Vanilla Honey Sesame Milkshake for the Great Shakes 2012: Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes Virtual Party {cookbook review}

title: Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes: 100 Thick and Creamy Shakes You Can Make at Home

author: Adam Ried
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
photos: yes
soft cover (also available in hard cover): 208 pages

chapters/sections: Introduction - Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Equipment and a Key Ingredient or Two - Your Father's Oldsmobile: Basic Shakes - Vanilla Shakes - Chocolate Shakes - Tea and Coffee Shakes - Fruity Shakes - Not Your Father's Oldsmobile: Unconventional Shakes - Shakes (and Other Frosty Affairs) from Afar - Index

fun features:  Aside from being a fascinating, pages eleven through thirty-seven are a fantastic primer for stepping into the kitchen and getting friendly with your blender.  Those pages begin with Ried's Introduction in which he sells us on the modernization of the milkshake.  If you weren't already standing at the cash register, that is. The Building Blocks of Milkshake Modernization in which the arsenal that you'll need to modernize those shakes follows close behind. From the ingredients that go in to a word about the recipes within the book to tips and pointers Ried learned along the way.  He also talks about the differences between shakes and smoothies and includes a fun Soda Fountain Beverage Family Tree.  I particularly loved learning the what exactly fun sounding drinks from the soda fountain's of old, such as Cabinet's Concrete's, Egg Creams (no eggs!), Phosphates, and Fre3zes (among others) actually were.  And then settle in for A Brief History of the Milkshake nestled between those building blocks.  I love a good history lesson.  Especially when it's foodie history.

(a few of the many) recipes destined for my kitchen: Mexican Chocolate Shake w/ Chipotle & Almond, Chocolate-Guinness Shake, Chocolate-Earl Grey Shake, Mocha-Cardamom Shake, Triple Peach Shake, Raspberry-Rose Shake, Pineapple Ginger and Lime Shake, Tamarind Shake w/ Sugar & Chile, Lemon-Buttermilk Shake, Peanut-Molasses Shake, Malted Caramel Shake, Cholado, Malted Ballistic Vanilla Shake, Serious Malted Chocolate Shake

my thoughts/review:  A couple of things.  Number one: can you really go wrong releasing an amazing book full of frozen treats at the beginning of a hot, HOT summer?  Number two:  can you really go wrong believing in the amazing Adam Ried (yes, I'm an America's Test Kitchen fan)?  The answer to both of those questions is a resounding NO.  No you can't.  I love everything about this book.  From the brief history of a milkshake in the front of the book to the tantalizing photographs that leave me wanting to go shopping for not only enough ice cream to fill both of my freezers, but also quirky glasses, spoons, and straws in which to serve from and slurp from, I can't stop staring at the pages.

You'll find not only the basics and their amped up versions (extra rich and malted) like Ballistic Vanilla, Classic Chocolate, Serious Chocolate, and Strawberry on these pages, you'll also find a plethora of tempting and unexpected flavor combinations.  See the recipes destined for my kitchen above for a sneak peek at some of those combos.

This book will keep me cool and satisfied for many summers to come.

recipe(s) I have already tried:  I am completely enamored with this milkshake and if I didn't have restraint, I would make myself one daily.  It reminds of some of my favorite desserts: Pastelli and Sesame Seed Toffee Snaps.  Oh.  Yes.

Vanilla Honey Sesame Milkshake

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Keywords: blender snack dessert ice-cream summer

Ingredients (3½ cups/28 oz./850 milliliters)

• ½ c. cold milk
• ¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1½ tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tbs. (1½ oz./43 g) honey
• 8 medium scoops (~1 qt./24 oz./680 g) vanilla bean ice cream, slightly softened

Instructions

Combine milk, vanilla, sesame oil, and honey in a blender and blend thoroughly, ~15 seconds.

Add the ice cream and pulse to begin combining. Scrape down the sides with a rubber scraper and continue pulsing, stopping, and mashing until the mixture is well-blended, thick, and moves easily through the blender jar, 30-90 seconds.

Pour into chilled glasses and serve immediately. Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds, if you wish.

slightly adapted from Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes

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photo by Andre Baranowski

about the author:  Adam Ried is the cooking columnist for the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine and a contributor to Cook's Country, Fine Cooking, Hannaford fresh, and other publications.  He is also the kitchen equipment specialist on both the top-rated PBS cooking show America's Test Kitchen and the new PBS series Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen.  As an editor for Cook's Illustrated Adam developed and edited recipes and feature stories and was responsible for the highly respected kitchen equipment testing and ingredient tasting programs and features.  He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

further info: twitter | website

For more Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes, click on the banner below.  You'll find more about the book, Adam Ried, recipes tried by other bloggers, and #GreatShakes!

*I received a free copy of this book to review from the publisher.  All thoughts and opinions stated in this post are 100% mine.


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Scrumptious Sunday @ Addicted to Recipes