issue 28// vol 45 238 flavours >» La Casa Gelato: Just a tourist trap, or Vancouver's best? Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor Yr know that feeling you get when youre strolling through the ice cream aisle in Save-On-Foods and you're faced with the same basic flavours—chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, berry something, so on. and so forth? As someone with allergies to milk, my options are even more limited and even more expensive! So, what’s a girl to do if her taste buds are looking for a sweet, creamy hug that won't leave her feeling empty of flavour and full of fat? I think I may have found the answer at La Casa Gelato. Opened in 1982 on Venables Street, La Casa Gelato was created by a man whose passion and work were one and the same. Vince Misceo and the whole family would spend around 15 hours a day scooping exotic flavours for Vancouver locals and tourists. Originally, La Casa served pizza, panarotti, panni, and gelato, but along the way they decided to focus on what they did best—velvety smooth gelato, sorbetto, and yogurt. On their website they claim to be “the only place in the world with 238 flavours on location.” In business for 36 years, La Casa Gelato has won many awards, including the 2016 and 2018 Best Gelato Golden Plate award from the Georgia Strait. The big pink shop has also been voted Vancouver's best in a 2018 Global News online poll. With 588 flavours to date, I decided to take a visit to the legendary gelato shop and taste some of these flavours for myself, seeing as how samples are free and practically endless! Wasabi apple, papaya, blueberry lemon, Bailey’s Irish cream and Oreo, white chocolate and Oreo, and espresso chocolate flake are just some of the many flavours I tried during my visit, and even though I was sure I'd found my favourite—the deliciously dairy-free papaya—I couldn't stop there! With three coolers full of fantastic flavours, I had to taste as many as I could, allergies be damned! Wild fennel, black sesame, aloe vera, honeycomb, and balsamic vinegar! All delicious! Chocolate chili, gorgonzola cheese, red bean and tofu, and green tea and mint, my taste buds were screaming I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Yes, this place certainly can serve upa good scoop and they even have dairy-free and sugar-free options, but what does the general public feel about La Casa Gelato? I stalked the front doors to find out. Peter F. from Vancouver said in an interview with the Other Press, “The only reason anyone would go to La Casa is to see all the flavours. It’s overpriced, the flavours aren't as bold as they used to be, and almost every bite has ice crystals in it. There are better options around.” While respecting his opinions on the gelato shop, | also couldn't ignore the fact that he happened to be carrying a cone of what looked like Cherry Garcia and peanut butter. Trying again, I ran into Desmond from Burnaby who had a more positive review of La Casa Gelato for the Other Press: “A MUST stop! They have on hand 200 flavours at any one time. They even have flavours of fruits that I’ve never heard of before. I tried onion and curry gelato. I’ve never had that before. The prices are high, but it’s worth it.” So, who’s right? Is La Casa Gelato just another tourist trap, or is it Vancouver's best? I can tell you all about the intense flavours of this seriously authentic gelato, or you can stop by and find out firsthand. Go ahead, treat yo'self. Photo by Billy Bui life & style // no. 13 Chocolate and ganache > Tips, tricks, and a recipe for amazing Earl Grey ganache Bex Peterson Editor-in-Chief hocolate can be deceptively difficult to work with. Have you ever wondered why your chocolate-dipped strawberries never seem to set at room temperature, or why your ganache has a gritty texture? The main thing to keep in mind when working with chocolate is temperature. Chocolate has a particular chemical reaction when it gets too hot. When chocolate heats above a certain temperature—31 to 32 C (88 to go F) for dark chocolate, 30 to 31 C (86 to 88 F) for milk, and 27 to 28 C (80 to 82 F) for white—the cocoa butter crystals inside the chocolate melt and change form. This means when the chocolate cools, the cocoa butter crystals do not set properly, resulting in chocolate that has lost its structural integrity. Chocolate that is “out of temper” is soft at room temperature, has a sort of dusty, matte look to it, tastes grainy, and tends to bloom (develop white cloudy patches) as it cools. If you're melting chocolate to make chocolate bark, dipped fruit, truffle shells, or a variety of other chocolate- based projects, you essentially have two options. First, you can opt to use compound chocolate instead of real chocolate. Compound chocolate contains vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter; it’s cheaper and easier to work with as it has a higher melting point. Compound chocolate is commonly sold in baking stores for this reason—if you've ever seen Wilton’s brightly coloured “Candy Melts,” that’s compound chocolate. It does have a different taste from real chocolate though, so if youre determined to work with the real deal, you'll have to learn how to “temper” your chocolate—that is, carefully heat your chocolate without overheating it. There are several ways to do this involving candy thermometers, double boilers, marble slabs, or expensive tempering machines, but let’s be real— none of us have time for any of that. My favourite method of tempering chocolate is simple and requires nothing fancier than a microwave. First, chop your chocolate very fine. Put your chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it carefully in 15-second increments, taking it out and stirring it between each burst. You're going to feel kind of silly at first as it won't look like it’s melting at all but be patient! You want it to get to a point where it’s all mostly melted, but there are still some solid bits mixed in. Once it’s at this stage, take it out and stir it until the heat of the melted chocolate melts those last few chunks. You'll know it’s tempered properly if you spread a thin layer of chocolate on a board or a plate at room temperature and it sets within a minute or two. You'll have to work quickly with it, but you'll be amazed by how much better it tastes. There’s nothing like biting into a chocolate strawberry and getting a nice firm “snap” from the shell. Ganache has a similar temperature problem. Ganache is a simple combination of heavy cream and chocolate used for fillings, dips, and toppings. However, if your cream is too hot when you whisk it with the chocolate, the ganache can “break,” resulting in a grainy mess instead of asmooth chocolate sauce. To avoid this, let your hot cream and finely-chopped chocolate sit for a while after combining them without whisking—about three to five minutes depending on quantities. That way when you whisk the two, the chocolate will already be mostly melted by the heat of the cream, and the cream will be cool enough that it won't break the chocolate that hasn't melted yet. With all that in mind, here’s a quick recipe for an amazing Earl Grey white chocolate ganache that tastes exactly like a London Fog. Ingredients - Finely-chopped white chocolate * Heavy cream (a.k.a. whipping cream) - Earl Grey teabags You'll notice I didn’t put any specific quantities in the ingredients list. With baking, ratios tend to work better than specific quantities, since it’s easier to adjust the recipe as needed. For a thick ganache with a dense finish (good for chocolate truffles), you'll want a 2:1 chocolate to cream ratio. For a frosting-like, more spreadable texture, use a 1:1 ratio. Fora thin glaze that’s good for dips, use a 1:1.5 chocolate to cream ratio. To make the ganache, heat your cream until it’s nice and hot but not boiling over; I recommend doing this carefully in the microwave or with a double boiler. Pour the hot cream over your teabags—I use at least two tea bags per one cup of cream. Let that sit for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how strong you want the flavour to be, then squeeze the teabags out into the cream and dispose of them. Heat up the Earl Grey-infused cream again and pour it into your chopped chocolate, letting that sit for about three to five minutes. Once the cream has cooled so it’s warm rather than hot, whisk slowly to combine. Enjoy!