MIT
Sprinkle Guns, Egg Washers, and Other Food Contraptions
The best and the brightest—MIT engineering students—set out to develop innovative food technologies
Advertisement
MIT
The best and the brightest—MIT engineering students—set out to develop innovative food technologies
sleepyneko/flickr
An ice cream artisan gives his take on last year's "consequential ice cream events": the flavors everyone just had to make
Paul and Jill/flickr
A film and a book showcase the intensity—and borderline hilarity—of France's most prestigious pastry competition
surlygirl/flickr
One brother owns Toscanini's, the other Rancatore's. A look at what it's like to be ice cream rivals, avoid discussing recipes, and be asked if you "share a cow."
mccheek/flickr
The struggle to cope with customers who buy an espresso, open a laptop, and practically pitch a tent
The Infamous Gdub/flickr
New York isn't a metropolis of five-cent twin pops anymore. The Big Apple has become the Big Artisan Popsicle.
Photo by avlxyz/Flickr CC
"Cafetourists" plan their vacations around finding the best lattes, cappucinos, and more.
Photo by St0rmz/Flickr CC
The author reveals how ice cream shops come up with flavors like Grape Nuts and Guinness.
Photo by petrr/Flickr CC
Berthillon and Paris might be good--okay, great--but nothing beats Pine Tree Softy in the Maine mountains.
Photo by inuyaki.com/Flickr CC
In Austin, a city full of popular food carts, one trailer selling fried chicken and waffles stands out. The author tries Lucky J's Chicken and Waffles and discovers the secret is in the sauce.
Photo by jspatchwork/Flickr CC
All it takes is a special blender and some syrup to bring a sorbet back to life. But fixing failed ice cream isn't so easy--Ice creams are usually impossible to refreeze, though some expensive restaurants claim to melt and refreeze ice cream every day.
Photo by t-bet/FlickrCC
You might not think the worlds of ice cream and punk rock would overlap much, but they do. Musicians make surprisingly good ice cream shop employees. Here, words of wisdom from the best musicians-turned-scoopers to enter the shop.
Customers ask odd questions when it comes to ice cream, but you can usually see what they're getting at. When they make fun of an unusual ice cream flavor like Salty Saffron, they probably really want to taste it. But there are times when our above-average customers can be disappointing.
Photo by paper or plastic?/Flickr CC
Restaurants sometimes request unusual flavors that customers off the street would never think of asking for -- like mango habanero, oatmeal, or ginger rose petal. They're great -- if you've got your safety goggles. Turning such odd ingredients into ice cream is no cakewalk.
Photo by Mai Le/Flickr CC
Creating new ice cream flavors is a specialized art with its own risks, but creativity has its rewards. Have you ever had an ice cream inspired by the spices of India, or the cuisine of America's Deep South? Even carob can be a flavor.
« Previous
James Fallows on Jerry Brown's second chance. Plus: the mystery of the second skeleton, how gay couples are getting marriage right, the end of the retail salesperson, and more.
