Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Food Wishes Excusive: An Interview with Bruce "Mr. Ice Cream" Weinstein

Here's the interview I mentioned in the vanilla ice cream video recipe a few days ago. Interviews with local, and visiting high-profile foodies, are something I am looking to do more of on the blog. If my dream of a late-night foodie talk show is ever to be realized, I'll need to hone my interviewing skills (that, a hairpiece, and some plastic surgery).

I'd also like to apologize publicly to Barbara Walters, for all those comments I've made during her various interviews. It is so much harder than it looks! Thankfully my subject, Bruce Weinstein, was a friendly, gracious interviewee. Bruce is the author of The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, and probably the country's leading ice cream authority.

During the interview, I asked Bruce if he had a nickname, or title, like "The Ice Cream Man," or "King Ice Cream." He humbly said he didn't, so I decided to coin him as "Mr. Ice Cream." I figured if it catches on, I may get a mention in his biography, or at least his Wikipedia page.

Please excuse my low-budget equipment/production, and lack of serious editing time (aka skills). I had to chop this up into a reasonable length, from about 25 minutes of footage. And, for all of you that have emailed about seeing more of my face in these videos…be careful what you wish for! Enjoy.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

terrific!!!

Anonymous said...

Just watched your video with Bruce Weinstein. Very informative. Received my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker today and can't wait for that little bucket to freeze so I can make my first homemade ice cream. With your recipe it's a no brainer. Grandkids are staying over for a few days so I will have my taste testers ready to give the thumbs up.

Anonymous said...

Just watched your video with Bruce Weinstein. Very informative. Received my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker today and can't wait for that little bucket to freeze so I can make my first homemade ice cream. With your recipe it's a no brainer. Grandkids are staying over for a few days so I will have my taste testers ready to give the thumbs up.

Chef John said...

Great! My recipe is fairly low-fat, but for grandkids you may want to go full cream and give them a real treat! Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

This post may not make it past "owner's review," but I'm hoping Chef John doesn't read all the way through... the ice cream demo and follow-up interview are good precursors to a very special date which viewers here and his fans may find interesting: July 11. Yes lucky #'s 7-11, is Chef John's birthday!

May happiness, your viewership, and your bank account overflow! (well, two out of three's not bad!) Happy Birthday!

Love You, Your very left, Left Coast Mom

Wristbands said...

I love this and hope to see more!

Great job, yet again.

Anonymous said...

You don't need any plastic surgery chef, you're lookin good! And happy birthday too!

Anonymous said...

John,

This is sooooooo cool, I love your post!!! I can't wait to see the other interviews you'll do. Informative and entertaining, a winning combination. =)

-Shannon @ Foodbuzz

Chef John said...

Thanks for setting it up!

Anonymous said...

Made the ice cream for the grandkids with all cream like you suggested. I am now a Five Star Granny. Thumbs up from all of those kids.
A bit rich for my hips so I might try the original mix of milk and cream for myself. Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Chef, there is a secret ingredient trick for vanila ice cream and milkshake that works - and is not too widely-known: A ripe Haas avocado, about half of average avocado fruit per quart - and it has a great vanila flavor-enhancing effect. (The avocado has to be buttery-ripe and the mix has to be cooled before avocado is blended in). It does mak the color somewhat into greenish but the texture is much richer and creamier - most people cannot correctly guess what was it (they just note that the vanila flavor is more awesome :)

Chef John said...

You are an evil genius! I think I might try that with pistachios to have an excuse for the color.

Anonymous said...

Like milkshake's secret ingredient, the avocado. I will definetly try this. My grandkids wanted to put black food coloring in the ice cream so the green would not bother them at all. They would think it was cool.

Deeba PAB said...

This is FAR OUT...just great. Wish I had an ice-cream machine! I've been whipping up some ice-creams that I blogged about using good ole elbow grease. I recently did peach-mango which was a HUGE hit. Have also done just mango, plum-cherry too. Wonderful post!! Cheers

Nate @ House of Annie said...

Great job, Chef John!

I've been a fan since your early days on YouTube. Now you're talking to real live people instead of your food! How cool is that.

Are you in the South Bay? Perhaps we could get together some time for a chit chat.

Chef John said...

Thanks! I'm in SF.

Discombobulated said...

Chef John is adorable! He looks like a little Super Mario brother or something:)