Frozen Desserts: The Definitive Guide to Making Ice Creams, Ices, Sorbets, Gelati, and Other Frozen Delights

I have made about 15-20 of the recipies in this book and all of them have been excellent. I really liked the variety of recipes (sorbets, ice creams, ices, even Kulfi!) and flavors (herbs, fruit, spices, etc.). The historical advertisements and pictures of the origins of ice cream sprinkled throughout were interesting but didn't take up too much of the book. I also liked that the measurements are all in US and metric so I can share my recipes with friends overseas.The recipes for vanilla ice cream weren't the best I've had but don't let that deter you - if you only get one ice cream book this should be it.

The recipes have given me and my friends great enjoyment over the years. My favorites are two super easy, super good, no-cook ones: strawberry ice cream with balsamic vinegar, and pistachio. Friends are just amazed how good these ice creams are, and even more amazed at how easy they are to make. Reading the book is a pleasure in itself; it is obviously the authors' labor of love, and their joy to share. I have used this book non-stop since it was first published in the UK in 1995 (it had two reprints in the same year, and five more reprints since then). This book makes a great gift for anyone who loves good food and who is interested in what makes something good.

This book may lack the close up food photos which are de rigeur in most cook books these days, but it more than makes up for this by including thoroughly researched technically accurate ice cream recipes.The authors are almost chemists in their attention to such details as the difference between using a 35% cream and a 40% cream. There are formulas in this book to help you make your own flavors and even one formula to help you figure out how much alcohol to put in an ice cream if you want it to be able to freeze.There are plenty of old stand-bys like chocolate and french vanilla, but there are also some very compelling flavors such as Rhubarb sorbet and rosepetal ice cream. I agree that this book is written for a UK audience, but that is a VERY minor quibble and doesn't actually effect the usefulness of the book.Included is a very interesting, well researched history of ice cream that debunks several popular myths and includes some information about how people made ice in the 16th century.Overall, this is an incredible book and using it I feel like I am equipped with all the information I need in order to make the highest quality ice cream possible.

This is a fabulous book for the beginner who not only wants an excellent set of recipes for all sorts of ice creams, but who also wants useful theory, helpful cooking charts, notes about equipment, and even cross-cultural history. For example, if you want to start experimenting with flavors that are not listed in the book, you can learn enough with the authors' excellent explanation of the chemistry of ice cream and their useful chart/formula for calculating necessary proportions of ingredients so that your newest experiment doesn't turn to mush after 5 minutes out of the freezer. Or maybe you want to really understand the difference between Italian Gelato and Premium Ice Cream so that you can take your favorite Ice Cream recipe and be able to improvise and make Gelato with the same flavors (hint: the difference has to do with milk-cream ratio and the resulting amount of air). If you like to have expertise about ice cream (and not just the recipes themselves) this is a perfect book for you.

I bought "Frozen Deserts" a few weeks after a friend gave me an electric ice-cream maker for my birthday. The first batches, made from recipes in my otherwise dependable fanciest cookbooks, had been disappointing and I was desperate for help. The Liddel and Weir book taught me techniques that improved the results. I now can make first rate frozen desserts, sorbet and gellato even from less detailed recipes found in other cookbooks. Liddel and Weir's strength is the detailed techniques using only simple fresh ingredients. Those techniques, along with the recipe for Italian strawberry gelato with balsamic vinegar are worth the small price of the book. --One warning on taste: US cooks may want to substitute freshly squeezed juice and candied citrus rind for cooked juice and raw citrus peel that the authors use for lemon and grapefruit sorbets.-- Indulge yourself in their many recipes for chocolate ice-cream and vanilla ice-cream. They are rich, smooth, custardy and delicious. This cookbook is a must for anyone serious about learning to make gourmet quality homemade ice-cream.