Ice-Creams And Ices

There are so many ways of making ice-cream that all one can do is to indicate the one or two best, and certainly the very best is the simplest, and there is no dessert so easy to prepare in hot weather as this, since there is no work over the fire. The only trouble is breaking the ice and turning the machine for some twenty minutes, which can be done by a child.

Simplest Fruit Ice-Cream

Mash two pounds of strawberries or raspberries, put to them half a pound of powdered sugar, and let them remain in a cold place two or three hours, so that the juice may run; then strain the juice to a quart of thick sweet cream and another half pound of sugar, with the juice of half a lemon; stir, and pour cream and fruit juice into the freezer, which must be packed with ice and rock-salt in about equal quantities, the ice being broken quite small. Let the cream remain standing in the freezer a few minutes before you begin to turn; then freeze, letting off the water, and filling anew with ice and salt if necessary. Stir the cream down as it forms, and keep on turning five or ten minutes after it is actually necessary. This extra working insures that extreme smoothness characteristic of Italian and French ice-cream. If you are not expert in freezing, be satisfied not to pack your cream in a mould for the first few times. Take out the paddle of the freezer, press the ice compactly down in the freezer, cover, and see that the ice and salt are sufficient and free from water. In two hours you can turn the ice out of the freezer in a round column or loaf that will be quite as sightly as the oblong square one frequently gets from the caterer. Many people think that simply freezing the pure cream produces the loose, frothy cream found at inferior confectioners', but this is not the case; pure cream frozen results in a firm smooth mass which cuts like butter.

I have given the formula for raspberry and strawberry cream only, but any fruit juice may be substituted, varying the quantity of sugar as required.

When it is desirable to freeze the fruit in the cream instead of the juice, it must not be added until the cream is frozen. Stir in raspberries, strawberries, chopped pineapple, banana, or peaches just before the ice is ready to pack down; otherwise the fruit, being full of water, will freeze into hard knots.

Tutti-frutti Ice-Cream being made from chopped candied fruit, this precaution is not necessary; the fruit may be added at any time during the freezing, or stirred in last, as you please.

I have given the simplest and best method of making ice-cream, yet the way most in use is to add custard; and French cooks always use "meringue paste," claiming that it insures a smoothness and lightness nothing else can give.

Custard For Ice-Cream

This is made as any other custard, except that double the amount of sugar is allowed for everything that is to be frozen. It may be made of from three to six eggs to a pint of milk, as you prefer. This must be ice cold before you put it in the freezer.

Ice-Cream With Eggs

One pint of milk, three eggs, leaving out one white, half a pound of sugar (if acid fruit is to be added, it may require more for some tastes). Make a custard of these materials, and half freeze it; then add a pint of cream whipped solid. Stir in well and finish freezing, turning the handle some few minutes after it gets pretty stiff, if there is a strong enough hand near to do it.

In making varieties of ice-cream you have only to consider the fitness of the articles you use; for instance, any sort of fruit may be added, with the exception of lemons. Fleshy fruits, such as pineapple, peaches, pears, etc., are usually mixed with the cream uncooked in this country; abroad this is only done with soft fruits, such as raspberries, blackberries, oranges, and such as will mash through a colander. Others are very slightly stewed in rich syrup (as nearly their own juice as possible), then pulped and mixed through when the cream is nearly frozen.

In winter, fruit jams, and especially jellies, are very pleasant in ice-cream; they always require a little lemon juice to restore some of the natural sharpness of fresh fruit. A tumbler of red currant jelly turned into a pint of ice-cream is delicious, and gives a pretty, faint pink tint. The method is just the same whether for custard and cream or cream alone.

The meringue paste alluded to as used by foreign confectioners is made by beating the white of an egg with a tablespoonful of powdered sugar until stiff.

Grilled Almond Ice-Cream

Make a quart of ice-cream; grill some almonds in the following way : Blanch four ounces of almonds, dry them in a hot spot till they are brittle; then put in a thick saucepan or saute pan four ounces of sugar and a gill of water; let them boil five minutes; throw in the almonds ; stir them till part of the sugar adheres and they begin to turn yellow. Take them up, chop them, and when quite cold stir them into the ice-cream, which should be flavored with vanilla.