PrintThe Best Frozen Custard
Everyone is always yapping about frozen custard. St. Louis residents and expats swear by Ted Drewes (the inspiration at least for Danny Meyer's Shake Shack in New York. Milwaukeeans sing the praises of Leon's and Kopp's, and their neighbors to the west in Madison love their Michael's. Indianians go crazy over Culver's, and New Yorkers wait in line at Shake Shack for an hour for their burgers and custard (custard freaks like us know to hit the always short B-line at Shake Shack, which is for drinks and custard only).
So in this era of Fed-Exed everything, we decided to gather as many of the above-mentioned frozen custards and do the ultimate frozen custard taste test.
A couple of weeks ago we had ten pints of Kopp's, six pints of Ted Drewes, and six pints of Michael's delivered to Serious Eats world headquarters. We sent intern-turned-vice-poobah Robyn Lee to Shake Shack to fetch three pints of its frozen custard (we sprung for a cab for her return trip so it wouldn't melt.)
So, need I say we had a whole lot of frozen custard in the house, as you can see from this photo. SE managing editor Adam Kuban took one for the team and volunteered to administer the completely and utterly blind taste test. Assembled were two of Robyn's friends, three people from our technology partner, Apperceptive, Robyn, and our designer, Raphael.
We were looking for the best vanilla and the best chocolate, and each of the contestants had sent a couple of pints of each of those flavors. We were looking for frozen custard that was creamy, eggy, not too sweet, and light. We wanted the vanilla custard of our dreams to taste like vanilla, and we wanted the chocolate to taste like chocolate and not just cocoa.
The two clearly superior vanilla custards came from Shake Shack and Kopp's. Shake Shack was the winner because you could clearly taste the egg yolks and the real vanilla. Kopp's was also damn good, though, and we can't discount the fact that Kopp's had frozen their custard and Fed-Exed it overnight, and Shake Shack's was as fresh as frozen custard could be. Michael's was a fairly distant third, and (if you're from St. Louis, stop reading) Ted Drewes trailed the pack. It practically disappeared the moment it hit our palates. It had very little flavor.
Kopp's edged out Shake Shack in the chocolate category. Kopp's chocolate was chocolatey and creamy and smashingly good. Shake Shack was also damned fine, but we liked Kopp's better. Again Michael's was a fairly distant third and Ted Drewes trailed the field.
In analyzing the results I looked at the ingredient lists for each of the four vanillas:
Michael's: Whole milk, cream, milk solids non-fat, cane sugar, corn syrup, egg yolk, vanilla extract, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, carrageenan.
Ted Drewes: Milkfat and non-fat milk, sugar, eggs, honey, guar gun, carrageenan, dextrose, vanilla, and salt.
Kopp's: Cream, milk, skim milk, sugar, corn syrup, egg yolk, mono digylceride, locust bean gum, guar gum, cellulose gum, trisodium phosphate, careegeenan, vanilla extract, massey's vanilla extract, cocoa.
Shake Shack: milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, non-fat milk, whey protein, salt.
What did we learn from our exercise in frozen custard excess? Ingredients really matter, even in a populist food like custard. Shake Shack uses better ingredients than anyone else, and its custard is truly terrific, with or without the hype. Kopp's uses Massey's vanilla extract, which is pretty good stuff. The other factor that comes into play is knowing what delicious is. The folks at Kopp's use most of the same ingredients as Ted Drewes and Michael's, and yet their custard is markedly superior to the others we tried. And can anyone doubt that the folks at the Union Square Hospitality group who worked on the Shake Shack recipes know a lot more about food in general and what delicious is than most other frozen custard makers in this country?
Next time, we are just going to find someone with a private jet and hop from one frozen custard bastion to the next. That way the playing field will be completely even and nobody will have any excuses related to how far the custard traveled.
Until then, we wish you godspeed in finding the frozen custard of your dreams.
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20 Comments:
I've been eating Ted Drewes occasionally for mumble-mumble years, and sad to say I'm not surprised by your results. The experience of going there is delightful and nostalgic; the custard itself leaves something to be desired. By far the greater part of it goes out as an ingredient in their concretes, their signature shake that's so thick it's customarily served upside down. (I understand that was the inspiration for DQ's Blizzard.) I love the idea of Ted Drewes, but the custard itself isn't so great.
lemons at 10:02AM on 09/18/07
I'm confused. And from Madison, Wisconsin. Which is neither North nor South but West of Milwaukee? And Culver's is from Wisconsin too, but Sauk City? And Kopp's does have the best frozen custard. But where is mention of frozen custard's best friend the butter burger, featured prominently at both Kopp's and Culver's and Michael's, although they don't call it a butter burger at Michael's?
This might be too picky. It's early and I'm sleepy. I'm also homesick, though, and it's not terribly often that Wisconsin treats like frozen custard are discussed in a national venue.
aluapaluap at 10:36AM on 09/18/07
I'm from Madison, WI, and it's actually almost directly west of Milwaukee, not north. Also, Culvers is from Sauk City and, IMHO, has the best custard (though I have never had the one from St. Louis).
Originally I'm from New Jersey, and I have to say that maybe the best custard EXPERIENCE is eating freezing custard on a hot, hot day on the Boardwalk in Point Pleasant or Manasquan (pre- or post-bennies, of course...)
Sorry to be picky about this, but people rarely talk about Wisconsin in a national venue (other than to make fun...), so I wanted to make sure the story on the custards was straight. I don't like Michael's custard as much as Culvers because I think it tastes a little bland.
mskilgore at 10:40AM on 09/18/07
Heh. Uh, high five, mskilgore?
aluapaluap at 10:49AM on 09/18/07
My humblest apologies for not having my custard geography straight. And New Jersey frozen custard is worthy of discussion, though I have never had any.
Ed Levine at 11:17AM on 09/18/07
kohr's frozen custard on the point pleasant boardwalk is pretty good, BUT
i recently stopped by Carl's Frozen Custard in Fredericksburg VA on a road trip and it was AMAZING. It was like eating frozen whipped cream it was THAT creamy. They use the original frozen custard machine from the 1940s.
crafty at 1:47PM on 09/18/07
Heh, Ed, I detect the slightest note of sarcasm in your apology! ;) I don't actually care so much about the geography, but I am surprised that your custard survey didn't include Culvers, which a lot of people (not just me!) feel is better than both Michael's and Kopp's.
Anyway! thanks for highlighting custard, in general. I do love it, and was pleasantly surprised to find it out here in the midwest. Speaking of custard, I wish Rita's Italian Ices would move out here... as I recall, they have an OK custard to go with their ices.
mskilgore at 2:43PM on 09/18/07
No worries, Ed. I don't know squat about Manhattan.
aluapaluap at 3:07PM on 09/18/07
Culvers better than Kopps? Heathens!
I live in River Hills directly between Kopps and a Culvers. I can always get into the Culvers, but there are many times when Kopps is full. Kopps IMHO has slightly better service than the local Culvers, so I think I am in the majority in this area :)
There is a gal that works for a software vendor that grew up locally in Wisconsin but is now in Texas. Any time one of the people comes up from her new home in Dallas, If they don;t come back with a couple of quarts of Kopps they aren't allowed in the building without getting a major blast from her. One time I couldn't get to Kopps in time to get fresh and sent Culvers. I was on her s**t list until the next shipment.
exvaxman at 5:28PM on 09/18/07
No sarcasm at all, mskilgore, just chagrin and embarrassment for getting it wrong. And crafty, I have heard many great things about Carl's. It sounds great.
Ed Levine at 5:55PM on 09/18/07
Please forgive this very unlocal question -- what on earth is frozen custard? I'm quite a few thousand miles away (Australia) so can't pop out to buy a tub to taste it. And, well, ice-cream is just a type of custard that has been frozen, so... I'm perplexed.
duncan_syrupandtang at 8:00AM on 09/19/07
On a side-note: there is a fabulous frozen custard place near my place. The Dairy Godmother has fantastic custards (vanilla, choco, and the flavor of the day. I'm waiting for dulce de leche), and even better sorbets (I say that only because my stomach cannot handle dairy well, but I can have as much sorbet as I can carry. Green apple with reisling or pineapple cilantro sorbet, anyone?) I wish I'd known earlier about this comparison to see how well TDG measures up, seeing as the owner is originally from Wisconsin.
lorelei76 at 11:11AM on 09/19/07
The Dairy Godmother's explanation, Duncan:
"Genuine frozen custard has at least 1.4% egg yolk (pasteurized) and at least 10% milkfat, and is made in a special machine created for producing frozen custard only.
"In our custard machine, the custard travels from a refrigerated hopper through a valve into a freezing chamber lined with beaters. As you watch, the frozen custard is pushed through (extruded) out the front of the machine and into a waiting bucket, ready to be served. Because it is not held in the chamber, there is very little air beaten into the custard, referred to as "overrun." This low overrun (20-25%) is what gives frozen custard its wonderfully dense and creamy texture, or "mouthfeel."
"By comparison, soft-serve custards, yogurts, and ice creams are made using what is known as a batch freezer, where the mixture remains in the machine and the overrun is as much as 100%."
kathryn at 12:34PM on 09/19/07
I don't live in Australia, but I too have never eaten frozen custard...I've lived in MA, western NJ, western PA, south Florida and now NM....haven't seen frozen custard yet..but I do get a lot of enjoyment from good Greek yogurt and an occasional dish of rich chocolate Breyers ice cream.
elaine at 7:23PM on 09/19/07
Thanks for your replies kathryn and elaine! Hmmm... so maybe this stuff is dense, low-egg ice-cream?
duncan_syrupandtang at 8:11PM on 09/19/07
Because you didn't have exact, equal samples, I won't take this as an affront against Wisconsin, frozen custard, and God.
GhaleonQ at 10:20PM on 09/19/07
does anyone remember custard beach here in manhattan? i was just heartbroken when they went out of business! their frozen custard was the best i have ever had.
zabar's is selling vanilla and chocolate frozen custard these days in the cafe, but it's not all that great.
cybercita at 9:07PM on 09/20/07
I finally had Kopp's when home for a class reunion and MAN was it tasty.... so rich and soft, basically like a fully loaded gelato.
http://andrealin.vox.com/library/post/a-tard-for-custard.html
tenacity at 6:32PM on 09/21/07
If you're in Western PA, check out Glen's Custard in Springdale. They have the original custard machines from the thirties, still in working condition and producing their custard every day. Wonderful stuff-- I grew up on it!
therealpotato at 2:03PM on 12/03/07
As a Wisconsinite I have to say that Kopps tops the list of the world's greatest custard. I have never ever been disappointed with any of the custard I have eaten there. I have traveled all over this great nation and sampled frozen custards from anywhere I could find it. Kopps is tops.
Yorick at 2:11PM on 12/04/07