we all scream for icecream

Over at Good Living today, it's all about summer - and what says "summer" more than icecream? Matt Preston offers a lesson in "popsicology", explaining the history of icecream. (Who knew George Washington spent $200 on icecream in 1790? Not I.) Stephanie Clifford-Smith reckons she knows where to find the top ten gelato scoops in Sydney (my pick: Gelatomassi in Newtown, or just about anywhere on Norton St, Leichhardt). And Preston pops up again, showing us how to pick our kulfi from our kachang, our semifreddo from our sorbet. I always find it interesting that despite huge cultural divides and geographic differences, many cultures have similar recipes (burritos are to the Mexican what pancakes are to the Chinese; noodles for Japanese and pasta for Italians, etc) and icecream and its various cousins is no exception. Sign me up for some spoom!

One of my favourite food blogs, Stone Soup, is also riding the icecream wave, with a post on five ways to make icecream without an icecream maker. Useful stuff. I also love the look of Julie Goodwin's ricotta icecream in this month's issue of The Australian Women's Weekly. The recipe isn't online, so you'll have to check it out for yourself!

And speaking of icecream, Caliban and I took a trip to lovely lakeside Toronto (not the Canadian city, the quiet NSW town) after Christmas, where we indulged in a LOT of icecream. After a long day in the car (snaps to Caliban, who drove the entire way) we treated ourselves to lunch at Anacapri, an Italian restaurant on Brighton St. Lots of wine, a pizza, some bread and a delicious serving of chilli prawns later, we tottered over to the icecreamery and gorged on Norgen-Vasz icecream. Caliban was delighted with the country-style servings (read: the two scoops icecream were basically as big as his head) and promptly fell asleep after devouring the whole thing. Rather like a baby who only needs a bottle of milk to go under, you know?

Got any hot (or, er, cool) icecream hints from your kitchen or neighbourhood? Share them here.

And happy new year!
Lauren x

daily wrap

Over at The Punch, Nola James (a Tassie-based PR rep and sometime journo) writes about MasterChef backlash. To wit: her headline is “MasterChef created a nation of know-nothing food tossers.” Hey Nola, be honest: what did you really think? James is upset with the winner (Julie, who James rightfully labels a “cook” rather than the titular “chef”) and with what she calls the dictation of social values by reality TV. “Reality television is dictating to our society rather than being a reflection of it,” she remarks. Mmm – I don’t agree. We’re a nation of incredibly varied food tastes, with tons of foodie mags, farmer’s markets and delis to prove it (not to mention cooking classes, dining guides, and um, some of the best restaurants and dining districts in the world). I’d say the producers of MasterChef very cleverly picked up on our love of cooking and of food in general, and, coupled with recession-era hankering for DIY, made the show the runaway hit that it was.

Speaking of which, are you auditioning for the next season? Click here if you think you have the culinary nous to wow the likes of Matt, George and Gary.

Grub Street has picked up on New York Times’ outgoing food critic Frank Bruni’s contributing podcast for GQ, in which he explains how to order from any restaurant menu. The formula? Delete anything you’ve seen before, then anything that seems too crazy and experimental. Choose from whatever’s left. Might make visits to your local bistro a little difficult, methinks.

Finally, head to Good Living for a glimpse inside the dough-filled world of Paul Allum and David McGuinness, owners and bakers at Sydney’s Bourke St Bakery. The Bakery is the home of the most amazing sausage rolls you’ll ever eat (pork and fennel, or lamb and rosemary?), perfectly flaky croissants and deliciously delicate lemon tarts. If you want to recreate the cult Bakery’s treats at home, grab their new cookbook, Bourke St Bakery, for $69.95. Perfect for carb-loading Dads.

Shake Shack

Have you ever had a really good burger? I'm not talking about fast food processed-meat-and-yellow-cheese sandwiches here. I mean real beef, gooey cheese (I like Gruyere, but just about anything without the word 'tasty' as a prefix will do), salad (ruby red tomatoes, crisp spinach leaves or lettuce, roasted capsicum and eggplant, fried onion) on a freshly baked bun...it's one of the most perfect meals you could ever hope to have.

I'm a huge fan of Sydney burger joints like Burger Bun (the Aria burger is just about the best vege burger ever) and Burger Fuel (both the Newtown and Kings Cross locations). So I knew I had to try a burger from Shake Shack while in New York. I'd heard about it via Grub Street (no surprises there). Situated in Madison Square Park, in Chelsea, it was launched by celebrity chef Danny Meyer. It's known for its burgers and the eponymous shakes. We headed there one sunny Monday afternoon following a morning at MoMA.

Despite the warnings that we'd have to wait in line for up to an hour for our burgers, we were pleasantly surprised when it only took around ten minutes. Being a purist, I ordered the Shake Burger - beef, lettuce, tomato and "Shack Sauce". Being a vegequarian, Caliban ordered the only non-meat burger on the menu - the 'Shroom burger: a deep-fried, cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom with lettuce, tomato and Shack Sauce. We shared fries and drank homemade lemonade.


The burgers were delicious - the bun was soft, the meat was tender and not overcooked, the sauce lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, within around 20 minutes of consuming them, we both needed to visit the bathroom. Sorry, Danny Meyer. I have a feeling our gentrified little tummies were too immature for this fat explosion. It was fun while it lasted, though.

For more on Sydney burgers, see Good Living's Simon Thomsen rate the best here.