There is an art to scooping ice cream. I know that sound utterly ridiculous but there is an art form to it.
All the ice cream sitting atop of the cones have to be the same size. And some ice cream scoops really nice and rolls into a nice tight scoop and others, when it's frozen solid, curls and flakes or chips. This is when scooping ice cream isn't really fun- and it hurts my hand and wrist. I'm going to need rotater cuff surgery because of the scoop motion.
Our ice cream parlor also sells old fashioned ice cream treats like dipped cones, limeades, flavored Cokes with syrup, and chocolate cream sodas. I'm still trying to master the dipped cone. It's soft serve ice cream dipped in chocolate. the trick is to dip the cold vanilla ice cream into the hot chocolate syrup without having it fall into the chocolate or having the chocolate run down the cone or my arm. I've lost more cones than I care to count when the ice cream plopped off into the chocolate dipping sauce. And when making cream sodas or root beer floats... geez, pouring carbonated syrupy soda water or Coke products over ice cream and keeping the foam ratio down is actually a challenge.
We also make milkshakes. Trying to get the right amount of ice cream to milk ratio is a pain in the ass and on more than one occasion I've ended up with a shake so thick you about need a knife and fork, or there's enough liquid that I spatter the entire thing all over my face, hair, glasses, shirt, etc. Logistically I always have too much of something or not enough of something in the shake process.
We have a version of the Dairy Queen blizzard called a frostbit and while that isn't a problem to make, I have, when mixing it up, I got the Styrofoam cup a little too close to the mixing wand and sliced and diced a cup. Once I even just poked a hole right in the bottom, spewing ice cream everywhere.
And making a soft serve cone is hard too, which sounds completely silly. Ya gotta twirl it just right without having it lean either way or making sure it's not to fat and hangs over the cone top. And still get it uniform in height to the correct large, medium and small sizes.
So, while this is a paycheck, it's fun, and I am not complaining, I have to admit, this ice cream thang is harder than it looks.
Life isn't just a soft serve cone,
Maggie
My very first job was at a Dairy Queen when I was fifteen. Not only did we have to get the ice cream in the cone just right, we had to make that *%!@#$ curlicue on top. A customer came in and asked for a malt one time. I told him we didn't have those, because no one had told me how to make one! But at least I didn't have to SCOOP the ice cream....
ReplyDeleteI would definitely find all of that very challenging but I'm sure its a mini-celebration with each triumph!
ReplyDeleteBragger- OMG... thank you! you are the smartest blogger I know and it gives me a hoot to think we share this trait. And I have to say, if I had to make a curlicue on the top of a cone, I would get fired. I'm thankful to get the ice cream into the cone- period.
ReplyDeleteI finally made a chocolate soda the other day and I'm sure glad I asked for help because I would've made something resembling a milkshake with soda water rather than a drink with flavoring and ice cream in it! And they're sorta gross...
And I think malts are icky. I want to tell people we're out of malt powder because the smell makes me gag.
Ty-Anna: I know it sounds utterly ridiculous, but I was jump up and down happy Monday when I made a dip cone that didn't fall into the chocolate sauce and it didn't drip either! Ah, the small victories!
Just don't forget how to dip that "Rockie Road". I need it, bad!
ReplyDeleteJE
AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNDDDDDD.......
ReplyDeleteWe had chocolate chip milkshakes before chocolate chip milkshakes were cool. Know how we made them? Put the dipping chocolate in the milkshake. It hardened, we mixed it up, and voila! chocolate chips. I thought it was ingenious. Probably everyone else in the world knows about it. I'll shut up now.
I can't imagine how bad your arm must hurt after a day of work - I sometimes hurt myself trying to scoop ice cream out of the container in the freezer!
ReplyDeleteJE- Oh i wont forget and we have plenty of it! :)
ReplyDeleteBragger- you crack me up woman! And now to make a chocolate chip shake we use... well, mini chocolate chips. But your way sounds much yummier!
LP Magnolia- I KNOW!!! I just come home and stand in the shower to have the hot water beat on my shoulder as well as removing the sticky!