Les Petits Chefs make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby

This week, the Petits Chefs took a trip to gorgeous  Gallery Grill at Hart House in The University of Toronto to cook with Chef Suzanne Baby. Over the years, we have been lucky enough to cook with Suzanne six times  – the first time we made choux pastry, the second visit was a ravioli-making extravaganza, third time we made soufflés, on the third we made two soups together. then we made ricotta gnocchi and the last time we visited, we made maple crème brûlée. Hear that – choux pastry, ravioli, soufflés, not one but TWO soups, gnocchi , crème brûlée – all “difficult” to make dishes but Suzanne shares my philosophy that kids can do anything (until they are told it’s “too hard”) so when she told me that she had a plan to make ICE CREAM (showcasing a method where you don’t need an ice cream maker), I was all over it! The boys were too…

Kids listening to how to make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com(listening to the recipe rundown!)

We only have a small group of boys in the club this term so there was a LOT to get done – we made salted caramel ice cream and vanilla! The boys successfully worked with caramel…

Measuring sugar to make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com Watching sugar syrup to make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com(note the clear area around the hotplate – everyone was suitably scared of the caramel to stay back from it and watch from afar!)

We also worked with a LOT of egg yolks…

Separating eggs to make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comWhipping them into custardy goodness…

Whipping egg yolks to make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comSlowly (and carefully) adding the sugar syrup…

Adding sugar syrup to whipped egg yolks to make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comThen we needed to cool down our mixtures and Suzanne showed us how to quickly cool our (very hot) caramel custard over an ice bath…

Chilling our custard for ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com(not a fancy ice bath but it works!).

Once it was cool, we transferred to another bowl to make room for the cream…

Making salted caramel ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com(at each step, the boys didn’t think it could get any better but it did!)

Adding cream to our ice cream base at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com Adding vanilla bean to ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comTeam Vanilla worked hard to incorporate their vanilla seeds into the custard…

Mixing custard for ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.com(they took the “gentle folding” very seriously!)

And then… the part we’d all been waiting for:

Tasting ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comOMG – yes – we got to taste!!! SO. GOOD. The ice cream needed to chill properly though and off it went to the freezer. What a great technique – and one I can totally replicate at home too, sans ice cream maker!

And just when we thought the session couldn’t get ANY better, we were presented with this:

Toppings for ice cream sundaes at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comWait… what?

Uh huh. Suzanne had prepared a small serving of ice cream that had been made earlier for each boy and let them go to town with the toppings. Best Sundae Bar Ever!

Toppings for ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comYes!

Les Petits Chefs make ice cream at the Gallery Grill with Chef Suzanne Baby on eatlivetravelwrite.comBest Field Trip Ever (though the boys tend to always say this!)

What a wonderful afternoon learning in the tiny kitchen of Gallery Grill (and being surrounded by rooms that “look like Hogwarts” according to the boys…)

Gallery Grill bar on eatlivetravelwrite.com Wine glasses at the Gallery Grill on eatlivetravelwrite.comRight?

Kids working in the kitchen at the Gallery Grill on eatlivetravelwrite.comWe are SO lucky that chefs like Suzanne volunteer their time so the boys can work with them. Thank you Suzanne for opening your kitchen (and pantry and fridge!) to us!

Follow @gallerygrill on Instagram

The Gallery Grill
Hart House, University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle,
Toronto

Weekdays
Lunch: 11am – 2pm
Sunday
Brunch: 11am – 2pm

http://harthouse.ca/gallery-grill/

 

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