T
he Secura Ice Cream Maker is an exceptionally useful piece of kitchen kit. It’s an automatic ice cream maker that will prepare your favorite frozen delights in less than 40 minutes.
This appliance has rave reviews from many satisfied customers all over the world. This is due to a unique set of features that seem to tick most boxes people have when buying ice cream machines.
Main Features
First off, the Secura is an automatic ice cream maker with a self refrigerating compressor. This is totally different from the models that require pre-freezing of a freezer bowl, before you can produce your frozen dessert. This makes preparing ice cream a snap. You can literally decide on which flavours you want to enjoy and have it ready in about 40 minutes. All you have to do is to pop your ice cream base in the appliance, turn it on and wait (patiently or impatiently) to gobble up your dessert. Being an automatic ice cream machine, its easy to whip up batch after batch after batch of frozen treats.
A very handy opening, shaped like an adding cup, at the very top of the gadget lets you add any extra bits, such as chocolate chips, candy, dried fruit, nuts, all while the ice cream is being made.
Making any dessert with this appliance is easy. Timing it, though, can be difficult. This is because many recipe books specify time required to produce the dessert. The times given are usually off-kilter due to many reasons. For one, you may not be using the same machine as the author used. Also the kitchen environment may differ. You can usually have any dessert you want within 20 minutes to 40 minutes, using the Secura.
The removable steel bucket in the machine ensures that cleaning up is a breeze. Simply turn off and unplug the machine. Lift the top half of the Secura that is attached to the paddle, and pull out the bucket in which the ice cream is made. This is easily washable and the paddle can be scraped clean of any ice cream stuck to it and rinsed off, leaving you with a clean appliance, all ready to be stored.
Dimensions
The Secura isn’t a huge kitchen gadget. Its dimensions are 13″ L x 9.5″ W x 12″ H and it weighs 21 pounds. The slight bulk it has is due to the internal compressor that powers the cooling process. The powerful internal motor is strong enough to whip and churn through any dessert you can come up with.
User Manual
While the included recipe book contains a number of recipes, I would personally recommend using this book: The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein. He gives you tons of ideas to use a real in-depth understanding of the ice cream making process. One thing though, people, PLEASE read the accompanying product manual.
Not doing this WILL lead to problems with the Secura. This is because there are a few important steps that you need to take before you even turn on the machine. One is that you absolutely have to let the ice cream maker sit on a level surface for up to 5 hours before you start using it. You may wonder why all the fuss, and I will explain it to you.
An automatic ice cream maker contains an internal compressor to generate the cooling temperature needed to prepare your dessert. This compressor contains both refrigerant and oil. These liquids are usually kept separate in normal conditions, with the oil settling under the refrigerant. During shipping and handling, these liquids get shaken and mixed up, and will not work properly while in this agitated state. This is the reason why you have to let the ice cream maker stand for up to 5 hours to allow the liquids separate, and allow the compressor work perfectly.
Design & Build
The Secura is all white in colour and is made of high grade plastic. Before your start thinking that makes it flimsy, let me tell you why plastic is a better option used in just the right places. It is a much better insulator than stainless steel, thus keeping all the coolness generated by the compressor locked In the right place – around your ice cream.
Extra Info
The nerds at Secura have created this gizmo in a way that if the top is not firmly locked in place AND then plugged in, the machine will not run. This ensures that any little fingers you have helping you prepare dessert will not get hurt.
There is also a handy timer on the side of the machine that you can set so that you are alerted when your dessert is ready.
I will leave you with 2 golden tips to using the Secura most effectively:-
a. Chill the inner steel bowl for 10 to 15 minutes before you use the Secura. The production time for the ice cream will become much shorter.
b. If your Secura ice cream machine freezes up during production, a very quick check is to look at the cooling grille area and see if the small fan that is needed to cool the compressor is actually moving. If it isn’t, that is the culprit right there. A quick fix is to place a small fan next to it to cool the compressor.
The few times that people have had serious complaints about the Secura ice cream machine, and contacted the seller, it has been resolved speedily to the satisfaction of the customer. This excellent customer service coupled with the affordable price and FREE Super Saver shipping, here on Amazon, makes the Secura a top choice among ice cream lovers.
Photo Credit: ice cream in a bowl
