The Perfect Ice Cream Flavor

The Perfect Ice Cream Flavor

By Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin

The salted caramel ice cream at San Francisco’s Bi-Rite Creamery has charm. It has personality. It is delicious. The co-owners get us a few steps closer to understanding perfection, in the form of ice cream.

The unparalleled. The best in show. We call it The Perfect: our video series on how something so very good gets to be that way.

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COMMENT

  • I wouldn't order anything from these pigs! They don't wear a hair net over their raggedy looking hair,that looks like it hasn't been washed in a month of Sindays.Who knows what else their doing.Ugggh.

  • Why on earth are they adding CLOVER heavy cream to the caramel mixture when they use a Straus ice cream base?
    Also, if you've had Berthillon's caramel au beurre sale' ice cream in Paris it is so vastly different from Bi-Rite. I think Bi-Rite's version is good, but not the best! Make my own based on a recipe adapted from NYTimes Magazine that is incredible. Add a couple extra fleur de sel flakes...+READ

    Why on earth are they adding CLOVER heavy cream to the caramel mixture when they use a Straus ice cream base?
    Also, if you've had Berthillon's caramel au beurre sale' ice cream in Paris it is so vastly different from Bi-Rite. I think Bi-Rite's version is good, but not the best! Make my own based on a recipe adapted from NYTimes Magazine that is incredible. Add a couple extra fleur de sel flakes on top for good measure!-COLLAPSE

  • I've made the David Lebovitz recipe, and it's absolutely fantastic. The intensity of the caramel flavors make even small portions very satisfying. It's not terribly difficult to make either -- highly recommended.

  • Moorenkos, a two store "chain" in McLean, VA and Silver Spring, MD offers this yin/yan on occasion

  • ahhh. . . .the delicious offerings of san francisco. good to see behind the scenes on one of my favorite local delights.

  • I have always added salt to pistascio ice cream because I adore it. It gives you a real pistascio taste with the creamy aftertaste of sweet, cold ice cream
    Will try the caramel now.

  • I've made the salted caramel ice cream using David Lebovitz's recipe-- it's amazing! It's a bit of work to get the caramel right (I burned it the first time) but it's worth it.

  • Can you send me some Ideas on how to save my jelly from the garbage? It won't set up?

  • Blessed be the ice-cream gods... I live 1/2 a block away from the BiRite Creamery. I cannot leave without getting a scoop of this flavor, topped by a scoop of their roasted banana.... or the coffee/toffee made form Ritual roasters down the street, or one of their ice cream sandwiches or....

  • My parents were on vacation in Northern California last week--I wish I'd known to tell them about this place then!

    I watched this video yesterday without sound and I had no idea that the caramel-cream-salt mixture was just a flavoring agent for the ice cream base. I thought for some reason it WAS the ice cream. Interesting.

  • MartinDC: I also found the David Lebovitz recipe and plan on trying it out this weekend. Sounds wonderful!

  • A local gelato place in Dallas named pacuigo, that has spread to various places throughout the country, makes a salted caramel gelato. I found that since the saltiness was homogenized throughout the gelato it came off more as bitter than as a salty sweet contrast.

  • I found this. I'm going to try it soon.

    http://davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/04/salted_butter_c.html

  • This sounds amazing!! Has anyone tried something similar to this at home?

  • When my wife and I were in Paris in the spring we had salted caramel ice cream and it was unbelievable. all the Berthillion flavors have been wonderful

  • god it really is their best ice cream. i love it so much. this makes me drool.