The mercury is definitely telling me it's summer out there (as are the mosquitoes...and the cicadas...). I have joyfully redisovered my Rival ice cream maker, and the motor has been getting a good workout. Vanilla (I'm a bit of a purist) and mint chocolate chip this week. Next week I'll take advantage of some summer produce and make strawberry, and peaches and cream. I know, letting a machine do all the work is cheating, but I don't think I have the stamina to make batch after batch of ice cream using something with a hand crank...or no crank!
When Thomas Jefferson returned to America from France, he brought with him a "sabottiere" (sorbétière). This machine for making ices consisted of a pewter canister inside a wooden pail filled with ice. The canister had a lid with a curved handle. This canister did not sit on a little shaft attached to a motor...the ice cream was made by grabbing the handle of the lid and turning it back and forth over and over for the allotted amount of time. I think that might cut down my marathon ice cream production days. While Jefferson noted that he was particularly fond of using snow to make as ice cream, as it created a more delicate mix, his ice cream was made with ice harvested from the river in winter and stored in his ice house at Monticello.
Besides bringing the sabotierre back with him, Jefferson also brought something that makes ice cream purists like me happy...a fondness for vanilla flavored ice cream. It is likely through him that this flavor become popular throughout the United States. It is also believed that he wrote the first American recipe for ice cream (posted below). However, he was not the first American to eat, or even serve, ice cream!
We're aware of a diary post from Maryland in 1744 that mentions eating "fine ice cream" at a dinner party (the Journal of William Black). Our first President, George Washington, was a fan of ice cream. There is some debate over whether he had it first at a party in Philadelphia held by the French minister, or at a party held by Betsy Hamilton...regardless of which was first, he liked it enough to spend over $200 on ice cream in the summer of 1790, and for it to become a regular offering at both his weekly Thursday dinners and his levees (which were simple affairs, with just cake and ice cream, lemonade, tea and coffee served). However, it was Thomas Jefferson who first served ice cream (in a dessert similar to Baked Alaska) at a state banquet.
The historical figure most closely associated with making ice cream OFFICIAL in the White House was, of course, Dolley Madison. An unsubstantiated (but still interesting) story is that Dolley fell in love with the ice cream made by a free black woman named Aunt Sallie Shadd, who lived, and operated a catering business, in Wilmington. True or not, Dolley did love ice cream, and she was an extremely adept and fashionable hostess. Ice cream was served at her husband's Second Inaugural Ball and thereafter frequently at her dinners (often in the form of strawberry bombe). Knowing her skills at soothing ruffled feathers, one has to wonder if many a small political disagreement was healed over a bowl of ice cream? Or forgotten during an attack of brain freeze?
Although it made a frequent appearance on upper class dessert services, ice cream was available to everyday American citizens as well--especially those living in New York City! There was at least one confectioner in New York City, Philip Lenzi, who offered ice cream at his shop. According to An A to Z of Food and Drink
, there were ice cream gardens in New York in 1821.
In 1843, Nancy Johnson, a resident of Philadelphia, invented an ice cream maker with a crank handle that took some of the burden out of making the treat at home. It was still labor intensive, requiring someone to sit and crank the handle for extended periods of time, but as this was the Victorian age, housewives could assign one of their 10-15 children to the task! :) Also, as this was the Victorian age, industrial production of ice cream soon was under way.
My favorite part of the story...the invention of the ice cream cone. Where? ST. LOUIS!! No one can say with 100% certainty, but the ice cream cone (along with a few other delicious treats!) was most likely invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. The most popular story is that Arnold Fornachou, a vendor at the fair, ran out of paper dishes to serve his ice cream. A Syrian immigrant vendor located near him, Ernest Hamwi, rolled some of his zalabias (very thin waffles) to form a cone for the ice cream, and the rest is ice cream history. Of course, there are other claimants, including a man from New York (again with New York!!), who did hold a patent for a waffle cone maker in December of 1903...however, if you snooze, you lose!
Today, Americans eat an average of 23-24 pounds EACH of ice cream per year. I will admit that I probably hit that mark by mid-March.
Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla Ice Cream (a French style, with more of a custard base, using egg yolks, cooked)
Recipe from Jefferson's papers in the Library of Congress
2. bottles of good cream.
6. yolks of eggs.
1/2 lb. sugar
Mix the yolks & sugar. Put the cream on a fire in a casserole, first putting in a stick of Vanilla.
When near boiling take it off & pour it gently into the mixture of eggs & sugar. Stir it well.
Put it on the fire again stirring it thoroughly with a spoon to prevent it's sticking to the casserole.
When near boiling take it off and strain it thro' a towel. Put it in the Sabottiere then set it in ice an hour before it is to be served. Put into the ice a handful of salt.
Put salt on the cover of the Sabotiere & cover the whole with ice.
Leave it still half a quarter of an hour then turn the Sabottiere in the ice 10 minutes.
Open it to loosen with a spatula the ice from the inner sides of the Sabotiere. Shut it & replace it in the ice. Open it from time to time to detach the ice from the sides. When well taken stir it well with the Spatula. Put it in moulds, justling it well down on the knee. Then put the mould into the same bucket of ice. Leave it there to the moment of serving it.
To withdraw it, immerse the mould in warm water, turning it well till it will come out & turn it into a plate.
Philadelphia Ice Cream (American style ice cream, made with egg whites or no eggs, and uncooked)
This is the recipe I use for vanilla, and as the base for other flavors, because it is very easily adapted. I will sometimes cut back the amount of half and half and put some vanilla dairy creamer in, or scrape a vanilla bean into it.
1 quart of half and half
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 cup of white sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
tiny pinch of salt
Mix all the ingredients and place in the ice cream freezer canister. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Freeze according to your ice cream maker directions.
Ice Cream. Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
"To Make Ice Cream. Take two pewter basons, one larger than the other; the inward one must have a close cover, into which you are to put your cream, and mix it with raspberries, or whatver you like best, to give it a flavour and a colour. Sweeten it to your palate; then cover it close, and set it into the larger bason. Fill it with ice, and a handful of salt: let it stand in this ice three quarters of an hour, then uncover it, and stir the cream well together: cover it close again, and let is stand half an hour longer, after that turn it into your plate. These things are made at the pewterers."
, there were ice cream gardens in New York in 1821.In 1843, Nancy Johnson, a resident of Philadelphia, invented an ice cream maker with a crank handle that took some of the burden out of making the treat at home. It was still labor intensive, requiring someone to sit and crank the handle for extended periods of time, but as this was the Victorian age, housewives could assign one of their 10-15 children to the task! :) Also, as this was the Victorian age, industrial production of ice cream soon was under way.
My favorite part of the story...the invention of the ice cream cone. Where? ST. LOUIS!! No one can say with 100% certainty, but the ice cream cone (along with a few other delicious treats!) was most likely invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. The most popular story is that Arnold Fornachou, a vendor at the fair, ran out of paper dishes to serve his ice cream. A Syrian immigrant vendor located near him, Ernest Hamwi, rolled some of his zalabias (very thin waffles) to form a cone for the ice cream, and the rest is ice cream history. Of course, there are other claimants, including a man from New York (again with New York!!), who did hold a patent for a waffle cone maker in December of 1903...however, if you snooze, you lose!
Today, Americans eat an average of 23-24 pounds EACH of ice cream per year. I will admit that I probably hit that mark by mid-March.
Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla Ice Cream (a French style, with more of a custard base, using egg yolks, cooked)
Recipe from Jefferson's papers in the Library of Congress
2. bottles of good cream.
6. yolks of eggs.
1/2 lb. sugar
Mix the yolks & sugar. Put the cream on a fire in a casserole, first putting in a stick of Vanilla.
When near boiling take it off & pour it gently into the mixture of eggs & sugar. Stir it well.
Put it on the fire again stirring it thoroughly with a spoon to prevent it's sticking to the casserole.
When near boiling take it off and strain it thro' a towel. Put it in the Sabottiere then set it in ice an hour before it is to be served. Put into the ice a handful of salt.
Put salt on the cover of the Sabotiere & cover the whole with ice.
Leave it still half a quarter of an hour then turn the Sabottiere in the ice 10 minutes.
Open it to loosen with a spatula the ice from the inner sides of the Sabotiere. Shut it & replace it in the ice. Open it from time to time to detach the ice from the sides. When well taken stir it well with the Spatula. Put it in moulds, justling it well down on the knee. Then put the mould into the same bucket of ice. Leave it there to the moment of serving it.
To withdraw it, immerse the mould in warm water, turning it well till it will come out & turn it into a plate.
Philadelphia Ice Cream (American style ice cream, made with egg whites or no eggs, and uncooked)
This is the recipe I use for vanilla, and as the base for other flavors, because it is very easily adapted. I will sometimes cut back the amount of half and half and put some vanilla dairy creamer in, or scrape a vanilla bean into it.
1 quart of half and half
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 cup of white sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
tiny pinch of salt
Mix all the ingredients and place in the ice cream freezer canister. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Freeze according to your ice cream maker directions.
Ice Cream. Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
"To Make Ice Cream. Take two pewter basons, one larger than the other; the inward one must have a close cover, into which you are to put your cream, and mix it with raspberries, or whatver you like best, to give it a flavour and a colour. Sweeten it to your palate; then cover it close, and set it into the larger bason. Fill it with ice, and a handful of salt: let it stand in this ice three quarters of an hour, then uncover it, and stir the cream well together: cover it close again, and let is stand half an hour longer, after that turn it into your plate. These things are made at the pewterers."
Please consider donating to Harvesters (http://www.harvesters.org/) or your local food bank. Summer is the time of greatest need--without breakfast and lunch provided by schools, many children go hungry. Remember, while we might be deciding WHAT sounds good to eat, some parents are trying to figure out HOW their children will eat.
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