Gaggia Gelatiera

.../> GAGGIA

Gaggia is an Italian company best known for manufacturing coffee making and espresso machines since 1938. They have diversified into a wide range of commercial and domestic appliances of which their Ice Cream Maker is one.

Web site: http://www.gaggia.it/uk/home.html

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

The carton was well packed for transit and delivery. The machine is a solid white enamelled brick ...
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The Gaggia is very much one of the latter models. That said, it is simplicity itself to use. The instruction manual offers fairly basic recipes, but the joy of ice cream making is as much in the experimentation and improvisation as in the final eating. After all practice makes perfect, but what a delightful incentive to continue to practice!!

AVAILABILITY

Larger departmental stores are beginning to stock ... more

I like ice cream. My family likes ice cream. We scoff pots of Haagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s but bemoan the price we have to pay in comparison with our experiences in other parts of the world.

I have been the experimenter, the innovator in the household kitchen. It was me that bought the bread maker four years ago before they became popular (it’s been the most consistently used piece of equipment since). Last Summer I decided to go one better – I bought an ice cream maker. I did my research, read the books, trawled the net and chose the model which is the subject of this review.

I am aware that there are much cheaper alternatives. I remember back in the 1950s my father used to make ice cream by beating the ingredients together in a metal dish, then freezing it, then partly thawing and beating, and freezing it again. It was a very laborious exercise. Most of the less expensive models these days require to be frozen first in the freezer but have an agitator which does the mixing for you. You also need a big enough freezer to get the whole apparatus into.

GAGGIA

Gaggia is an Italian company best known for manufacturing coffee making and espresso machines since 1938. They have diversified into a wide range of commercial and domestic appliances of which their Ice Cream Maker is one.

Web site: http://www.gaggia.it/uk/home.html

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

The carton was well packed for transit and delivery. The machine is a solid white enamelled brick of an item with ventilator grills on both sides. It’s dimensions are 15” [D] by 11½” [W] by 7½” [H] (38cm x 29cm x 19cm). It is HEAVY and houses the compressor. It also requires a mains socket so the machine is best positioned where it is going to live. This is not an apparatus I would relish lugging into and out of a cupboard with any frequency.

There is a warning that you should leave it on a bench for 24 hours after receipt to allow refrigerant to settle before first use. At the front there is a brushed aluminium well with an agitator spindle which is covered by a transparent lid. The controls consist of a timer switch (the positions are labelled 0 – I – II) and two on-off buttons to control the freezer and the paddle.

There is a removable brushed aluminium freezing pan and two paddles which will fit over the spindle. There is a ladle and a measuring cylinder.

The instruction manual and user guide runs to 44 pages and is written in five languages. Preparation of the machine and actual making of ice cream is dealt with over two pages and is kept very simple. There are a range of recipes for making ice cream, sherbets and smoothies.

The booklet tells you that you can make ice cream in ‘fixed mode’ (pouring the mixture into the well in the machine itself or ‘removable mode’ (using the pan). The two sized paddles accommodate this choice. ‘Fixed mode’ – Don’t even go there!!! Believe me, cleaning up after a batch is either a gloriously sticky delight (getting covered in fresh ice cream) – or a tediously sticky chore (getting covered in fresh ice cream). I am sure they could have designed the paddle shape to have been both easier to extract from the frozen mixture and to hold while scraping off the surplus ice cream.

PREPARING THE MACHINE

Getting ready is straight forward. I will assume that we are using the removable pan. Firstly pour some “alimentary alcohol” (Gaggia’s description – not mine!! I use vodka) up to the mark in the measuring cylinder. Top this up with water to the second mark. Pour this into the well. The alcohol acts as an anti-freeze and stops the pan from freezing to the well.

Place the pan into the well over the spindle. Position the correct paddle and fix the top screw. Plug into the mains and depress the freeze button. Preliminary chilling takes about five minutes but you can tell when it is ready by the frosting on the inside.

THE BASIC MIXTURE

I present here my basic ice cream mix. This is more or less the recipe given in the instruction manual but I use slightly less caster sugar.

Four egg yolks
100gm Caster sugar
7 fl ounces milk
Dessertspoon Vanilla Essence
7 fl ounces Double Cream

Heat the milk (not to boiling). Separate the egg yolks into a basin and whisk until thick and the colour changes. Add the sugar and continue beating. Add the vanilla (I use Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract but you could use a pod). Pour in the hot milk mixing all the time. Pour in the double cream.

Turn the timer to mark II and press the paddle button. Pour in the mixture and cover with the lid. The ice cream will be ready when the stiffness of the mixture stops the paddle. It may require some additional time over the first 30 minutes or so.

Spoon out into a container. Place in the freezer (preferably overnight) to allow the ice cream to ‘temper’.

You may lick the spoon!!

SOME TASTY TREATS

Ice cream making gets more exciting when you start to stray from the basic recipe given above. All sorts of items (fruit, nuts, chocolate) can be added into the pan after the mixture has started to thicken up. Alcohol also peps up the flavours. I have found this best added to the mixture before pouring it into the pan. Be warned though – don’t overdo the quantities (it is an anti-freeze!!). Freezing times may also be somewhat longer.

Here are three of my favourites.

1. Vanilla Crunchie

Use the basic mixture and method above.
Add a measure of Bailey’s Irish Cream before pouring into the pan.
Break up two Cadbury Crunchie bars and add this to the pan towards the end of the freezing time.

The later the Crunchie is added, the less of the honeycomb dissolves into the mix.

2. Coffee

Substitute 7 fl ounces of strong brewed coffee for the milk in the basic recipe.
Add a measure of Khalua (or Tia Maria if you prefer)

I find the better the coffee the better the flavour of the ice cream. We are currently using Jamaican Blue Mountain. You may also need to reduce the amount of added sugar.

As a variation, try adding a broken up Cadbury’s Flake or grated Bournville to create a Coffee Chocolate Chip.

3. Black Cherry

Use the basic recipe
Add a measure of Amaretto (or Kirsch)
Pit and quarter about 15 large black cherries and add towards the end of the freezing period.

This is our overall favourite but is dependent on the supply of fruit. On a recent trip to Tampa, Florida I bought a special cherry pitter from Williams-Sonoma – a high class kitchen supplies chain. (It’s even on their website for $12.50!! Address: http://ww2.williams-sonoma.com/cat/subcatselect.cfm?cat=ctlfvgi&root=shop&cpage=2&src=shp)

CONCLUSIONS

So, I hear you ask ‘How many types of ice cream maker are there?’. Well, two actually – the Italians, and everyone else from the rest of the world. Oh, sorry – types of machine? Well, cheap and expensive. The cheap type depends upon a lot of elbow grease, chilling of components beforehand and variable help with the beating while the mixture freezes. The expensive type includes a built-in freezer and agitator so that once the mixture has been introduced, the rest of the process is more or less automatic.

The Gaggia is very much one of the latter models. That said, it is simplicity itself to use. The instruction manual offers fairly basic recipes, but the joy of ice cream making is as much in the experimentation and improvisation as in the final eating. After all practice makes perfect, but what a delightful incentive to continue to practice!!

AVAILABILITY

Larger departmental stores are beginning to stock an increasing range of ice cream makers. Also look out for offers on the internet. We bought ours on line from:

BEAU-PORT Ltd, Alton, Hampshire. Web address: http://beau-port.co.uk/acatalog/Beau_Port_Home__GAGGIAICECREAMMAKER.html

Their current price: £257.00 carriage paid. Delivery was within five working days.
List price: (about) £299

BTW: Apart fom making Royal Icing and Meringues - can anyone give me suggestions for what to do with all the leftover egg whites?

POSTSCRIPT: The only choice as a title for this review has to be the above. I know, I know… it’s probably been done before. However, did you know that it’s a song title – note the brackets and hyphens - “(I Scream-You Scream-We All Scream For) ICE CREAM” from 1927 (the prohibition era in America) by Billy Moll, Howard Johnson and Robert King. It has also been a long time favourite played by the Chris Barber Jazz Band.
 

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