The Man
Last week, we were watching SA favorite Michael Symon take on Duff Goldman on Iron Chef America when we were a little surprised by Symon’s dessert course. The battle was “chocolate and chiles”, and Symon’s second dessert was a Chocolate Sherbet with Chocolate Sea Salt Crumble, Tempered Chocolate, and Chocolate Chile Sabayon. This particular dish rose our eyebrows because of Symon’s plating decisions. Most often, and especially in a very public and artsy venue like ICA, chef’s will opt for the classic football/egg shaped quenelle for any ice cream presentation. Here, Symon put some crumble down in a bowl, and topped it with a big, nearly sloppy scoop of his dark chocolate sherbet. Symon won the battle and also took the plating category by 3 points. Not the most captivating episode of Iron Chef, but it did get us thinking about Ice Cream and how we expect it to show up when we order dessert.
We reached out to some of our favorite pastry chefs on Twitter to get their opinions. To our surprise, not only did they answer, they expanded on the topic. Pastry demi-god Michael Laiskonis (!) even joined in the conversation and we got some great insight from some of the greatest minds in pastry on this simple, yet oddly complex, conversation.
All contributors to the conversation agreed that preference is key and there is a place for both the scoop and quenelle on dessert plates. Personally, when ordering just ice cream, I prefer a scoop. The visceral, nostalgic scoop of ice cream rivaled by few in simple pleasures in life. On the same hand, during a recent pastry stage with Monica Glass at Fish, we were subjected to a clinic in quenelle. Perfect every single time. Glass’ one handed quenelle game is like nothing we have ever seen before. Her ice cream is seamless, proportional, and shiney. A sight to behold.
Monica Glass’ Warm Chestnut Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream( Phillychitchat)
Glass’ mentor and pretty much the best pastry chef in the history of American cuisine, Michael Laiskonis, chimed in with this interesting post on his blog from 2009 on this very topic. He was captivated by Chef Patrick Coston’s ice cream idealogy. Coston molds all of his ice cream to fit each individual dish. This labor and space intensive technique was also echoed by some of our other chefs.
Perhaps our favorite entry was from Chef Jennifer Yee of Two-Michelin starred SHO Shawn Hergatt in NYC. Chef Yee used a coil in her “Candied Yam” with Burnt Milk Ice Cream
Candied Yam with Burnt Milk Ice Cream- Jennifer Yee
Chef Shawn Gawle, of game-changing Corton in Manhattan, weighed in with his preference for classic quenelle. Chef Gawle also says he likes to make his ice cream pliable so he can pipe it in ribbons.
“Sesame” by Shawn Gawle
“Birch and Chocolate” by Shawn Gawle
And then there’s Jordan Kahn.
Kahn, of Red Medicine in LA, came up as a pastry chef and puts out some of the most interesting desserts and ice cream you will ever see.
Chocolate Gel with Pear Sorbet and Mushroom Caramel
Sweet Potato Ice Cream with Yogurt, Yuzu, and Carmelized Picholine Olive
It was a lot of fun to see what all these great chefs are doing with something as simple as ice cream. Thanks to all the chefs who gave us their opinions and photos. Especially Chef Monica Glass and Michael Laiskonis for the retweets. When Laiskonis speaks, cooks listen. So remember kids, ice cream, like people, comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
Starving, Artist 
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