A powerful ruler ordered a dish created that was both hot and cold at the same time. In a country famous for dishes both sweet and sour at the same time, most cooks thought it would be easy to please the king. Many attempts were made with main courses comprised of meat and poultry using both hot peppers and cool mint leaves. All failed miserably
Then an enterprising young man from up in the mountains made a dessert that would have an impact throughout the whole world for many centuries. He took fresh cream and sugar and whipped it with freshly fallen snow. In a large flat dish, he piled the icy dessert to resemble a mountain peak. Just before presenting this dessert to the King he heated a bowl of chocolate, milk and sugar and beat it into a rich sauce. When the frozen dessert was brought to the king, the chef poured hot chocolate sauce over it like lava from a volcano. This primitive hot fudge sundae caused the King to rejoice, for the dish was indeed both hot and cold at the same time.
Many years later, before refrigerators and freezers became common place in homes and businesses, even areas without electricity could make delicious ice cream. What better way to keep kids entertained than by taking a turn at cranking the old churn freezer.
In years past, my wife’s family would look for the last chunk of ice in the brook close to their house on the Kingston Peninsula to yield sufficient cooling power to make the first ice cream of the summer. Often even in late May or early June, the crick (creek or brook to some) would yield a block of ice tucked under an overhanging bank where the sun didn’t reach. If the weather was too hot and ice not found in the crick then there was always river ice from the ice-house that could be used.
This frozen gem would be loaded into a burlap sack and carried quickly back home. Here it was chipped into pieces to easily fit around the metal canister full of a sweet, rich, custard mixture Nana had lovingly made. A layer of ice, a layer of rock salt and another layer of ice, repeated until the bucket holding the canister was completely surrounded and full. The salt and ice created a super cooled solution that would quickly remove the heat from the custard filled canister.
The hand crank was attached to a gear mechanism on the top of the bucket. Turning the crank resulted in the canister spinning in the super chilled bucket of salt and ice. A paddle or dasher, as it was called, remained stationery inside the canister. As the canister turned, the dasher scraped the freezing crystals of custard off the inside of the canister and mixed them and air into the frothy cream. It sometimes would take as much as 30 or 40 minutes to be done. You knew it was ready when the crank became too hard for all but the strongest person to turn.
Ice cream and other frozen desserts have come a long way since these somewhat primitive creations. Electric turned churn-freezers were the rage for a short while but were quickly replaced with home freezers inside refrigerators. Creamy mixes placed in freezer trays would be partially frozen and then beaten with a hand beater to add air before being placed back in the freezer. Today, you can purchase a sophisticated hand crank ice cream maker that works well. The canister is especially designed to absorb the cold when left to pre-chill in your freezer. When the canister is removed, any liquid placed inside it can be quickly churned by hand crank into a frozen confection.
If you can obtain an old hand-crank model to pack ice and rock salt into, do so and let your kids thrill at old-fashioned ice cream made on the back porch. They’ll also appreciate the science of super chilling and the energy it takes to freeze things.
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Back Porch Ice Cream
This recipe is for a 2-quart churn freezer. Remember to fill canister only about 3/4 full to allow for expansion as air is introduced into the freezing mixture. Once the churn becomes too hard to turn, pack the canister in ice and let it stand for about an hour. This allows the ice cream to age nicely and firm up even more.
1/2 cup milk 125 mL
1/2 vanilla bean (sliced open) 1/2
1/2 cup sugar 125 mL
5 egg yolks 5
1 cup corn syrup 250 mL
4 cups cereal cream (18 % cream) 1 L
In a saucepan over low heat, simmer milk and sliced vanilla bean for about 10 minutes to infuse vanilla flavour. Remove from heat, strain and let cool. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring corn syrup to the boil. Set aside. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Pour hot syrup into egg mixture, while continuing to beat well. Add cream and strained milk, mixing well. Chill before pouring into churn freezer. Load freezer with ice and rock salt and churn until frozen.
Ross Mavis
http://www.innonthecove.com
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