beer & brats ice cream!?

You normally don't find sausages ice cream- until now! There is such a thing as beer- flavored ice cream, so it shouldn't be a huge stretch of the imagination to have beer and brats flavored ice cream, Yes, there are actual chunks of bratwurst in the ice cream, along with beer & brats flavored potato chips! 


I got my inspiration for this unusual flavor of ice cream from Lay's newest flavor of limited edition potato chips- Beer & Brats! 

I'll probably do a taste test of these chips in a future video involving this flavor, but basically you taste cheese initially, which then leads to a hoppy and meaty aftertaste. It's crazy how these potato chip flavors are so accurate to their name! 

I tried my first bratwurst when I was in Florida on vacation six years ago, I believe at the Kennedy Space Center. It tasted good but I didn't have another one after that until making this recipe. 

Normally when I make ice cream, I don't use eggs only because it makes the recipe a lot simpler when you don't have to make a custard base. But since beer doesn't freeze very well, it needs some support in the form of a custard base. 

You can't just use any random beer either. A malty beer would be best. Initially, I was going to use Guinness beer but of course I went shopping on St. Patrick's Day and they were out of that beer, so I had to scramble to think of a substitute that wouldn't end up bitter. I thought of using Budweiser beer, but you don't want to use a hoppy beer like that since the hops in the beer turn bitter when cooked. So I took a chance and used an ale, which ended up working out since I ended up with a slightly sweet ice cream. 

I used Foster's Premium Ale. It's an Australian brand of beer that somehow is sold in NY state. Go figure! 

The ice cream ultimately tasted sweet and salty, & sweet and savory- both flavor combos from the bratwurst and potato chips being the salty and savory parts! 

You can eat this ice cream for dessert or put it on top of a steak for dinner! 

My dad wasn't used to the taste of beer in ice cream and he thought the bratwurst in the ice cream reminded him of cold cuts! 

HELPFUL LINK: Beer & Brats Potato Chips: https://www.amazon.com/Brats-Southwestern-Queso-Potato-Chips/dp/B06X3W6JWQ/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1490474114&sr=8-1&th=1

You will need: 

For the cooking equipment: 
A small bowl
A medium saucepot
A large saucepot
A candy thermometer
A strainer
A large bowl
Aluminum foil
Ziploc bag
An ice cream maker
An ice cream tub

For the ice cream:

5 eggs
1/4-1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups ale or stout beer(I used Foster's Premium Ale)
1/4 cup crushed Beer & Brats Potato Chips(see HELPFUL LINK)
2 bratwurst links

To make the custard: 

1. Crack 5 eggs into a small bowl, one at a time. DO NOT WHISK THE EGGS! Only put the egg yolks into a large bowl. Discard the egg whites. 
2. Add the granulated sugar into the large bowl. Mix the egg yolks and sugar together until you get a yellow mixture. 
3. Pour the whole milk and heavy whipping cream into a medium saucepot. Put the stove on at low heat. Stir the mixture until it develops a "skin" on top. Once the "skin" has developed, turn the stove off. 
4. Remove saucepot from heat and spoon the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Do not pour it all in at once- otherwise you'll end up with scrambled eggs! After spooning in the milk mixture each time, stir the egg yolk and milk mixtures together. Repeat until all the milk mixture has been mixed in with the egg yolk mixture and you have a pale yellow mixture. This is your custard.
5. Transfer your custard into a large saucepot. Attach a candy thermometer to the large saucepot. Put the saucepot on the stove on low heat. Heat the custard until it reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not stir the custard! Stirring it will cause the custard temperature to drop. 
6. Once the custard reaches 180 degrees, turn the stove off and remove it from heat immediately. Pour the custard through a strainer with a large bowl underneath. Dispose of the solids in the strainer immediately, otherwise they'll turn into scrambled eggs! 
7. Pour aluminum foil over the large bowl and chill it in the fridge for now. 

For the ice cream: 

1. While the custard is chilling, pour the beer into a medium saucepot. Put the saucepot on the stove on low heat and let the beer reduce until there's only 8 ounces left. Reducing the beer cooks some of the alcohol out, which will enable the ice cream to freeze. 
2. Take the custard in the large bowl out and mix in the reduced beer. Put aluminum foil  over the large bowl and let the beer mixture chill in the fridge for 8-24 hours. 
3. 8-24 hours later, put Beer and Brats potato chips into a Ziploc bag. Close the bag and crush up the chips with your fists. Crumble up enough chips to get 1/4 cup. 
4. Cut up 2 bratwurst links and crumble up the pieces until they have the consistency of ground meat. 
5. Turn your ice cream maker on and pour the chilled beer mixture into the bowl of the machine. Let the ice cream churn according to your ice cream maker's instructions. My machine said to churn for 11 minutes. 
6. After 11 minutes or whenever your ice cream maker says to, add the crushed chips and crumbled bratwurst as the ice cream maker is churning. Let the ice cream churn for an additional 4-5 minutes(or according to the manual). 
7. Turn the ice cream maker off, detach the bowl, and scoop the ice cream into an ice cream tub. 
8. Put the lid on the ice cream tub and let it freeze in the freezer for 5 hours, or overnight. 
9. Bon appetit! 

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