. On the afternoon we tagged along, Quint stopped at his soon-to-open store to

pick up more Nutella. While there, he chatted with his partner and the store’s manager, Jake, who will be the face of the shop much the way Quint is the face of the truck. 4. Holy lines! As we pulled up to the northwest corner of Union Square, we could make out a line of about half a dozen people already formed. And by the time the truck officially opened for business 20 minutes later, the line was 30 deep. 5. A quick bite… and some Diet Coke. Quint is slammed with customers from the moment he opens (around 2:30 p.m. every weekday).

by LAUREN HILLEBRANDT

TRENDING

e also include a Q&A with our honoree for the 2012 Frozen Dessert Retailers Hall of Fame, Andrew Seabury of GTI Designs. GTI is a consulting and design service for food service operations, and Andrew has worked with some of the best-known ice cream and gelato retailers in the world. Business profile: Our menu combines traditional soft-serve ice cream with non-traditional toppings, such as wasabi pea dust, olive oil and sea salt, dulce de leche and many other rotating offerings. All of this is dispensed the way ice cream should be – with humor and good cheer. How it all began: It was all a fluke. A few years ago, Doug was on the hunt for a strange summer job that kept him in NYC. He is a classical musician and was tired of traveling for work. He found an ice cream truck to borrow, because it seemed like one of the weirdest options available, and thus the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck was born. I was working in corporate training/meeting and event planning, and relished the

ICE CREAM FLAVOROLOGY

CHO COL ATE

idea of planning out the truck’s modernized menu. Maybe it was some sort of mid-life crisis? Most guys get a convertible; we got a beat-up ol’ ice cream truck. Things got weirder with the shop when we got a bigger kitchen and giant unicorn mural. What you’re trying to do differently: The company began as a rented ice cream truck in July 2009 that we christened the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. The original philosophy when we started our truck was to be different than all the other NYC ice cream trucks. Mainly 1) offer a fun experience with great customer service and 2) modernize the softserve truck menu. Ice cream trucks in NYC have had the same menu in place for decades and we thought it was a once in lifetime opportunity to update things our own way. Number of flavors: Under 10 actual ice cream flavors. Keeping with the soft- serve truck ethos, we stick with vanilla and chocolate. From there it’s about what we do on top of the ice cream with different toppings and sauces and combinations.

You tend to be lively, creative and dramatic. Always the life of the party, you charm everyone you meet with your enthusiasm and sense of style. You enjoy being in the spotlight and prefer to be in the company of friends rather than left alone to reflect on life. You prefer passion and excitement in your romantic relationships, and require a lot of attention from your mate. Romantic Compatibility: You are most romantically compatible with those who prefer Butter Pecan or Chocolate Chip.

S T R AW B E R RY

More a follower than a leader, you are content and effective working behind the scenes and out of the limelight. In relationships, you are often characterized as shy and reserved. Although you don’t fall head-over-heels in love at first sight, once you commit to a relationship, you are loyal and supportive. Romantic Compatibility: You are most compatible with those who prefer Strawberry or Vanilla ice cream.

VANILLA You are actu-

ally a colorful, dramatic risk taker who relies more on intuition than logic. Emotionally expressive and idealistic, you tend to set high goals for yourself, and push yourself to meet and exceed them. On the romantic front, you tend to rely on secure romantic relationships that fulfill your emotional needs while working toward future objectives. Romantic Compatibility: You are most romantically compatible with those who prefer Rocky Road.