Chocolate milkshake poll

[Stan]

I don't see how to make a poll, so I'll just ask my question and folks can give their answers.

I just went for take-out dinner to a chain restaurant on I-Drive, and since they were slammed and kind of embarrassed that it took them 50 min to do my order they offered me a free ice cream treat. I thought for a moment and said, "a chocolate milkshake". The hostess hollered that order back to the back, then I got to thinking, surely they know to use vanilla ice cream and Hershey's syrup, wouldn't be right otherwise. Much to my disappointment, when they handed it over, instead it tasted like chocolate ice cream. But since it was "free" (even though I paid about an hr of my time for it) I didn't protest.

So I got to wondering, if a place known for ice cream treats doesn't know the right way to do such a basic item, are there actually some customers who prefer or expect it the way they did it?

So, what's your opinion? Chocolate or vanilla ice cream in your milkshake or malt? ...or does it even matter to you? While we're at it, what restaurants do you know that do it "right", which do it "wrong", without you telling them how to do it? Why didn't this place ask me, anyway? Do you think it was a blunder on the part of an ignorant server? Could have been worse, they could have used crushed ice like I heard a wannabe chef did on one of those elimination TV shows (they got kicked off).

By the way, I think both McDonalds chocolate shakes and Wendy's Frosty taste more like vanilla + choc syrup than chocolate ice cream, but maybe that's just me.

[Lacy]

Definitely vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce! Using chocolate ice cream is the WRONG way to make a chocolate shake or malt!

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

I agree vanilla with chocolate syrup. Now I want one. The reason the McD's and Wendy's (most fast food for that matter) milkshakes taste like that is because they are a lard chocolate mix that is put into a machine with ice. After seeing this mix I haven't been able to drink another one of these.

[Stan]

they are a lard chocolate mix that is put into a machine with ice. After seeing this mix I haven't been able to drink another one of these.

Gee, thanks for that info...

Back when I was 17-19 (long long ago) and worked at Jack in the Box in Houston, "shakes" were made with "malt mix" that came in milk cartons and didn't look too bad, plus choc van or strawb syrups. Everybody knew they were pretty cheaply made, but we didn't think anything particularly nasty was in them (though of course we could have been wrong).

What's that old expression about not watching sausages or laws being made? ...probably goes for a whole bunch of other things as well. Ever had to explain to a young child what "beef" or "pork" is, etc?

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Exactly. I can't eat veal because when I was a kid I asked my mom what it was and she say "a baby cow"....that was it. I worked at a BK and it came in a clear plastic bag. It looked a lot better than it was.

[snifflesmcg]

Exactly. I can't eat veal because when I was a kid I asked my mom what it was and she say "a baby cow"....that was it. I worked at a BK and it came in a clear plastic bag. It looked a lot better than it was.

Ugh, I can't eat veal either. Not that it isn't delicious because it is. I can't eat it because I've driven past way too many farms in Lancaster County in PA and seeing those baby cows tied down to those little white sheds breaks my heart.

As far as milkshakes go, there is a big difference between my local family owned hot dog stand's milkshakes and that junk they pass onto us at McDonalds or Burger King. I THINK (the local place that is) they use chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup but I'm not sure. Either way, they are delicious.

[Medland]

To use chocolate ice cream for a "chocolate shake" doesn't seem right to me. Maybe if you used chocolate ice cream AND chocolate syrup and called it a "double chocolate shake" that would be acceptable to my mind. It would probably be too rich for my tastes but some would like it.
Vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup is the only way I would make a chocolate shake.

[wdw_bound]

I wonder if it's a regional thing? DH is a native South Carolinian, and his order is always "chocolate shake with chocolate ice cream." He only drinks them if he knows they are made with ice cream and milk (no McD's knock-offs for him). He will order a shake when we go out for ice cream, he loves his chocolate shake that much. Imagine his nirvana when he discovered the bottomless milkshake at WCC....

I'm an import I prefer a malted to a regular shake, and don't have an ice cream/syrup preference. It can be tough to find a malted (although Sonic has them - not sure if they are ice cream though), but when I do, I'll order a shake. Johnny Rockets and the little old fashioned drug store soda fountain a couple of towns up the highway from here...

[#1donaldfan]

Vanilla Ice Cream and chocolate syrup.....DUH !!!!! The best in the "real" world would have to be DQ.....in the "best" world would be Whispering Canyon.....our kids got shakes there this year and WOW......they were awesome......

[Stan]

My "chocolate ice cream doesn't belong in a chocolate shake!" protest is validated- thanks.

On a related note, there are fewer and fewer places that are willing/able to serve a proper chocolate soda, or even know what it is (vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, unflavored carbonated "soda" water, in a tall "soda" glass), much less actually have it on the menu. Happily, one of those places is the Plaza Restaurant in MK, which I've seen take something of an undeserved bashing around here from time to time. It's one of DW's and my favorite spots for a quick low stress meal.

Some places like to put a big scoop of the vanilla on the edge of the soda glass, which means you have an immediate emergency and no easy way to deal with it when it's served... what a dumb idea.

[tinkerbell04]

Around these parts ....a chocolate shake with chocolate ice cream is referred to as a "black death" I do know lots of people who enjoy this creation, my DH included....Me, I prefer the vanilla with just vanilla!

[January-2007]

Looks like I'm the odd one out in this one, I much prefer chocolate ice cream in my shakes, and in my ice cream sodas, for that matter. We got chocolate ice cream sodas at both the 50's Prime Time Cafe and Beaches and Cream in May and the latter wasn't too great. DH got a chocolate milkshake that time, and it was way better than the soda. In January we got chocolate ice cream sodas at Ghirardelli's and they were so good! Served with a big scoop of chocolate ice cream, surrounded by whipped cream... DH got a chocolate milkshake at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater in October and really liked it a lot. Don't know what kind of ice cream they used though... That's funny, I always thought it to be so very strange for someone to use vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup for a chocolate shake, who would have thought? Not me!

[Jared]

Do I live on a different planet? In the Northeast, nobody would use vanilla ice cream in a chocolate milkshake. That's a vanilla milkshake. I don't even understand how vanilla ice cream can make a chocolate shake.

In all the ice cream places near my house in New York like Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs, the flavor of shake you ask for is the ice cream flavor used. A coffee shake is made with coffee ice cream and milk.

I'm confused.

[DisneyLuvnNooks]

Having worked at 2 Dairy Queens for many years through high school and working my way through college....

A choclate milkshake is made with chocolate ice cream. A black and white milkshake is made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. That's here in the Mid-Atlantic Region anyway. Never had anyone order a chocolate milkshake with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup, although......there are certin blizzard concoctions that are with chocolate ice cream and syrup and numerous other mix ins......

[BethieTink]

Do I live on a different planet? In the Northeast, nobody would use vanilla ice cream in a chocolate milkshake. That's a vanilla milkshake. I don't even understand how vanilla ice cream can make a chocolate shake.

In all the ice cream places near my house in New York like Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs, the flavor of shake you ask for is the ice cream flavor used. A coffee shake is made with coffee ice cream and milk.

I'm confused.

Wow, nobody??? Having grown up in the NY/NJ area and now living in Boston, I consider myself from the Northeast. Vanilla with chocolate sauce is the only way to have a shake.

[Jared]

Wow, nobody??? Having grown up in the NY/NJ area and now living in Boston, I consider myself from the Northeast. Vanilla with chocolate sauce is the only way to have a shake.

Maybe it's just me. I'm conducting an informal poll of my friends and reporting on my findings. A milkshake with vanilla ice cream is a vanilla milkshake. I've never known anything else.

[Stan]

I just love stirring up a good controversy, especially over something trivial.

The lesson I learned is... if it matters to you (and it probably does since the choc/choc and van/choc mixes do not taste the same)... spell it out when you order it or live with the consequences. Now, if it should happen that the server argues with you, says something like, "that's not a chocolate shake", or doesn't make it the way you asked- now you've really got something to complain about.

Now how about a nice poll about whether your top sheet should be made right side up or upside down, or whether silverware goes in the dishwasher pointing up or down, or which way you should install the TP roll?

[MinnieMommie]

Chocolate ice cream is what I want when I oder a milkshake. And to be clear we always order saying chocolate milkshake with chocolate ice cream. I don't think it's a regional thing but rather a matter of taste.

[Jared]

I just love stirring up a good controversy, especially over something trivial.

The lesson I learned is... if it matters to you (and it probably does since the choc/choc and van/choc mixes do not taste the same)... spell it out when you order it or live with the consequences. Now, if it should happen that the server argues with you, says something like, "that's not a chocolate shake", or doesn't make it the way you asked- now you've really got something to complain about.

Now how about a nice poll about whether your top sheet should be made right side up or upside down, or whether silverware goes in the dishwasher pointing up or down, or which way you should install the TP roll?

I love this stuff! Keep these random, funny questions coming.

[pennymom]

I agree with some earlier replies...a chocolate shake has chocolate ice cream, a vanilla shake has vanilla ice cream. A black-and-white shake has vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, and is not nearly chocolately enough for this chocoholic!

Maybe it is a regional thing...I'm in southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia, PA, and I've never heard of making a chocolate shake with anything but chocolate ice cream, hence it's name (notice, it's not called a vanilla&chocolate shake!), it's just pure, undiluted chocolate!!!!! Yum!!!!

Doin' the single-digit dance...5 days to go!!!