Cucumber Ice-Cream (Sous-Vide)

The idea for this Ice-Cream came from my daughter. She loves Ice-Cream and Cucumber, so why not. I had to think about this one a bit. When you think of Ice-Cream, I am assuming with great certainty that you're not thinking of Cucumber. How much Cumcumber will I have to add to make it taste like this veggie? 
Cucumbers are not just tasty but are a Cats natural enemy and will repel them at sight. Yes, this is funny.
Do they make an extract too? Cucumber has a lot of water, so I need to compensate for that also. How about the buttermilk percentage. Too much will take away from the cucumber flavor, but I need fat to make it taste good too. When I think of Ice-Cream  I think of mouthfeel and that is always accompanied by lots of fat. Anyhow after careful consideration, I was able to find the right balance of everything.

So very easy to make if you have a scale and a tare feature. Having an excellent mixer like a Vitamix makes this a snap to put together.  

Lets first get all the ingredients together. I decided to use the English cumber as it has fewer seeds and is a family favorite. I went ahead and scooped out the seeds and left the peel on to aid in texture and color. Seeds, no seeds, or even the skin are all optional. Heck, if you wanted to, you could remove the peel, the seeds and increase the percentage of cucumber pulp. 

Ok, now let's do this.....using the Tare feature measure out in one bowl the following. Skin-milk-Powder, 50 grams of sugar, Avacream, and Salt and set aside. 

Using your Vitamix (or mixer) and heavy-duty scale (with Tare feature), measure out the Milk and Cream. Add the Cumbumber Extract. Did you notice that the percentage of Milk is higher than the Cream? Total Buttermilk percentage was less than 13%. I added extra egg yolks to increase fat to get that mouthfeel that comes with fat.

Add 6-Yolks to a bowl with 100g of sugar and whip until the ribbon stage.

Everybody in the pool. To the container, add the Whipped Eggs, Cucumber puree (drained of water), and other dry ingredients in increments. Run the Vitamix until thoroughly combined. Give it a taste. You may want to add more extract. 

Place a large Vaccum Bag into a 1-gallon pitcher folding over edges for stability and poured the contents of the container into the bag. SV-Process for 2-Hours at 150℉. The stovetop method works too. 

After the two hours have elapsed shock in an Ice-Water bath until very cold. I have a handheld infrared sensor, so I always shoot for something below 40℉. 
Refrigerate overnight. 

Make the Ice-Cream

Pottery By Levi Vincent