The inside scoop

Few things will wow your guests at today’s barbecue more than a big dish of homemade ice cream.

A fresh-churned batch of strawberry ice cream is great. And it’s hard to beat some awesome, creamy chocolate ice cream. Even a simple bowl of plain old vanilla can generate oohs and aahs.

But if you hang with an adventurous crowd and have a good imagination, there’s no need to limit yourself to the traditional flavors you’d find in the supermarket freezer.

“It’s just ice cream,” says Howard Bateman, head chef at The Globe Bar and Grille in Spokane. “The main thing is just have fun.”

Bateman knows what he’s talking about.

He has churned up wasabi-honey cashew ice cream. He has paired chocolate and cayenne, honey and lavender, pear and five-spice powder. And on a recent afternoon, he was about to make a batch of honeydew-coconut ice cream.

“Just go for it,” says Bateman, who has been serving up unusual ice cream flavors to Globe patrons for the past six years.

The Scoop on Spokane’s South Hill serves up two dozen flavors each day, many of which combine usual ingredients to make varieties you won’t find anywhere else.

There’s Circus, which is cotton-candy ice cream with frosted animal cracker cookies mixed in. And there’s molasses ice cream with pieces of ginger cookies.

“You could do whatever you want,” says Patrick Sullivan, who owns The Scoop. “Especially if you’re doing it at home.”

All of the ice cream for The Scoop is made in Spokane at the Brain Freeze Creamery, which is always working on creative flavors.

Jason Williams, one of the brains behind Brain Freeze, says trial and error is the key to coming up with the perfect batch of ice cream.

So far, he has made five batches of jalapeño ice cream in the quest for the right mix of cream and heat. Williams says he’ll probably nail it on version six.

“It’s very close,” he says.

He’s also working on beer-infused ice cream, as well as an apple-mint variety.

“It’s hard to stop,” Williams says, once your brain starts coming up with possible flavors.

David Lebovitz, in his new book “The Perfect Scoop” (Ten Speed Press, 2007), offers some safety, as well as flavor, advice:

“Chill all ice cream bases promptly and store them in the refrigerator.

“When heating eggs for custard, use a thermometer to ensure they reach 160 degrees.

“Alcohol will give ice cream a softer texture, and if you use too much, it might not freeze at all. (You can add up to 3 tablespoons of 80-proof liquor per 1 quart batch without any problems, Lebovitz says.)

“Use a long serrated knife to chop chocolate for ice cream.

“Always use pure flavoring extracts, not imitation ones.

“If using dried fruits, choose ones that are plump and moist.

“Seek out organic or unsprayed fruits, especially if you’ll be using the peel.

“Use emulsified, rather than natural, peanut butter.

“Too much sugar will keep ice cream from freezing. Too little sugar will make the end result grainy.

“To marble two or more flavors, make each ice cream flavor separately. Once they’re frozen, but still soft, get a separate container and alternate large scoops of the ice creams, tapping the container on the counter to release air bubbles. Cover and freeze until solid.

So, after making jalapeño ice cream, is there any food Williams wouldn’t recommend churning into a frozen dessert?

“Pretty much any kind of meat,” he says.

Here are a few out-of-the-ordinary ice cream recipes to get your creative juices flowing:

Orange-Szechwan Pepper Ice Cream

From “The Perfect Scoop”

3 tablespoons Szechwan peppercorns

1½ cups whole milk

1½ cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

4 oranges, preferably unsprayed

6 large egg yolks

Coarsely grind the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle, or place them in a heavy-duty freezer bag and crack them with a rolling pin or hammer.

Heat the milk, ½ cup of the cream and the sugar with the crushed peppercorns in a medium saucepan. Zest the oranges directly into the saucepan. Once warm, cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the mixture. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

“For Orange-Cardamom Ice Cream, substitute 2 teaspoons cardamom seeds, crushed, for the Szechwan pepper.

“For Orange-Clove Ice Cream, substitute 10 to 15 crushed whole cloves for the Szechwan pepper.

Yield: About 8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 325 calories, 22 grams fat (12 grams saturated, 59 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, less than one gram dietary fiber, 225 milligrams cholesterol, 45 milligrams sodium.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

From “The Perfect Scoop”

7 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup whole milk

½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

4 large egg yolks

1 cup heavy cream

¾ cup Guinness Stout

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.

Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in ice-cream maker according to instructions.

Yield: About 8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 340 calories, 22 grams fat (12 grams saturated, 58 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 160 milligrams cholesterol, 88 milligrams sodium.

Pear-Pecorino Ice Cream

From “The Perfect Scoop”

Be sure to very finely dice the cheese, rather than grating it.

3 ripe pears, peeled and cored

1/3 cup water

4 ounces pecorino cheese

½ cup sour cream

1 cup half-and-half

2/3 cup sugar

3 large egg yolks

¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cut the pears into 1/2 –inch pieces. Cook them with the water in a medium, nonreactive saucepan, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the pears are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Puree in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Use a chef’s knife to cut the pecorino into very thin slices, the chop the slices into small pieces about the size of grains of rice. Put them in a large bowl, add the sour cream, and set a mesh strainer over the top.

Warm the half-and-half and sugar in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm half-and-half into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scraped the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the pecorino and sour cream. Mix in the lemon juice and pear puree, then stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill in the refrigerator then freeze in ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Yield: About 8 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 245 calories, 12 grams fat (6 grams saturated, 43 percent fat calories), 7 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrate, 1.5 grams dietary fiber, 110 milligrams cholesterol, 190 milligrams sodium.