Ice cream!

A deep-dive into ice cream, old and new

I bought a professional ice cream machine and although it takes up a quarter of my kitchen I love it. My freezer is now filled with tonnes of ice cream — there is literally no room for actual food! — but I love that too (and, most importantly, so does my family).

As a vintage cookbook dealer I obviously have a lot of recipes at my disposal but even I’ve been surprised by just how many ice cream and sorbet recipes there are in these old books.

I even found this recipe for strawberry sorbet tucked inside an old cookbook. You need: 1 1/2lb Strawberries. 1/2lb. castor sugar. Juice of one orange. 1 pint water. 1/2 ox. gelatine. Wineglass of rum or brandy. To make: Dissolve the gelatine in the water. Take 1lb. strawberries, add the sugar and orange juice, and press through a fine sieve. Now add the water in which the gelatine was dissolved. Put in a jug in the refrigerator to chill, then add the rum or brandy. Re-chill: pour into individual glasses : and decorate with the remaining fresh strawberries

I’ve been craving avocado ice cream and chocolate, something I’ve only had in Indonesia when visiting family, but I’m not sure Mother Earth would appreciate it if I attempted to make it here in London.

In terms of modern day ice cream I truly think the best in London can be found at La Grotta Ices. Kitty Travers, the brains behind the flavours, is a true genius.

I bought the La Grotta Ices cookbook and have been reading it like an actual book, taking it to bed with me and pouring over every page.

The excellent Nicola Lamb went to visit Kitty Travers for her newsletter, Kitchen Projects, and I went back and read it again. It’s a great read if you haven’t already read

Kitchen Project #110: On Fruit and Ice Cream

Another ice cream company I am obsessed with is Soft and Swirly

They consistently create interesting combinations and I can tell it comes from a genuine interest in flavours rather than a fashionable pop-up.

Beyond ice cream, old cookbooks seem to be obsessed with cold treats

Fruit Ice

2 cups thick fruit purée † cup sifted icing sugar

1 cup whipping cream or ⅓ cup chilled evaporated mill

Whip cream or evaporated milk till stiff. Add sugar to the purée, then fold this into the cream. Pour into freezing tray, and leave till set.

Note: The purée can be canned, or make your own using fresh fruit or drained canned fruit. (About I lb. fruit stewed and sieved yields † pint purée). You can use apricots, blackcurrants, bananas, apples, strawberries, raspberries etc.

This sounds great too. I always think I’m too lazy to make mochi but this recipe seems kind of manageable?

THE DOWN-HOME MOCHI RECIPE:

2 c. sweet brown rice

2 & 1/8 c. water pinch sea salt

Decorations:

raisins cinnamon punpkin seeds sesame seeds sunflower seeds

If you really want to break a sweet habit, decorate them with cooked aduki beans--surprisingly tasty.

Wash & drain rice. Pressure-cook by starting it on a low flame for 30 minutes. Then turn to high and bring up to pressure. Reduce heat to simmer, put a flame spreader underneath and cook 20 minutes more, then let it come down from pressure on its own.

Gather your friends round, now, and turn the steaming sweet rice into a big suribachi.

Take turns passing the bowl and pounding as it gets sticky and taffy-like. When everybody agrees it's done (the smoother the better), turn the oven on. Make cookie-size shapes and press them flat onto a well-oiled cookie sheet. Decorate, then bake at °400 for 20-30 minutes, until puffed and crispy on top. Eat 'em hot!

Perhaps one of the best things I found in my quest for old cold treats was this, in the back of an omelette cookbook.

See recipe below

This exquisite dish resembles the Baked Alaska and is a fitting end for the finest banquet. The following recipe will serve 12. It can be made on one large oval board or two separate plates. Make a &-inch layer of genoise, or sponge cake, that will fit the board on which the omelette is to be made and served. (If you prefer, bake your cake in 2 round layer-cake pans to cover 2 large round plates.) Sprinkle the cake with kirsch, or rum, and cover with a 'fattened mound of ice cream, leaving a half-inch border of cake around the edge.

Cover with a thick layer of soufflé omelette mixture (see below) decorated with a pastry tube, or simply smoothed with a spatula. Sprinkle with sifted icing sugar and brown quickly in a very hot oven (450 - 500) for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Souflé Omelette Mixture - Beat 4 egg yolks with 1 generous cup of sugar until thick and pale in colour.

Flavour with almond or vanilla extract, or a liqueur, and fold in very delicately 10 stiffly beaten egg whites.

I have reached the email length limit so perhaps now is a good time to end this week’s letter. As always, thank you for reading!