When I was 21 I spent several extremely uncomfortable weeks attempting to fend off a rather uncomfortable stomach ache. I was in Japan, trekking around the country in the heat of the summer with a can of chilly Georgia or UCC Coffee strapped to my hands. Long before the coffee revolution took hold in Japan, major CPGs (consumer packaged goods companies) manufactured and marketed 'can coffee' - slender cans of coffee mixed with milk and dairy and sold cold in the summer or hot in the winter out of vending machines for 100 yen. I liked the sweet, milky flavor, though I did swap it out with oolong tea from time to time. Two weeks before returning to the US, I was felled by stabbing abdominal pain. I lay in bed, praying for improvement. Nothing happened.
A few weeks later I visited the gastroenterologist for the first time of what was to be a long and enduring relationship. A flexible sigmoidoscopy and lactose test later, they determined I had a severe case of lactose intolerance. My ice cream and milk days were now, officially, over. Which was a shock to my ice cream-loving self, a child raised on sunday ice cream sundaes instead of dinner, an ice cream shop habitue and proponent of the before-bed glass of milk.
In the years since then I have tried ice cream substitutes in all its forms: coconut, cashew, almond, soy and rice. None has made me terribly happy and instead I have returned, spoonful by spoonful, to the frustrations and joys of dairy-based frozen desserts.
Had I had Rachel Albert-Matesz's book all those years ago, no doubt I'd be 100% dairy (and pain)-free right now.
Chef Rachel's book, the product of many years of healthy, dairy-free eating, offers a host of imaginative and luscious-sounding recipes using all-natural coconut milk as the base.
For people new to allergy-friendly cooking and eating, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compote & Sauces is a surprisingly exhaustive introduction to building a pantry and why. The first half of the book is devoted to explaining ingredients, from spices to flours to milks to nut butters and oils. She also peppers her explanations and descriptions with sidebars about nutrition myth and fact that would please even the most rigid WAPFer.
ThoughI haven't tried any of the recipes,I adore the first 75 pages, which are, essentially, a crash course in the gluten-free, allergy-friendly and all-natural lifestyle. She provides a ton of resources, from mail-order to websites, to help those who may not have easy access to ingredients in their towns. The ice dream recipes look great - Rachel favors a thick custard which imitates the rich, creme anglaise-based ice cream style that I favor.
For those who are egg-free, there are only a few recipes containing egg. She explains that egg replacer doesn't necessarily work in all of her recipes, and they work best in doughs or batters (I personally don't use egg replacer because of the ingredients - they almost always contain potato starch, which I avoid).
Chef Rachel's blog is kept up-to-date and has many useful links, including blogs that similarly contain all-natural and wholesome recipes. If you don't feel like visiting Amazon, visit Rachel's blog for links to purchase the book directly from her.
