ICE CREAM CHRONICLES, part two (WITH A SIDE OF FISH)
As I was watching Susan Maccanico, of Niki's Homemade Ice Cream in Belmar, make ice cream one recent afternoon, I was struck by a few things. First, it's time-consuming. Second, there's lots of room for improvisation. Third, the ice cream industry sure has changed since I did a stint at HoJo's back in the early 1970s.
"In the beginning,'' Susan was telling me as she reminisced about her earliest days as an ice-cream parlor owner, "the old standards were in vogue. Chocolate, vanilla, butter pecan. Then it started branching out, with cookies and cream, candy bar flavors, toasted coconut.''
Her daughter-in-law Cheryl Maccanico noted today's trends to "comfort food" flavors - peanut butter, for example. Nearly every ice cream parlor I visited on my Shore tour had a good four or five flavors sporting peanut butter.
That's a lot of stirring for ice-cream makers like Susan. In fact, though she closes at 11 p.m., she's downstairs in her kitchen till 2 a.m. most nights making ice cream, then back at it a couple of hours before her shop opens at 1 the next afternoon. No wonder she's so trim and fit.
Though kids love soft-serve, I learned that once they age into the teen years, they start ordering hard ice cream. I guess that brands me as a permanent kid. Sure, I order hard ice cream quite often, but my soul craves soft chocolate. With marshmallow sauce. I'd love to eat a huge cup of that right now, preferably sitting in Niki's courtyard, right next door to her shop.
Maybe that's because I've been out in the sun, scouting fish the past couple of days. The blues are running, as are the flounders, and local lobster is tasting good these days. I'm readying a story for this coming Wednesday (June 27) about cooking fish on the Fourth of July and have lots of good advice from local fishmongers. So think about it. Think about fish on the Fourth.
Meanwhile, what/where are you eating this weekend? And, restaurant chefs, what specials are you posting?
cheers,
Andy
6.22.07
"In the beginning,'' Susan was telling me as she reminisced about her earliest days as an ice-cream parlor owner, "the old standards were in vogue. Chocolate, vanilla, butter pecan. Then it started branching out, with cookies and cream, candy bar flavors, toasted coconut.''
Her daughter-in-law Cheryl Maccanico noted today's trends to "comfort food" flavors - peanut butter, for example. Nearly every ice cream parlor I visited on my Shore tour had a good four or five flavors sporting peanut butter.
That's a lot of stirring for ice-cream makers like Susan. In fact, though she closes at 11 p.m., she's downstairs in her kitchen till 2 a.m. most nights making ice cream, then back at it a couple of hours before her shop opens at 1 the next afternoon. No wonder she's so trim and fit.
Though kids love soft-serve, I learned that once they age into the teen years, they start ordering hard ice cream. I guess that brands me as a permanent kid. Sure, I order hard ice cream quite often, but my soul craves soft chocolate. With marshmallow sauce. I'd love to eat a huge cup of that right now, preferably sitting in Niki's courtyard, right next door to her shop.
Maybe that's because I've been out in the sun, scouting fish the past couple of days. The blues are running, as are the flounders, and local lobster is tasting good these days. I'm readying a story for this coming Wednesday (June 27) about cooking fish on the Fourth of July and have lots of good advice from local fishmongers. So think about it. Think about fish on the Fourth.
Meanwhile, what/where are you eating this weekend? And, restaurant chefs, what specials are you posting?
cheers,
Andy
6.22.07
posted by Andrea Clurfeld at 12:10 PM
4 Comments:
Had a quick bite at the River House in Brielle - why all of the fuss of a new chef - food is not any better than in prior years??
Just read this posting - another fan of the soft chocolate with marshmallow topping! Have you tried Red's Custard in Belmar - was there a couple of nights ago, had a cup of chocolate with marsh! Wow really good - the girlfriend had cake batter with cookie dough topping - another winner!
Red's Custard in Belmar? Where is this place?
I am so glad to know I have good company in my soft choc-marshmallow addiction. It sounds pretty kiddish, I know, but there's something so nostalgically delicious about it. I can't have it in the jumbo-size I used to inhale as a kid, however - small does it for me these days.
To anonymous re: the River House - what did you eat there? I'm sorry to hear it's not what we all wish it was. Sigh.
thanks for writing,
Andy
7.3.07
red's is up a few stores from 10th ave burrito.
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