THE COOKERY SCHOOL

WHERE The School of Artisan Food, Retford, Nottinghamshire (schoolofartisanfood.org)

THE COURSE Introduction to Ice Cream Making, £165 for one day, including breakfast and lunch with wine

TESTER Madhushri Nadgir

RECIPE: THE SCHOOL OF ARTISAN FOOD. PHOTOGRAPH: MAJA SMEND. FOOD STYLING: OLIVIA SPURRELL. STYLING: VICTORIA ELDRIDGE

THE SETTING

Housed in refurbished stables on the beautiful Welbeck Estate in Sherwood Forest, the School of Artisan Food has gorgeous views. The buildings have been kitted out with top-of-the-range equipment for teaching charcuteriemaking, brewing, breadmaking and butchery, among other skills. We were welcomed by the teaching team, shown to the dining room for breakfast and given the day’s recipe book to look over.

GROUP SIZE AND WORKSPACE

The training room is well set out, with enough room for each student to move about – and make a bit of a mess! This class takes up to 10: enough to create a buzz but intimate enough for everyone to make their questions heard.

DO YOU NEED TO BE A GOOD COOK?

No. Our American tutor, Kitty Travers, trained at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, and she has proper ice cream creds – she launched La Grotta Ices in 2008. Before that she worked as a pastry chef in London. She has a passion for her subject and explains the technical stuff behind the craft of ice cream making. We were clearly in expert hands.

WHAT WE LEARNED

Apparently there are eight (!) types of vanilla ice cream. Who knew? Before we got to work with the ice cream makers, we had a short science lesson: how sugar affects the freezing point (see Kitty’s tips, opposite), what whipping in air does, how emulsification works and the importance of fat and protein. It’s sounds a lot to take in, but it all made sense and explains why ice cream tastes so darned good. Armed with that knowledge, we made a basic custard base which, Kitty explained, can be used as a carrier for any flavour. She showed us how to bring the finished custard’s temperature back down to 18 degrees by plunging it in an ice bath, then chilling it in the fridge. We didn’t have time to properly ‘age’ the custard (see tips) but Kitty told us that refrigerating the custard overnight gives a mixture that churns better in the ice cream machine, resulting in smaller ice molecules forming. The result? Smoother ice cream. While the custard cooled we made a wonderful strawberry and elderflower sorbet (see recipe), then finished our vanilla ice cream. We also made a more fancy apricot noyau ice cream (noyaux are the bitter almondy kernels found in apricot stones) and learned about those other seven types of vanilla ices, including gelato, parfait, eggless ice cream and more.