The last post about Three Rivers Stadium has me feeling very nostalgic about the 1990's Steelers that I grew up with. I also found a cool article pitting corn syrup vs. granulated sugar in homemade sorbet recipes (you may be surprised by the victor), so I decided it was time to face the ice cream machine a second time. Thus, this post is dedicated to Levon Kirkland and Meyer lemon sorbet.



Despite what the picture may lead you to believe, inside linebacker Levon Kirkland was a big, mean, nasty force to be reckoned with on the Steelers' defense from 1992-2000. The combination of Kirkland, Lloyd and Greene in the early '90s has often been compared to the legendary Steel Curtain defensive line of the 1970s.




Kirkland was a 2-time Pro Bowler, 2-time team MVP and made some seriously hard hits, especially in his one Super Bowl appearance against the Dallas Cowboys (Aikman SACKED). Since Kirkland's departure from the NFL after the 2002 season, he has been coaching young athletes, including a position at Shannon Forrest Christian School in Greenville, SC. In March, he accepted the defensive coordinator position at Florida A&M alongside fellow Black and Gold alums Earl Holmes (head coach, FAMU) and Ernie Mills (receivers coach, FAMU).



I had been thinking I'd like to try making some lemon sorbet - then I read this Serious Eats article a few days ago that challenges the use of granulated sugar in sorbet recipes. The name of the game is texture, and the article argues that light corn syrup yields a smoother, less icy result than table sugar. Of course corn syrup tends to have a stigma attached to it, but we aren't going to use the high-fructose stuff that you really should avoid (and sugar isn't great for you either, so what's the big deal?). I knew I had some light corn syrup left over from the Black and Gold Cookies, so I figured I'd give it a churn. 



If you prefer, you can substitute regular lemons for the Meyer lemons. The end result will be tarter and you may need a few more lemons to get the same amount of juice. If you do use Meyer lemons (which are pricier and can be harder to find), you only need the zest of one, but the juice of 4-5. I didn't want to waste all of that precious zest, so I zested the rest and stuck it in the freezer. This is a black and gold food blog after all, so there are bound to be more lemon recipes coming soon... 




Meyer Lemon Kirkland Sorbet
Recipe adapted from This Homemade Life