Summer has not officially started yet we have already been through some sweltering days.
When temperatures climb, a scoop or two of Gelato or Sorbetto might be the right medicine.
Here in the US, Ciao Bella has been one of the standard bearers in the cool art of Gelato for the past 20 years.
Founder F.W. Pearce and master flavor creator Danilo Zecchin share their hits and misses and mostly recipes in The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato & Sorbetto (Clarkson Potter, May 2010) so you can try your hand at creating your own home made treats.
I asked F.W. Pearce for a few scoops on the cool art of Gelato.
Here it is.
Q: F.W, in 1989, you were a young graduate from Cornell when you decided to
buy a 'small Gelato manufacturer', was the company already named 'Ciao
Bella' prior to the purchase?
Yes, the basic components of the
company were in place: the name, the basic recipes (although all have
been changed over the years), the suppliers, the pricing, etc…
Q: You write that your decision to get into the Gelato business came
after you had an eureka moment so was it more an impulse 'trust your
gut' call on your part rather than an analytical one.
Yes, I had
graduated from Cornell Hotel School knowing that I did not want to open
a restaurant. I had been applying for jobs in hospitality consulting
(feasibility study work) that I did not want even if I received an
offer. I was also looking at existing businesses including a wrought
iron company in Buffalo and a liquor store in Sag Harbor. When I saw
the add in the NY Times, I knew it was the right combination of
manufacturing, food, selling to restaurants, location, etc. The only
analytical part of the decision was that it was a relatively small
investment so I was not risking too much family capital.
Q: Even though you mention history of frozen desserts as going back to
Bible times, is the story of Issac offering Abraham goat's milk mixed
with snow true?
I am not a bible scholar and I have not seen the
passage in the bible myself; however' it is mentioned in hundreds of
publications (which I know does not make it necessarily true).
Q: Since you were new then to the 'gelato-sorbet' field, how did you decide which flavors to start with?
The
business was ongoing so I made what the customers were ordering. There
was very little freezer storage in the 300 square foot shop, so I
basically made flavors to order. I inherited about 60 recipes and was
trained to make about 40-50 of those during my two weeks of training.
Chefs could request custom flavors, and almost all of my early flavor
creations came from these requests. Later we scoured all of the food
press for interesting flavor combinations that we thought would make
good gelato and/or sorbet flavors. These dishes would not be limited
to ice cream flavors or even desserts; many times our inspiration came
from the flavors being used with fish – coconut curry for example.
Q: Did you limit your line up to small batches and let customers decide on winners and losers?
Yes but our customers were NYC chefs; they were basically our R&D team.
Q: Can you share the 5 most successful flavors in the first years and the 5 worst duds?
Green
Tea was our biggest selling flavor for the first few years. The chef
at Hatsuhanna taught the previous owner how to make it. We sold to most
of the top Japanese restaurant in NYC. Other than green tea and
vanilla, the traditional Italian flavors were our best sellers.
Hazelnut, Pistachio, Caramel, & Coffee; this I believe was due to
the Italian flavor pastes that we were importing. It may be selective
memory, but I do not remember any duds. We always had too many flavors
so many did not sell all that well, but ALL received critical praise.
Q: If you were to define gelato, would you say: same pleasure with less
fat than ice-cream? What else?
Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream
(it comes from the verb "to freeze") Styles of gelato vary in Italy
just as ice cream styles vary in the US. Traditionally gelato from
Northern Italy (the Dolomites) had more cream than gelato from Sicily
for example. So it is hard to generalize but generally gelato has less
cream than American ice cream but it is denser (less air) so the gelato
tastes as rich as a high fat ice cream, but the flavors are more
intense since fat tends to mask the flavor.
Q: Overall what is the mix between seasonal and year round flavors?
Most
flavors are offered year round-since gelato is frozen, it does not
denigrate the product if we purchase fruit when it is at its tree-ripen
best and store it frozen for the entire year. Our two most popular
sorbetti (Blood Orange and Blackberry Cabernet) are examples of this.
Northwest Blackberries have a very short growing season as do the
Sicilian blood oranges that we use. We purchase these once a year.
Hopefully we forecast correctly which we usually do, until Oprah picked
Ciao Bella Blood Orange sorbet as one of her favorite things.
Q: Is Louisiana Praline a Flavor, what makes these pralines distinct from others?
New
Orleans Pralines were the inspiration for our Banana Walnut Praline
flavor; however in NO they are made with pecans. Although I am not a
praline expert, I think the pralines in NO are softer and therefore
more crumbly /less chewy than other pralines that I have had.
Q: The prune and Armagnac gelato recipe (page 43) reminds me of an
Armagnac Tasting and Food Pairing session I had recently, any other
fruit and alcoholic drinks that you feel work great besides the Fig and
Port Gelato (page 61)?
Alcohol makes great gelato and my
favorites do not contain fruit. (Dark Rum gelato or Maker's Mark gelato
are two of my all-time favorite creations) many pairings with fruit do
work well. Rum-raisin is a classic. We tend to pair fruit and alcohol
more in sorbetto: grapefruit-campari sorbetto is near perfection.
Strawberry chardonnay; blackberry cabernet; cherry sake; etc.
Q: Do you see the Rosemary and Olive Oil gelato or the Coconut
Lemongrass sorbet as possible garnishes for main dishes, which ones?
I
am not a fan of gelato with main dishes, in fact I don't like gelato
with a meal as much as I do as a snack once or twice a day – like the
Italians do. We did do an interesting mignonette sorbet which was
served with oysters.
Q: I noticed the Cherry Sake Sorbetto and the Red Bean Gelato (made with
Adzuki beans) are those especially popular with Japanese customers as Adzuki beans are the base for many Japanese sweets?
Green Tea, Ginger and Red Bean have always been some of our biggest sellers due to our Japanese restaurant customers.
Q: Could the Festa Limonata be turned into a cocktail? If it does, which alcohol would you use?
Of course – I have done it! Vodka is a no-brainer, but rum, whiskey (bourbon), gin or tequila are more interesting.
Q: I have never made ice cream or sorbet or gelato in my life, I was
under the impression that it was time consuming and difficult, how long
should it take to make one batch and which mistakes should anyone
giving it a try should not make?
The base takes less than an
hour and the freezing process takes about an hour. Of course the base
needs to be chilled for at least four hours (or overnight). The
recipes are surprisingly easy. If you take your time – don't increase
the heat on the burner so the custard cooks faster – and use a
thermometer – the recipe id almost fool-proof. The only risk is
turning the custard base into scrambled eggs. Make sure slowly add the
hot milk into the beaten eggs to avoid this. This procedure is spelled
out in the book.
Q: Are discussions on what flavors to produce heated between you an Danilo or is it a democratic process?
Are other people involved in the decision process?
Many
people are involved in the flavor creation process. (My partner, the
marketing manager, the sales managers, the office manager, any lucky
visitors, etc) Danilo will create 16-20 flavors 4-5 times per year.
These can be from his childhood, from requests from chefs, suggestions
from my partner Charlie Apt or I, or anyone at the company. These are
cut down to 4-5 flavors that are released to the restaurant trade. We
vote on which flavors we like – very democratic. I think the process is
hard on Danilo, but he is a gentleman and usually ends his sentences
with "in my opinion" which really means:"…I am the chef that grew up
around food and have a much more refined palette than the rest of
you…but if you insist."
Q: To conclude, tells us your own personal favorites?
This is such
a hard question – they are like my children – I love them all – though
some days I might love one more than others!
- Pistachio
- Greek Yogurt Gelato (aka Labne)
- Banana Caheta Cashew gelato
- Fresh Mint gelato
- Grapefruit Campari sorbetto
Thanks to F.W. Pearce for his time and Allison Malec at Clarkson Potter for setting up the interview.
Let a 1000 gelato home makers bloom.
(* illustrations are Lemon Poppy Gelato (page 96), Blood Orange Sorbet (page 120), Banana Gelato (page 72)…in that order)