Ice Cream Class

Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

Ben Johnson

Crusty bread. Caramelized onions. Those crispy burnt ends of meat. Dark beer. Maple syrup. All tasty. All for the same reason. The Maillard reaction, so named for Louis-Camille Maillard, the French physician who discovered it, occurs when the amino acids in proteins react with sugars, usually with the help of heat, resulting in rich, complex flavors. So we thought, why not double up on the reaction for an even richer and more complex final product?We begin with cocoa—a product that has already undergone a Maillard reaction during the original roasting of the cocoa beans—and roast it once more. As it roasts, aromas of dark coffee and pipe tobacco signify that the Maillard reaction is taking place again, as does the darkening appearance of the cocoa powder, which becomes incredibly dark brown (almost black) during this second roasting step. We then proceed as we would with any other gelato recipe. The result is an uber-decadent chocolate gelato with rich roasted notes and an intensity we have yet to find matched in any other gelato.

Dairy-Free Cocoa Gelato