How do you make ice cream with the ice cream maker?

hand crank ice cream freezer image

Nina Anne

We bought an ice cream maker from Wally and there was no instructions. I was told that I needed rock salt so I bought that but I don't know what the heck to do with it! Can't cook worth a crap and I suck in the kitchen so make the details as plain as possible! LOL!

Answer
First, make sure you have the kind of "ice cream maker" that uses rock salt, rather than the electric type that uses a pre-frozen "freezer bowl" that fits into the rest of the machine when you're ready to make the ice cream.
Here is the Wikipedia article explaining the difference between the types:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_maker

If you truly have an ice cream maker that requires rock salt and hand cranking (or I guess some of those are electric for the cranking part), there are some how-to's in the links of these 2 searches:
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+ice+cream+maker+rock+salt
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+ice+cream+maker+rock+salt+recipes

If you have the other kind of ice cream maker though (electric), here are some instructions for that type:
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+"Ice+cream+maker"+freezer+-"rock+salt"+recipes
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-2-Quart-Automatic-Cream-Makers/product-reviews/B00006363E/ref=pr_all_summary_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

You can get more recipes and the actual **manual** for your particular machine online usually too... this page has links for some of the more popular brands:
http://www.makeicecream.com/icecreammaki.html



HTH, and have fun!

Diane B.