Jesús Escalera’s Pan de Muerto Ice Cream and Dessert
The pan de muerto represents the Mexican tradition of honoring loved ones who are no longer with us. Jesús Escalera wants to pay homage to this preparation that has crossed borders with an ice cream that is ideal to use in a dessert or as a filling for the pan de muerto itself.
“It integrates the vibrant and intoxicating aromas of orange and orange blossom, which are intertwined with the milky notes of butter, as well as with the starchy, caramelized and toasted nuances of the bread itself. All with a creamy and icy texture,” explains the chef.
We share below the recipe for this ice cream that the chef includes in the family of pastry aromas and that you can find in his book Essence, published by Books For Chefs. An essential book to understand the importance of aromas in the creation of desserts.
Pan de muerto ice cream
- 558 g whole milk
- 200 g 35% MG cream
- 5 oranges
- 58 g invert sugar
- 120 g saccharose
- 10 g glucose
- 30 g neutral skimmed milk powder
- 5 g neutral
- 11 g orange blossom water
- 80 g pan de muerto (see page 310 of the Essence book)
Heat the milk and cream until it comes to a gentle boil, remove from the heat and add the zest of the five oranges. Cover, let it infuse for 20 minutes and strain. Mix the liquids with the saccharose, the neutral, and the skimmed milk powder, add the invert sugar and the glucose and blend everything with an immersion blender. Return to the heat and heat up to 85°C continually stirring for the complete dissolution of the sugars and the neutral. Cool in a cold bain-marie or blast chiller. Add the orange blossom water and the chopped pan de muerto. Cover and leave to mature in the refrigerator for a minimum of eight hours. Once matured, strain by pressing very well and mix again with the help of an immersion blender for correct homogenization. Churn in the ice cream machine. Pour into a thermal container or a previously frozen metal one.
*Note: In bakery products, we will use 10% of their weight as a reference that we will formulate as starch. Thus, in this recipe, with 80 g of soaked pan de muerto that we will later remove, we would have 8 g of “pan de muerto starch” that will remain in the liquid.
Discover the recipe for their aerial pan de muerto dessert in the book, Essence, made with a light honey, orange, and orange blossom meringue, orange and mandarin orange peel puree, and pan de muerto ice cream as a filling.
