In this book, Philadelphia Ice Creams, comprising the first group, are very palatable, but expensive. In many parts of the country it is quite difficult to get good cream. For that reason, I have given a group of creams, using part milk and part cream, but it must be remembered that it takes smart "juggling" to make ice cream from milk. By far better use condensed milk, with enough water or milk to rinse out the cans.
Ordinary fruit creams may be made with condensed milk at a cost of about fifteen cents a quart, which, of course, is cheaper than ordinary milk and cream.
In places where neither cream nor condensed milk can be purchased, a fair ice cream is made by adding two tablespoonfuls of olive oil to each quart of milk. The cream for Philadelphia Ice Cream should be rather rich, but not double cream.
If pure raw cream is stirred rapidly, it swells and becomes frothy, like the beaten whites of eggs, and is "whipped cream." To prevent this in making Philadelphia Ice Cream, one-half the cream is scalded, and when it is very cold, the remaining half of raw cream is added. This gives the smooth, light and rich consistency which makes these creams so different from others.
Use fresh fruits in the summer and the best canned unsweetened fruits in the winter. If sweetened fruits must be used, cut down the given quantity of sugar. Where acid fruits are used, they should be added to the cream after it is partly frozen.
The time for freezing varies according to the quality of cream or milk or water; water ices require a longer time than ice creams. It is not well to freeze the mixtures too rapidly; they are apt to be coarse, not smooth, and if they are churned before the mixture is icy cold they will be greasy or "buttery."
The average time for freezing two quarts of cream should be ten minutes; it takes but a minute or two longer for larger quantities.
Pound the ice in a large bag with a mallet, or use an ordinary ice shaver. The finer the ice, the less time it takes to freeze the cream. A four quart freezer will require ten pounds of ice, and a quart and a pint of coarse rock salt. You may pack the freezer with a layer of ice three inches thick, then a layer of salt one inch thick, or mix the ice and salt in the tub and shovel it around the freezer. Before beginning to pack the freezer, turn the crank to see that all the machinery is in working order. Then open the can and turn in the mixture that is to be frozen. Turn the crank slowly and steadily until the mixture begins to freeze, then more rapidly until it is completely frozen. If the freezer is properly packed, it will take fifteen minutes to freeze the mixture. Philadelphia Ice Creams are not good if frozen too quickly.
After the cream is frozen, wipe off the lid of the can and remove the crank; take off the lid, being very careful not to allow any salt to fall into the can. Remove the dasher and scrape it off. Take a large knife or steel spatula, scrape the cream from the sides of the can, work and pack it down until it is perfectly smooth. Put the lid back on the can, and put a cork in the hole from which the dasher was taken. Draw off the water, repack, and cover the whole with a piece of brown paper; throw over a heavy bag or a bit of burlap, and stand aside for one or two hours to ripen.
If you wish to pack ice cream and serve it in forms or shapes, it must be molded after the freezing. The handiest of all of these molds is either the brick or the melon mold.
After the cream is frozen rather stiff, prepare a tub or bucket of coarsely chopped ice, with one-half less salt than you use for freezing. To each ten pounds of ice allow one quart of rock salt. Sprinkle a little rock salt in the bottom of your bucket or tub, then put over a layer of cracked ice, another layer of salt and cracked ice, and on this stand your mold, which is not filled, but is covered with a lid, and pack it all around, leaving the top, of course, to pack later on. Take your freezer near this tub. Remove the lid from the mold, and pack in the cream, smoothing it down until you have filled it to overflowing. Smooth the top with a spatula or limber knife, put over a sheet of waxed paper and adjust the lid. Have a strip of muslin or cheese cloth dipped in hot paraffin or suet and quickly bind the seam of the lid. This will remove all danger of salt water entering the pudding. Now cover the mold thoroughly with ice and salt.
Make sure that your packing tub or bucket has a hole below the top of the mold, so that the salt water will be drained off.
If you are packing in small molds, each mold, as fast as it is closed, should be wrapped in wax paper and put down into the salt and ice. These must be filled quickly and packed.
Molds should stand two hours, and may stand longer.
Ice cream may be molded in the freezer; you will then have a perfectly round smooth mold, which serves very well for puddings that are to be garnished, and saves a great deal of trouble and extra expense for salt and ice.
As cold water is warmer than the ordinary freezing mixture, after you lift the can or mold, wipe off the salt, hold it for a minute under the cold water spigot, then quickly wipe the top and bottom and remove the lid. Loosen the pudding with a limber knife, hold the mold a little slanting, give it a shake, and nine times out of ten it will come out quickly, having the perfect shape of the can or mold. If the cream still sticks and refuses to come out, wipe the mold with a towel wrung from warm water. Hot water spoils the gloss of puddings, and unless you know exactly how to use it, the cream is too much melted to garnish.
All frozen puddings, water ices, sherbets and sorbets are frozen and molded according to these directions.
The quantities given in these recipes are arranged in equal amounts, so that for a smaller number of persons they can be easily divided.
Each quart of ice cream will serve, in dessert plates, four persons. In stem ice cream dishes, silver or glass, it will serve six persons. A quart of ice or sherbet will fill ten small sherbet stem glasses, to serve with the meat course at dinner. This quantity will serve in lemonade glasses eight persons.
Shell, blanch and roast the almonds until they are a golden brown, then grate them. Put half the cream and all the sugar over the fire in a double boiler. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, take it from the fire, add the caramel and the almonds, and, when cold, add the remaining pint of cream, the vanilla and the sherry. Freeze as directed on page 7.
This quantity will serve eight persons.
If fresh apricots are used, take an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Put half the cream and all the sugar over the fire in a double boiler and stir until the sugar is dissolved; take from the fire and, when cold, add the remaining cream. Turn the mixture into the freezer, and, when frozen fairly stiff, add the apricots after having been pressed through a colander. Return the lid, adjust the crank, and turn it slowly for five minutes, then remove the dasher and repack.
This quantity should serve ten persons.
Put half the cream and all the sugar over the fire and stir until the sugar is dissolved; take from the fire, and, when perfectly cold, add the remaining half of the cream. Freeze the mixture, and add the bananas mashed or pressed through a colander. Put on the lid, adjust the crank, and turn until the mixture is frozen rather hard.
This quantity will serve ten persons.
Grate and sift the biscuits. Scald half the cream and the sugar; when cold, add the remaining cream and the vanilla, and freeze. When frozen, remove the dasher, stir in the powdered biscuits, and repack to ripen.
This quantity will serve six persons.
Put half the cream and all the sugar over the fire and stir until the sugar is dissolved. When the mixture is perfectly cold, freeze it and add the lemon juice and the apples, pared and grated. Finish the freezing, and repack to ripen.
The apples must be pared at the last minute and grated into the cream. If they are grated on a dish and allowed to remain in the air they will turn very dark and spoil the color of the cream.
Dry and toast the bread in the oven, grate or pound it, and put it through an ordinary sieve. Heat half the cream and all the sugar; take from the fire, add vanilla, and, when cold, add the remaining cream, and freeze. When frozen, remove the dasher, stir in the brown bread, repack and stand aside to ripen.
This quantity will serve six persons.
CARAMEL ICE CREAM, No. 1
Put four tablespoonfuls of the sugar in an iron frying pan over a strong fire, shake until the sugar melts, turns brown, smokes and burns; add quickly a half cupful of water; let it boil a minute, take from the fire, and put it, with all the sugar and half the cream, in a double boiler over the fire. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, take from the fire, and, when cold, add the remaining cream and vanilla, and freeze.
This quantity will serve six persons.
CARAMEL ICE CREAM, No. 2
Put the brown sugar in a frying pan over the fire, shake it until it melts, burns and smokes. Take it from the fire and add two tablespoonfuls of water; heat until the sugar is again melted, put it in a double boiler with the milk and all the sugar, stir until the sugar is dissolved, and stand aside to cool. When cold, add half the cream and the vanilla, and freeze. When frozen sufficiently stiff to remove the dasher, stir in the remaining pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth, repack and stand aside for three hours.
This quantity will serve ten persons.