This Is Giada De Laurentiis' Favorite Type Of Gelato
Even though Giada De Laurentiis likes to have her pizza when she goes to Rome, she also enjoys the opportunity to treat herself with a little gelato from time to time, just like she did on "Bobby and Giada in Italy" (via YouTube). The "Everyday Italian" host made an appearance on Mike Chen's "Coneheads" on Complex this past summer, where De Laurentiis gave Chen a primer on this beloved frozen dessert that is so popular in Italy.
The celebrity chef revealed that gelato tends to be "creamier," "silkier," and "smoother" than ice cream. De Laurentiis went on to note that while both desserts are made with cream, milk, and sugar, gelato uses mostly milk, making it denser (and ideally, more flavorful) than ice cream. The Food Network star also shared that gelato is served 10 degrees warmer than the temperature ice cream is served at, which contributes to all the goodness your taste buds experience. During the course of the episode, De Laurentiis also dropped some interesting intel about her favorite flavor of gelato.
It has flakes of chocolate
According to Therecipe.com, stracciatella is De Laurentiis's favorite flavor of gelato, and it is easy to understand why she enjoys this simple but delicious flavor. The cookbook author shared with Chen during her "Coneheads" appearance that stracciatella means "rags" or something that is "made dirty." Vanilla gelato speckled with flakes of chocolate is just that! You can think of stracciatella as the equivalent to our chocolate chip ice cream, but way better. De Laurentiis notes that stracciatella is "not too sweet" and you can "really taste the chocolate and the milk together. It's not so sugary."
But to be fair to all of the other gelato flavors, De Laurentiis does call the chocolate hazelnut gelato she samples from the Gelato Festival "insane" and "addicting," and really seems to enjoy the nutty flavor's rich, luxurious taste. She also told Chen that when you close your eyes, really good gelato can "transport" you to a really good memory. Now, we're wondering what memory De Laurentiis is thinking about when she eats her stracciatella.