Why not boil a gelato base?

[u/frostmas]

In Gary Mihalik's gelato book and Gelato Messina, they say to heat the gelato up to a certain temperature of about 185 degrees (or less depending on the stabilizer) and no higher. Higher fat ice cream recipes like Dana Cree's Philadelphia ice cream tell you to bring the ice cream to a boil for 2 minutes. Jeni's recipes even have you boil it for 4 minutes. They say it's to denature the milk proteins and give the ice cream a smoother texture.

Why wouldn't boiling a gelato base also give it a smoother texture?

[u/BruceChameleon]

Higher fat mixtures are less likely to curdle when boiled

[u/Jerkrollatex]

It would cook the eggs, scorch the bottom and curdle the dairy. I'm honestly surprised those other recipes have you boiling the mixture.

[u/StoneCypher → u/Jerkrollatex]

boiling dairy doesn't curdle it

[u/Jerkrollatex → u/StoneCypher]

Avoid Curdled Milk When Cooking https://share.google/5CFiJgplJzUA8re7v

"Boiling is a sure way to curdle milk. It's not just boiling. Heating milk too quickly, even if it never comes to a boil, can also curdle it. Heat the milk gently over medium-low heat to prevent the dairy from curdling."

[u/StoneCypher → u/Jerkrollatex]

The boiling isn't the problem. It's the rate of heating. Bring it up to a boil slowly and you'll be fine.

Boiling milk is a fairly common thing to need to do in confectionary.

[u/Cherry_Mash → u/StoneCypher]

But I think the other ingredients in confections typically keep the proteins in suspension. Bringing milk up to a boil, fast or slow, will denature the proteins and wonky shit may happen to your recipe’s texture.

[u/UnderbellyNYC]

There's no reason to boil anything. Cookbook authors sometimes use boiling as a shortcut, because it's easier than using a thermometer and controlling the temperature. But it's better to not boil. There are tradeoffs and debatable points about the ideal time / temperature, but it's going to be somewhere between 74°C and 85°C; 60 minutes and 5 minutes.

With regard to this question, there's no significant difference between gelato and other ice cream styles besides the language you're speaking.

[u/AnimalBasedAl]

you don’t need to boil anything, hold at ~175F for about 5 mins

[u/Jealous_Pin_3705]

cornstarch?

[u/WhaleMeatFantasy → u/[deleted]]

Strange way to reply to someone discussing a published recipe in probably the most popular ice cream book.