curses, foiled again!

Damn you, pineapple sage!

I bought a chicken yesterday (both the feet and the head still on, thank you very much) and, on a whim, scooted over to White Crane Springs Ranch for some herbs. "I'd like something to stuff under the skin," I told Mr. Minocchi. He grabbed a small bouquet with large green leaves from a glass jar filled with water. "Sage?" I guessed. "Pineapple," he confirmed. It smelled, well, like pineapple-y sage. Sold!

By the time I got home, I'd had an idea. Why not make pineapple sage ice cream? I made a chicken salad sandwich for lunch and then set to work. Following a recipe for basil ice cream in The Perfect Scoop, I pulverized the soft sage leaves with sugar and cream, then warmed half the mixture on the stove. Meanwhile, I separated five egg yolks, and slowly whisked the warmed milk into them, being careful not to scramble them with too-sudden heat. Then I set everything back on the stove to thicken into custard. I waited, checking the consistency occasionally against the back of a wooden spoon and fiddling with the heat to keep it low. All of a sudden, a few minutes after I started to think I could take it off the heat soon, I noticed a bubble -- the mixture was starting to boil! Horrified, I snatched it off the stovetop. But it was too late. I had scrambled eggs.

Never did have any ice cream last night. Harumph.

Comments

[Tea]

Oh my dear--I had a similar problem this week! (I blame my awful new stove that I hate).

You know what I did--whipped out the immersion blender, whizzed the bubbling mess until smooth, and continued on as if nothing had happened. Worked fine, which was good as I had guests arriving in ten minutes. No one was the wiser.

Might depend on the "scrambled-ness" of your eggs, but worth a try.

[The Cooking Ninja]

I'm sorry your pineapple sage ice cream was dashed.

[Amanda B.]

I made ice cream yesterday...strawberry with amaretti cookies crushed into it. yum!

[Tiffany]

I still can't get over the fact that you know how to make pineapple sage ice cream. Holy crap, I'm impressed.

[Catherine]

Tea - oh how I wish I'd had you on speed dial. I just figured if it was scrambled, I was screwed.

CJ - thanks.

Amanda - is that gloating I hear? Harumph!

Tiffany - well, there's no real proof that I actually DO know how to make it - yet. I intend to try again next weekend.

[Jeff Shattuck]

The kitchen disaster might have been my fault. I was working on a nuclear bomb that could be transported by my teram of trained earth worms and there 'might' have been some heat released during testing that pushed the egg mixture into a 'scrambled' state. If so, I apologize, but the work of freedom never rests.

[NS]

What a shame -- and after all of that painstakingly careful work, too! I'm curious -- when you put the mixture back onto the stove to thicken into custard, did you happen to use direct heat?

I'm probably more paranoid than most, but the scars of facing a similar problem many years ago have now led me to use a belt-and-suspenders approach whenever I make custards on the stove -- i.e., a double boiler setup plus a thermometer. The former provides a gentler temperature ramp-up and better heat control, while the latter helps me ensure that things stay well below the scrambling point. I have yet to have a disaster using this approach -- which undoubtedly means that the next time I make custard, I will!

[Deborah Dowd]

I have grown pineapple sage, and it has a wonderful, delicate flavor, I am sure it will make a lovely ice cream!

[radish]

I'm growing pineapple sage on the roof now and it's lovely! I've never even heard about it until i found it at the nursery and it's been a wonderful addition to our herb collection since!

[Christine]

I too have softly scrambled an ice cream base of two and did just what Tea did: make it smooth and proceed as if nothing happened. Both times the ice cream came out great. I've always got pineapple sage in my garden. Now I've got a new use for it. Thanks!

[Omnivora]

Ugh custard is so hard. Pineapple sage ice cream is an awesome idea.... Sweetened with honey perhaps instead of sugar?

[Elise]

Bummer! And it sounded so good, too.