Saturday, June 22, 2013

Weekend Cooking...Root, Root, Root..for Root Beer!

"I don't know of a more divisive soda than root beer, and I get it; "rootsy" "medicinal" and "minty" may not be what you want from a soft drink."

Do you like root beer? It seems it is one of those things you either love or hate. Until recently I never knew it was an issue. But from what I read, some people, maybe a lot of people, hate it! If you Google it you will see many articles about why Europeans and the Japanese hate the stuff. Really, all Europeans and all the Japanese? Sure, you can't believe everything you read online..but I am talking a lot of articles. Can anyone out there confirm or disagree with this?

But the brown beverage has it's fans, a special place in the soda world. According to a NY Times article, Root Beer: A Flood of Memories, A Sip of Foam...
"In much the same way that micro-breweries have sprung up in the shadows of assembly-line-produced beer, small root-beer makers, like Triple XXX in Houston and Cable Car Beverage Corporation in Denver, have sprung up between the cracks of the cola giants. And while the big cola companies, with their seemingly bottomless advertising budgets, have battled on the grounds of catchier sayings and sunnier life styles, root-beer companies seem united in their intent to sell their beverage as a nostalgic reminder of simpler times and summers past. Some root beers now come in old-fashioned brown bottles, with slogans like "Tastes like root beer used to taste" or "Taste the legend.""
The Root Beer Root Beer Float
Well, I like root beer and it's close cousin, birch beer.
Pizza and birch beer on the boardwalk = Summer.
And if you grew up on the US East Coast, where root beer and especially birch beer seem to be most popular, you are probably familiar with the delightful ice cream concoction, the Root Beer Float, one variation on the Ice Cream Soda.

Get a tall glass. Add a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream. Fill with root beer. And a straw and a long spoon.
Or, if you are really daring, go for the chocolate ice cream version, the Black Cow. Or the Brown Cow, depending on where you live.


But why stop there? If you like root beer, what if you take it one more step and add root beer ice cream to the root beer?
Root Beer Squared!!
So we must make the ice cream. Gather the ingredients! Get the ice cream maker!



Root Beer Ice Cream
from Serious Eats
  • 2 cups root beer, chilled
  • 1 cup heavy cream, chilled 
  • 1 cup "light" (clear) corn syrup 
  • 1/2 cup sugar 
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • 3/4 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt 
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together root beer, cream, corn syrup, sugar, and vanilla until very well combined. Whisk in salt to taste. The root beer bubbles may form a fizzy raft in the bowl when combined with the cream; this is fine, and churning will fully incorporate it into the base.
If root beer and cream were not chilled, refrigerate mixture for 2 to 3 hours until very cold.

Churn mixture according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a container and chill in freezer for at least 3 to 4 hours before serving.







This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.


20 comments:

  1. YUMMY recipe, Caite! Happy weekend to you!

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  2. I don't like soda much but I *love* root beer, birch beer, and ginger beer (not the same as ginger ale). Now I have to make the ice cream. Oh look! The insert to my ice cream maker is already frozen. :)

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  3. Root beer floats are one of my favorite desserts; nothing says summer quite like them.

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  4. I've made many different flavors of ice cream but I never thought to try root beer. It makes sense though if you love root beer floats.

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  5. I love root beer floats, but never thought about making root beer ice cream. Thanks for the recipe :).

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    1. if you love rot beer, why not take it up a level?

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  6. My sweet aunt used to make us root beer floats when we were little. Happy memories!

    Here's my Saturday Snapshot and Weekend Cooking post. And hope you will stop by to enter my giveaway for the Literary Book Blog Hop, a $15 gift card to Book Depository!

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  7. Is root beer the same as ginger beer? I love that.

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    1. I am a fan of ginger beer as well, but no, root beer is spicy and dark..and birch beer is sort of red...

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  8. Holy cow, just hearing Birch beer brings back memories. A float is wonderful but root beer ice cream?! When can I stop by?

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  9. Mother Mary, that all sounds so good! I have such fond memories of root beer float...my Nana made them for me all the time when I visited her house.

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  10. Our nephew loves root beer and ice cream so I bet he'd love that.

    When we shared root beer with people in France, they said it tasted like medicine.

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  11. Wow! Root beer ice cream in root beer... sounds delightful. I'll have to try it! And YES to birch beer. Best stuff ever.

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  12. Love the idea of root beer ice cream! I've never heard of birch beer, but root beer floats were definitely part of my childhood summers.

    Joy's Book Blog

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  13. I love root beer, especially the microbrew rootbeers some of our little microbreweries make here. I don't think we have birch beer out west, though. At least, I've never seen it here.

    Your root beer ice cream looks fantastic!

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    1. I will have to check it out more...I thing birch beer may be a PA/East Coast thing.

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  14. I'm going to have to give up my visiting-Weekend-Cooking-blogs hobby! It makes it very hard to go on a diet! I like root beer fine, but not as much as the menfolk in my family.

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