Yes. Really. This post is about the rabbit hole I went down to make what I think is a world-first, pushing the boundaries of the culinary world: Turkey Flavoured Ice Cream.

Why?

“Why are you like this?” asked my auntie one year at Christmas when revealing our yearly ‘Meat Monstrosity’ and I think the best answer is ‘because no-body else is’.

Why turkey ice cream in particular? The idea came from wanting to take an integral part of a Christmas dinner (turkey) and make something absurd but still tasty out of it. Ice cream seemed obvious in hindsight because Christmas is generally hot in Australia and there isn’t much less appealing than ‘meat ice cream’ making it the perfect challenge. A quick Google showed no real results when searching for meat-based ice creams so I instantly knew I was breaking new ground with this project but also that there was a lot of work ahead of me if I wanted to make something palatable.

Making Ice Cream

I have never made ice cream before. That is a problem if you want to prototype ice cream recipes. I still do not have an ice cream machine (but I am more interested now) so the prototyping phase involved a lot manual labour to make ice cream by hand. I tried using the bag-in-bag method to make ice cream but I couldn’t get it to work so I ended up going for the bowl-in-bowl method where a metal bowl is placed in ice/salt bath.

When it comes to actually making ice cream though, the only correct answer is to use liquid nitrogen. The creaminess of ice cream is inversely proportional to the size of the ice crystals and the size of the ice crystals is determined by how fast the freeze. Freezing quickly with constant motion gives the smallest crystals possible which is why freshly-made liquid nitrogen ice cream will be the creamiest you’ll ever taste.

Ice Cream is Science

One thing I didn’t appreciate when embarking on this journey is that ice cream production is a science. There is a lot of food science that goes into making ice cream and its more than just making it shelf-stable or use cheaper ingredients. No, ice cream itself requires additives and specific ingredient ratios to be good. This isn’t all that surprising given that it is a complex emulsion, but still amazing that you it doesn’t take much digging until you are seeing recipes discussing additives and stabilisers.

In this regard, I’m not going to go into detail about all the science behind ice cream except to say that you need to stabilise the emulsion and there are two important things to note: stabilisers and solid content. Ice cream is a complex emulsion whose main ingredients are water/fat/air so stabilising it is a challenge. Both stabilisers and solid content help with this which is why my final recipe has both. Somewhat surprisingly to me, sugar is an important ingredient in ice cream as it acts as a stabiliser for the emulsion which helps creaminess. As a result, you cannot remove sugar from ice cream without replacing it with something which why you see inulin (a type of dietry fibre) appear in many recipes.

In doing this research, I found the subreddit /r/icecreamery, this blog (specifically their ingredient calculator) and this blog particularly useful in learning about ice cream science.

How Do You Make Ice Cream Taste Like Turkey?

This was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be. I thought it would be as simple as reducing turkey stock to a paste and adding it to an ice cream recipe. The intense turkey flavour would then end up in the stock and and gellatin would act as a stabiliser giving really creamy ice cream. Genius.

First Attempt

Ideas are like pancakes - the first one is usually bad. This didn’t work at all.

I tested this approach with some chicken stock I had in the freezer and reduced it down (3 cups -> 100 mL) before adding to a standard ice cream recipe. After churning and freezing it was solid and tasted terrible. Too much water maybe?

Second Attempt

If the problem is too much water maybe I need to start with a more concentrated stock?

To address this I found a (recipe)[https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/heston-blumenthals-brown-chicken-stock/ljwnko9tr] from Heston Blumenthal for more intesely flavoured stock which involved tossing the meat for the stock in skim milk powder before roasting it. This is a game changer and something I will use for all my stock going forward.

I made some stock in this way using turkey necks and reduced it down. It ended up very thick so I wondered what would happen if I just added cream to the stock and churned it in a very simplified version of ice cream (note: this was before I read extensively about the need for solids in the recipe). This did not go well.

The result looked like a beautifully textered ice cream but the taste was awful. It tasted like gelatin so clearly there was too much gelatin in the stock.

Third Attempt

To reduce the amount of gelatin in the stock, I tried freeze clarification which is a gastonmy technique which utelises fractional freezing to clarify a stock. The stock is frozen and thawed slowly in the fridge so that the water-based flavours melt out and solids are left frozen in a gelatin matrix.

This worked a treat but after reducing this down, it was still laden with gelatin so clearly the stock route was not working. I didn’t even bother trying to make ice cream with this.

Fourth Attempt

After some consultation, it was suggested to try and infuse the turkey flavour directly into the fats used in the ice cream. To achieve this, I soaked a few roasted chicken wings in milk for a few days before pasturising in a 65C water bath for 2h.

This was then used to make ice cream and the result was…really good. The ice cream tasted like ice cream with an mistakble hint of chicken.

Extra Flavour

To give the turkey ice cream an extra turkey hit and make it more memorable, it needed something extra: a topping and a swirl. Cranberry sauce is an easy choice for the swirl but the topping was more difficult to choose. In the end, turkey meat floss seemed like a good option. Making it was difficult and lukily we ended up having access to a Thermomix which made making the floss very easy (if a little time consuming).

Putting It All Together

With all the that, it is time to make turkey ice cream.

First, roast turkey bones tossed in skim milk powder.

Add the milk and cream to infuse.

Making ice cream.

The finished product.

The taste was suprisingly good. The ice cream was flavoursome and not too sweet, it was unbelievably creamy and had an unmistakabe turkey note on the end. The cranberry swirl complimented the turkey perfectly.

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Turkey Infused Ice Cream

Makes approximately 1 L

Ingredients

Turkey Infused Milk:

• 2-4 turkey wings or necks
• 2 tablespoons skim milk powder
• 500 mL full cream milk
• 300 mL heavy cream

Ice Cream Base:

• 6 large egg yolks
• 120 grams white sugar
• 30 grams inulin
• 2.5 grams guar gum (or other stabiliser)

For Freezing:

• Liquid nitrogen (quantity as required)

Instructions

Turkey Infused Milk:

1. Pat the turkey wings or necks with a paper towel to remove excess condensation. Toss them in skim milk powder to coat evenly.
2. Roast the turkey pieces at 200°C (392°F) until golden brown, approximately 25-30 minutes.
3. In a bowl, combine 500 mL of full cream milk with 300 mL of heavy cream.
4. Place the roasted turkey wings/necks with any rendered fat into a sturdy zip lock bag. Pour the milk and cream mixture into the bag, ensuring the turkey pieces are well submerged.
5. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible. Place the bag in a 65°C (149°F) water bath for 1 to 2 hours to infuse the turkey flavour.
6. Strain before use in ice cream base.

Ice Cream Base:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 6 large egg yolks, 150 grams of white sugar, and 2.5 grams of guar gum until well combined and slightly pale.
2. Gradually add a small amount of the turkey-infused milk to the egg, sugar, and guar gum mixture, whisking continuously to temper the eggs.
3. Slowly add the remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan.
4. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or a spatula, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10-15 minutes. Avoid boiling.
5. Once thickened, remove from heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Freezing with Liquid Nitrogen:

1. Once the base is chilled, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any turkey pieces and ensure a smooth texture.
2. Pour the ice cream base into a large, preferably metal, bowl. Slowly pour liquid nitrogen into the bowl, stirring continuously with a long-handled spoon or spatula. Be sure to take necessary safety precautions, including wearing gloves and eye protection.
3. Continue adding liquid nitrogen and stirring until the ice cream reaches your desired consistency. This process should be done in a well-ventilated area.

To Serve:

• Serve the ice cream immediately after freezing for the best texture and flavour.