Kitchen Indulgences: Do You Need A $400 Ice Cream Machine?
Do you need a $400 ice cream machine? It's something of a trick question. First, Amazon is currently discounting the machine in question, the Cuisinart ICE-50BC, so $260.99 is the true financial bar. Second, as my Depression-era grandmother would argue, few things in life are actual needs.
Now that that's out of the way, let me say that I bought one of the ICE-50BC models (partly thanks to a generous gift certificate) for my own kitchen a few years back, in what friends have come to call "The Summer of The Perfect Scoop," when we went wild making batches of ice cream from that wonderful cookbook by David Lebovitz.
The machine culinarily seduced me at a friend's house, when they used a similar model to toss together a spur-of-the-moment batch of chocolate mint ice cream. They started it just before we sat down to dinner; it was ready in time for dessert.
The ice cream itself is excellent, but the spontaneity is a big part of what makes the machine worth the price tag to me. I don't have room in my freezer to keep a bowl from a standard machine at the ready, and I don't usually plan ice cream far enough in advance to clear out the freezer space and get the equipment ready. You can also make several batches in a row with the built-in compressor freezer, which has come in handy on more hot summer nights and for more parties than I would have guessed. (The only negative for me is that, as some reviewers have noted, the machine can be loud. But my dishwasher and fridge are equally loud, so my kitchen is already in a constant state of noise pollution.)
Ice cream maven Lebovitz owns the machine and recommends it highly, also offering good advice on less splurge-y options.
Sound crazy to you? Consider this: There's also a $700 ice cream maker, which boasts glowing Amazon ratings. (I did consider this review a recommendation: "Everyone in my family proceeded to gain 20 pounds soon after (t)his purchase.")
Aside from my KitchenAid and a Le Creuset Dutch oven, versatile workhorses which get constant use, my ice cream machine is the only piece of kitchen equipment I own that required such a financial investment. I haven't regretted buying it for a minute.
What's your biggest kitchen indulgence?
PoliTech on August 06, 2010 at 07:54 AM
Our biggest kitchen indulgence? That would be a Bunn Automatic coffee maker model OT15. Water is piped directly to the machine, and it even has its own water heater tank. If I want to I can brew 3 or four gallons of coffee *per hour* !!!
We picked that bad boy up on E-Bay for 90 bucks used. I've had it for over ten years (we did replace the heating elements once which cost 50 or 60 dollars) and its still going strong!
Rich on August 06, 2010 at 08:22 AM
Two weeks ago I picked up a Delonghi ice cream machine that is similar to the one above for $99 on closeout at Williams-Sonoma. After using it the answer is yes, you need one. Makes great ice cream and sorbetto.
I will confess to overheating the custard for making vanilla and having to strain the scrambled eggs out of it the first time.
Rich
Dan D on August 06, 2010 at 10:52 AM
The Lello Musso Lussino machine is very much worth the money. I was fortunate to receive one as a birthday gift some years ago, and it is a terrific ice cream maker. We have enjoyed it very much, and have made many, many batches of ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt using the freshest ingredients and numerous recipes. It is very expensive, but totally worth it.
I also bought a number of All-Clad LTD cookware pieces. Again, they are not inexpensive, but they have clearly raised my cooking capabilities. They are a joy to cook with, very durable and practical, and until I owned them I never realized the many compromises I had to make with lesser cookware.
I also have only one expensive knife, a Henkels 6" utility knife that is like a slimmer chef's knife, which cost perhaps $70 a dozen or so years ago. All the other knives are bargained priced.
Suellen Kolbo on August 06, 2010 at 12:25 PM
Almost 40 years ago, my lovely mother-in-law bought me an Ugolini (Milano) for Christmas. It has served the family well without complaints or repair for these many years. At the time, it cost about $600 dollars (in the '70's, for pete's sake!) and she was kind enough to buy something for me that I had read about and wanted, not knowing the cost to her. The SS mixing container does not remove, so clean-up must be done by sloshing around some soapy water and then mopping it back up into a small bowl...not much of a chore. Storing this monster - hubby made a "table" of plywood with 4 casters so we can roll the thing under the butcher block counter in the pantry for storage and then use it right in the middle of the floor when required. BTW, love the Lebovitz books.