Depending on where you live, you may already be sick of people asking, “Hot enough for you?” To keep your cool, just smile knowingly and console yourself with a bowl of homemade ice cream. Know that you will be following the path of our forefathers.
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Johnson changed all that, and, by the turn of the 20th century, the country’s annual consumption of ice cream was soaring into the millions of gallons. Social trends — like Prohibition — increased sales dramatically. According to “The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink” (Oxford University Press, 2007), when America went “dry,” the neighborhood saloon was replaced almost overnight by the neighborhood ice-cream parlor. The ice-cream cone (circa 1904, its history is in dispute) and the “Good Humor Ice Cream Sucker” (invented by Harry Burt of Ohio in 1920) made ice cream a treat to be eaten out of hand. After World War II, car-crazed Americans hit the road to enjoy Dairy Queen, Carvel and Tastee Freez — as well as Howard Johnson’s mind-boggling array of flavors. Now, America’s super-premiums come to us in the freezer aisle of the supermarket.
There are so many good ice creams out there that it is tempting to simply buy one’s favorite flavor. But once you taste homemade, you’ll realize what you’ve been missing: great ice cream. Homemade ice cream is richer, smoother and more intensely flavored than anything in a package, and, since you control the ingredients, it is free of artificial flavorings, stabilizers and other additives. If you don’t own an ice-cream maker, borrow one for a spell and experiment. If you do, dust it off and get (figuratively speaking) cranking.
Aside from flavor, there is another reason for making and sharing your own ice cream. As Sally Sampson writes in her new book “Ice Cream” (part of the “Recipe of the Week” series published by Wiley Books), homemade ice cream makes you “really popular” ... even among “people who barely like you.”
Sampson has done us all the tremendous favor of creating recipes that are a bit lower in sugar and fat, and higher in flavor, than many others.
Enjoy.
ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch kosher salt
3/4 cup miniature marshmallows, chopped if desired
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans, walnuts or almonds
1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut (optional)
Cook’s note: Follow temperature guidelines as exactly as possible. Use an instant-read thermometer. When chilling a mixture, Sampson writes, “If you have any doubts whether something is cold enough, add another hour.”
Place the milk, cream and 1/4 cup sugar in a small pan and cook over low heat, whisking from time to time, until it is warm, about 175 F.
Place the egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup of the sugar, the vanilla extract and salt in a small metal bowl and whisk until completely mixed. Add 1/4 cup of the warm milk mixture to the eggs, whisking all the while. Continue adding milk to the eggs, 1/4 cup at a time, until you have added about 1-1/2 cups. Slowly, whisking all the while, return the milk-and-egg mixture to the remaining milk mixture in the pan and continue cooking until it just begins to thicken or reaches 185 F. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Pour through a medium-fine strainer into a metal bowl, discard the solids and set it aside until it reaches room temperature.
Cover and refrigerate until the mixture reaches 40 F, at least 3 hours. Transfer to an ice-cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
When the ice cream is just beginning to come together but has not hardened completely, add the marshmallows, pecans, chocolate chips and coconut (if using) and process for about 5 more minutes.
Yield: a scant quart
Recipe from “Ice Cream” by Sally Sampson (Wiley, 2008)
SOUR-CREAM BROWN-SUGAR ICE CREAM
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced, for serving
Cook’s note: Follow temperature guidelines as exactly as possible. Use an instant-read thermometer. When chilling a mixture, Sampson writes, “If you have any doubts whether something is cold enough, add another hour.”
Place the milk, heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in a small pan and cook over low heat, whisking from time to time, until it is warm, about 175 F.
Place the egg yolks, vanilla extract and salt in a small metal bowl and whisk until completely mixed. Add 1/4 cup of the warm milk mixture to the eggs, whisking all the while. Continue adding milk to the egg mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, until you have added about 1-1/2 cups. Slowly, whisking all the while, return the milk-and-egg mixture to the remaining milk mixture in the pan and continue cooking until it just begins to thicken or reaches about 185 F. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Pour through a medium-fine strainer into a metal bowl, discard the solids and set it aside until it reaches room temperature.
Add the sour cream and stir well. Cover and refrigerate until it reaches 40 F, at least 3 hours. Transfer to an ice-cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
When the ice cream is just beginning to come together but has not hardened completely, add the remaining 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and process for about 5 more minutes. The brown sugar will not dissolve, which is fine; you want specks.
Excellent served with fresh strawberries.
Yield: a scant quart
Recipe from “Ice Cream” by Sally Sampson (Wiley, 2008)
Marialisa Calta is the author of “Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family” (Perigee, 2005). For more information, go to www.marialisacalta.com.
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