JARED’S NOTE: We’re giving away a copy of the Big Gay Ice Cream book. Read the review and enter at the end!

Last year, The Wife and I went to New York City for a few days of blowing off steam following the end of her schoolyear. One of the items on our list that we never checked off was a visit to Big Gay Ice Cream, which has locations in the East and West Villages. It’s not from a lack of want to — The Wife and I love ice cream — but our trip coincided with NYC Pride Week and traversing the city was tough enough without trying to get in or out of Greenwich Village for an ice cream. Waiting in line and waiting for others appear at the top of the list of things I hate, so in the interest of my head not exploding, we skipped it on this trip. So, yes, I have yet to consume a Bea Arthur.

Big Gay Ice Cream’s quest to take over America started with an expansion to Philadelphia and Los Angeles, with the latter to open in the future. And, like any good charismatic revolutionaries, they have gone to the people via written word with its debut book Big Gay Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats: Going All the Way with Ice Cream in April 2015.

This is not your typical cookbook, but then again, BGIC is not your typical ice cream shop. The aforementioned Bea Arthur (vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche and crushed ‘Nilla wafers), Salty Pimp (vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche, sea salt and chocolate dip), and American Globs (vanilla ice cream, sea salt, pretzels and chocolate dip) are among their flavors, while sundaes at the shop can be topped with wasabi pea dust, cayenne pepper, and olive oil and sea salt. The Summer 2015 seasonal ice cream sandwich is the Rue McClanahan, featuring bourbon ice cream with praline pecan cookies.

The book is laid out like a high school yearbook, replete with celebrity signatures from Food Network stars to NYC-based actors that frequent the shop. The foreword is written by Anthony Bourdain as the school principal. Mixed in with class photos of the staff are recipes in ascending order of difficulty. Freshman year is a crash course in creating a home ice cream parlor, including how to stock, store, and mix and match toppings, as well as the BGIC story:

Originally, “Big Gay Ice Cream Truck” was just a placeholder, but people started following us on social media because they got a kick out of seeing “I’m a fan of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck” in their feed. Most people thought it was an elaborate joke, and honestly, all these years later, in its own surreal way, it still is.”

Sophomore year reviews how to make your own toppings. Yes, you could buy off the shelf, but Petroff and Quint show you how to construct your own toppings on your stove, including Awesomesauce, a chocolate-chipotle-cayenne topping. Junior year elevates you to sundaes, floats and shakes, including the Nuclear Winter (chocolate sundae with Awesomesauce, sriracha and a half-sour pickle). So, you’ve made the ice cream and toppings. Now you learn practical applications, not unlike your actual junior year of high school, right?

By the time you are the BMOC during Senior year, you are making your own ice creams and sorbets at home with recipes designed for fancy $500 Williams-Sonoma machines or the run of the mill $50 Cuisinart that I have in my home. We’re talking everything from Mountain Dew sorbet and cheater soft-serve vanilla to compound ice creams with mixins and the secret of the Bea Arthur.

If this was a cookbook on its own, it would be fine, but what Petroff and Quint have done is mix in stories about their rise from simple ice cream truck to LGBTQ icons and two of New York City’s most respected food purveyors. If you were thinking about making your own ice cream or wanted to elevate your homemade game, this would be a worthy book to own.

The Book: Big Gay Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats: Going All the Way with Ice Cream

The Author: Bryan Petroff and Douglas Quint Cover Price: $25.00 Pages: 192

The Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publish Date: April 28, 2015

Usability Factor: Medium-High

Buy for: Someone that likes making ice cream at home, has a sense of humor and isn’t going to get all worked up about the title.

DISCLAIMER: This book was provided by Clarkson Potter, via its Blogging For Books program, for this review.

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