Days 34 and 35: Failed Compote Followed by Wildy Successful Southern Comfort Ice Cream

   Mmmm...berry season.  Knowing an intense unfrosted dark chocolate cake was headed for a dinner party in a large mile high neighboring city  this late July weekend, I made my first fruit compote ever in life, Very Berry Compote, Michelle Urvater's Chocolate Cake, page 372.  This recipe is simple to make. But if your berries, any of them, are even the tiniest bit over ripe, oh, no!  My raspberries fell apart, ruining not the taste but certainly the appearance of this lovely seasonal delight.  It was still wonderful at home on toast, topping yogurt, etc., but there was no way to take this to  dinner Friday night.  Win, win; eat the failed compote at my house and make ice cream to escort the cake to dinner.

   Three women climb hard all day,  scramble up White Ridge and add an extra peak - Mt. Sherman - just for fun.  Those girls are more than ready for a treat. The Silver Scoop in Fairplay is completely ready to provide it.  That's where I learned that Jack Daniels Chocolate Chip ice cream might just be as good as it gets.  If you follow this blog, you know already that the only flavor even close to good whiskey alongside chocolate is the "whiskey-like liqueur", Southern Comfort.  (Background music here is of course Janis Joplin singing "Piece of My Heart".)  This is how to make Southern Comfort Ice Cream, which when served next to a great flourless chocolate cake, is believed by some to be even better than Jack Daniels Chocolate Chip.

Southern Comfort Ice Cream

6 large cage free egg yolks
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon good Mexican Vanilla
infinitesimal dash of salt
generous shot of Southern Comfort

First, make your custard.  Cream the eggs and sugar.  Add the milk and heavy cream.  Pour it all into a microwave safe bowl and zap it for 1 minute.  Take it out and whip it with an electric mixer.  Do this over and over until your custard thickens.  It may take a while, depending on your microwave.  When you can dip a spoon in the custard, and it adheres smoothly to the back of that spoon, it has cooked enough. 

Cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate covered for hours, until it's cold.  Stir in vanilla extract and salt.  Add half the Southern Comfort, stir and sample.  Add the amount of liqueur that tastes just right to you.  Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions. 

Go to You Tube - Janis Joplin Piece of My Heart.  Southern Comfort Ice Cream is incomplete without this step.  Do it now.