Salted caramel gelato

By: Nick Palumbo
From: Gelato Messina
Makes: 1 kg
Photographer: Billy Law

Salted caramel gelato can be a bit confronting the first time you try it. I have heard customers say ‘yuk’ the second it goes into their mouth, but by the time they have finished tasting it they say, ‘that’s amazing’ and order a scoop.

Salted caramel started off as a special flavour a few years ago, but it has become one of our most popular flavours and is now a permanent fixture. We fold white chocolate into ours, or you could melt some white chocolate and drizzle it over the top, but it’s just as great on its own. It’s best to use a good quality sea salt or rock salt; if you use normal table salt, reduce the amount to 3 g.

There are a couple of ways of making the caramel. I like to wet the sugar in the pan with water to make a slurry, then place the pan on the stove and cook the sugar until it turns a nice dark caramel colour. Take the pan off the stove just before you get that burnt sugar smell; there is so much residual heat in the pan that the caramel will keep cooking long after it’s off the heat.

Domestic

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
650g	milk
120g	cream
145g	sugar
45g	skim milk powder
35g	dextrose
5g	stabiliser
4g	salt

Method

Mixing

Put the milk and cream in a double boiler over a medium heat.
Put the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and stir in 30 g water to make a slurry. Put the pan on the stove over a medium–high heat and let the sugar caramelise. There’s no need to stir, just let it do its thing. The sugar will start to bubble after 5 minutes or so and then 2 or 3 minutes later it will start to colour. When the caramel is a dark toffee brown, remove the pan from the stove — the sugar will be around 160°C to 180°C.
Meanwhile, put the remaining powders in a bowl and mix until combined. When the milk and cream hit 40°C, whisk in the powders and bring the mixture up to 65°C. Keep the mixture at 65°C for 30 minutes, whisking every 5 minutes.
When the caramel is ready, slowly, slowly pour the caramel into your hot milk mixture.
Make sure that the mixture in your double boiler is above 65°C, as the hotter the mixture, the less the temperature differential between the mix and the caramel, reducing the chance of getting splashed with hot caramel. Under no circumstances should you combine the caramel with cold mixture. You can add the caramel at any time while your mixture is sitting at above 65°C for the required 30 minutes. When you have added all the caramel, give it a good mix with a stick blender.
Transfer the mixture to a stainless steel bowl and place in an ice bath; chill to 40°C. Cover tightly with foil and put in the freezer, stirring every 10 minutes or so until the mixture drops to 4°C then place in the fridge and let it age for 4 hours.
Churning

Turn on your gelato maker so it begins the freezing process.
Using a stick blender, blend the mixture for 1 minute, then pour into the gelato maker.
Once the mixture reaches –4°C, scoop out the gelato and transfer to a pre-cooled stainless steel bowl, cover tightly and immediately place in the freezer.
Serving

The gelato should be served within 2 to 3 hours after placing it in the freezer, or when it reaches –12°C. If it goes below –15°C or is left in the freezer overnight, the texture will be compromised.

Professional

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
	as above

Method

Mixing

Put the milk and cream in a pasteuriser and select high pasteurisation.
Put the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and stir in 30 g water to make a slurry. Put the pan on the stove over a medium–high heat and let the sugar caramelise. There’s no need to stir, just let it do its thing. The sugar will start to bubble after 5 minutes or so and then 2 or 3 minutes later it will start to colour. When the caramel is a dark toffee brown, remove the pan from the stove — the sugar will be around 160°C to 180°C.
Meanwhile, put the remaining powders in a bowl and dry mix. When the milk and cream hit 40°C, whisk in the powders.
When the caramel is ready, slowly, SLOWLY pour the caramel into your pasteuriser.
Make sure the pasteuriser is above 65°C, as the hotter the mixture, the less the temperature differential between the mix and the caramel, reducing the chance of getting splashed with hot caramel. Under no circumstances should you combine the caramel with cold mixture.
Once the pasteuriser runs its cycle and gets down to 4°C, let the mixture age for 4 hours at 4°C.
Churning

Measure an appropriate amount of mixture into a measuring jug and put in a batch freezer. Within 10 to 12 minutes, your mixture should be ready for extraction.
For long-term storage, up to 2 weeks: Put the gelato in a blast freezer for 30 minutes, then store at –18°C. For short-term storage, 2 to 3 days: Put the gelato in a storage freezer at –18°C.
Serving

The serving temperature of the gelato should be around –11°C to –13°C.

Warning

Please be careful when making the caramel. The sugars can reach above 180°C, which means instant third-degree burns if you come in contact with it. Wear long sleeves and make sure you don’t have any kids around. Take care, too, when combining the caramel with the rest of your gelato mixture, as the temperature of your mix will instantly boil and bubble up, causing hot vapours or splashes, which may burn your hands.