Mrs BigJohn wants an ice cream maker. She's seen all these TV chefs putting bowls in the freezer and wants to try it herself.

But we guess that they are like Espresso machines – some pretend to do the job, and you regret buying them and those that work well and you're glad you spent the money.

So what should I look for, and where's the best place to get one from. I assume there are hundreds of "used once" ones on eBay.

All they do is freeze stuff and stir at the same time. I have a battery powered panasonic that you throw into the freezer. Works a treat. Makes up to 700ml at a time. And was only around £35 or so.

Hmmm… vodka and mango sorbet….

bought the wife a magimix one at xmas. used it 4 times and the blue coolant stuff has leaked out already. while it was working it made ice cream ok but always had to stick it back in the freezes to firm it up a bit. wish i'd spent a wee bit more and got a better one.

So £35 and up gets you a goodun then? Is it really as simple as that? There must be more to it.

one of these: http://www.nisbets.co.uk/products/productdetail.asp?productCode=F689 perhaps?

See if Gaggia have a recon one for sale? Not quite as expensive as MrNutts example.

Basically two sorts- cheap, where you freeze the bowl for a couple of days, or expensive, where you just plug it in and turn it on, and the bowl chills pretty much straight away. Main disadvantage of the cheap variety is that you can only make one batch at a time- the bowl needs to be put back in the freezer again before making another lot. Takes up a fair bit of room if you haven't got a big freezer. Both take about half an hour to make icecream. We've got a cheap one from Tchibo that works fine, but it does mean you can't make the stuff impulsively. Which might be a good thing.

There a few kinds:

The bowl goes in the freezer before you use it, and basically works like a coolbox ice brick and freezes the ingredients as they're mixed.

The machine has a built in freezing element.

The machine goes in the freezer.

I'd buy the cheapest one as I can see it being the sort of thing that gets used very rarely…

For some unfathomable reason Mrs BigJohn wants an ice cream maker. She's seen all these TV chefs putting bowls in the freezer and wants to try it herself.

But we guess that they are like Espresso machines – some pretend to do the job, and you regret buying them and those that work well and you're glad you spent the money, even thought the calories are not necessarily required

So what should I look for, how can I persuade her against and where's the best place to get one from store it if she buys one and it gets used twice. I assume there are the TV chef hype has resulted in hundreds of "used once" ones on eBay.

<do you want your projector back tomorrow morning approximately?>

I splurged out on the Gaggia one a few years ago.

I've made eight bowls of Ice Cream with it.

So far, each bowl has cost me thirty seven pounds and fifty pence.

I am really pleased I bought it.

😕

Old fashioned method…

Get a big bowl and a smaller bowl that fits inside the bigger bowl

mix a whole bunch of salt into some water and put in the freezer overnight in the big bowl. Make sure you have a good volume of the salt/water slurry. Get a metal bowl and a mixer. Make sure your ice-cream mix is cool before adding to the metal bowl (mix and keep in the fridge overnight?).

Sit metal bowl with icecream mix into the cold salt/water slurry. Mix until you have ice-cream…

sorted…

I'll be out until 11:00, Dave. Pop round for a coffee, and a smack from Mrs BigJohn. Should be in the rest of the day.

Got one of the magimix ones, works perfectly fine, bowl just lives in the freezer as ours is plenty big enough.

Cant abide ice cream from the supermarket anymore, its just not the same!

Only problem vanilla (or any custard based ice cream) takes ages to make as you have to make the egg custard first. Ones that just take milk/cream/sugar can be done in no time.

You can eat it straight away if you leave it in the mixer long enough the motor stops spinning as the mix is too thick so definatley solid enough. Tends to freeze slightly more solid than normal ice cream so freeze in smaller pots and stick it in the frige for 30min before you eat it.

Have fun 🙂

Brown bread ice-cream

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Cherry and chocloate stracciatella also mmmmmmm 🙂