Dish · italian
Gelato
A dense, churned frozen dessert made mostly with milk rather than cream, churned slower than ice cream so it holds less air. It's served closer to room temperature than American ice cream.
Where it comes from
Frozen desserts have a long history across Italy, and gelato as sold today took shape once mechanical churns and reliable refrigeration reached shops in the 19th and 20th centuries. Sicily and Florence both claim early versions, without settled evidence for either.
What cooks argue about
Milk-to-cream ratio and churn speed are the real variables: more milk and slower churning give the dense texture people call gelato, while a fast, cream-heavy churn just makes ice cream.
Versions
Nobody has published a gelato here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
heavy cream
egg yolk