Here’s an installment in my Radical Sherbet series. These sherbets are characterized by bold, robust flavors. This isn’t sherbet for the timid….
- 4 cups dark rum (80 proof)
- 2 cups pulp-free orange juice
- 1.25 cups sugar
- .25 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1.25 cups whole milk
- zest of one orange
Choose a large saucepan with the widest opening. Place the rum in the saucepan and begin boiling it. You’ll need to reduce the rum to one cup. To check your progress, use a heat-proof measuring cup and carefully pour the boiling rum into the measuring cup to check its volume. Return the rum to the saucepan and continue boiling until you have reduced it to one cup. (You are doing this to eliminate as much of the alcohol from the rum as possible. Note that it is impossible to eliminate all of the alcohol from the rum–this is because of the azeotropic effect, which is beyond the scope of this recipe–but if you use a wide saucepan to facilitate alcohol evaporation, you should be able to make a sherbet batter with the smallest amount of alcohol and that batter can be frozen in a very cold ice cream maker and stored in the coldest part of your freezer.) Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully add the orange juice. Turn the flame down a bit and return the saucepan to the heat. Simmer the mixture down to 2 cups using the same technique you used for the rum.
When you are at two cups, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and stir in the milk. Place a Microplane grater over the saucepan and grate the zest of the orange into the saucepan. Stir until combined. Refrigerate this batter overnight in the coldest part of your refrigerator.
Make sure your ice cream maker is as cold as possible and freeze the batter according to the manufacturer’s directions. Store the sherbet in the coldest part of your freezer.