The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More

This cookbook packs a lot of punch into a surprisingly small amount of space. Let's use Pumpkin Ice Cream as an example. Below it you have four variations listed: Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream, Pumpkin Raisin Ice Cream, Pumpkin Rum Ice Cream, and Pumpkin Seed Ice Cream. Mr. Weinstein could have done this a number of ways. He could have printed up a new recipe for each variation. He could have left them out entirely. Or he could have put the traditional paragraph of "oh, and you could try adding this, and this, or this." In the first case you pay more for a cookbook that could have been smaller. In the middle case, we would have been bereft of many extra fantastic recipes. In the last case, when we sat down to pick a recipe and make out our grocery list, we would have failed to read the last paragraph, and we'd eternally find ourselves saying "Oh, next time," without ever making the variations. So this is PERFECT. I wish more cookbooks did this. The variations are 1-3 sentence quick directions, but easy to pick out and implement. They're also listed as individual recipes in the index, so you won't have trouble finding them if you lose them.

You'll find a fantastic array of flavors. Apple Butter Ice Cream, for instance. Avocado Ice Cream, with a Gazpacho recipe to accompany it--I guess you can eat ice cream for dinner! The Banana Ice Cream and the Banana Ice Cream Philadelphia Style (no eggs) come with a stunning array of variations. When Mr. Weinstein suggests Bubble Gum Ice Cream, he even provides the toll-free number of a company that sells bubble gum flavoring! Now that's service for you. The book also includes sorbets, granitas, toppings, and ice cream drinks.

In all, this is the best ice cream book I've ever laid my hands on, and we have at least four such cookbooks. Mr. Weinstein has created a true treasure of ice cream creation, and deserves no less than a full five stars for his glorious work.


The Ultimate Addictive Ice Cream Book   July 26, 2003
 32 out of 32 found this review helpful

I don't usually share my thoughts about cookbooks that I buy, but I have to say that this book is truly addictive. When I first started making the ice creams in the book I stuck to the recipes that didn't require eggs. The author calls them Philadelphia style, but my family calls them delicious. All the ingredients called for are fresh. Fresh berries, fresh peaches, fresh cream. I like it that the strawberry ice cream requires so few ingredients. But my husband grew up eating frozen custard so I decided to try a few of the recipes that required a little more cooking. Beat the eggs, add the sugar, beat in some flour or cornstarch to help thicken the custard, heat the milk - it scared me at first, I'm not a great cook. But I did it. The custard was rich and smooth. Then came the fresh fruit. We're totally addicted. And it's nice knowing that there's nothing artificial going into our ice cream and frozen custards. I also like the fact that all the eggs we eat are being cooked first. After reading a few of the reviews here, I decided to try an experiment. So many people said they were staying away from the odd flavors, so I made some - sweet potato and green tea. We're hooked. They're so good. Someone else said you shouldn't add flour to ice. I made the mint ice cream recipe from this book without adding the cornstarch as the recipe called for. The ice cream was icy, grainy is what my husband called it. So I made it again just as the recipe required and it was perfect and has become an instant staple in our freezer.


Every Ice Cream Imaginable!   November 16, 2001
 31 out of 32 found this review helpful

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book is the only ice cream "cook book" you'll ever need. The Ultimate Ice Cream Book contains hundreds of recipes. The book begins with an introduction on the two different types of ice cream recipes (custard style-with eggs and Philadelphia style-no eggs), helpful information on ice cream machines, mix ins, and finally tips on drinks. After browsing through the introduction you will flip through so many pages of different flavors of ice cream you will have a hard time chosing which kind to make. There are recipes for bubble gum, banana, pineapple, peanut butter, key lime, and white chocolate ice creams just to name a few. Don't let all the exotic flavors worry you. There are recipes for plain vanilla (4 recipes for vanilla in fact), chocolate, and strawberry. As if that weren't enough, there are sorbet recipes, ice cream cone recipes, shake and drink recipes, plus sauce and topping recipes. There is even helpful information in the recipes for finding some of the ingredients. Take the bubble gum ice cream recipe. Have no idea where to find bubble gum flavor? Not a problem. They list a company along with their phone number where you may order bubble gum flavoring. You can't go wrong with this ice cream book.


Diverse array of recipes - something for everyone!   July 5, 2001
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

I just got my new ice cream maker and I purchased this book and the book "Gelato!" to get started. I found this book to be my favorite of the two. It is fairly straightforward and no-frills, and it's not the type of book to sit and read in an armchair ("Gelato!" is that type of book, with a history of Gelato making and rich text and accompanying photos). But this book has several recipes (rich to not-as-rich) for the basic flavors, and offers several variations on most of the recipes (such as grapefruit-kiwi sorbet after the main recipe for grapefruit sorbet).

Most of the recipes appear to be very easy to follow. If there is a complicated recipe, it's good bet he offers a simpler one for the same flavor, with a clear description of what the differences in your final product are likely to be. I haven't used my machine that much yet, but I have found the recipes I have tried from this book to be easy to make, with delicious results. It doesn't offer gelato recipes, but has many many ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt recipes. I think it will be a very useful companion to anyone's ice cream making at home.