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Coffee, Ice Cream
Mix a breakfast-cupful of strong clear coffee with another one of boiling milk, six table-spoonfuls of finely-sifted sugar, and the yolks of six eggs. Stir the custard over a moderate fire until it thickens, then add a pint of thick cream. Stir it again over the fire till the cream coats the spoon, but do not let it boil. When cold pour it into a mould, and freeze in the usual way.
A classic French-style frozen custard, written for a kitchen that froze ice cream in a pail packed with ice and rock salt. The instructions are sound; only the vessels and the freezing method need translating.
- Breakfast-cupfulA breakfast cup is larger than a teacup: reckon 8 to 10 fl oz. Using 1 cup each of coffee and milk keeps the ratio the recipe intends.
- Strong clear coffee"Clear" means filtered and free of grounds, not weak. Brew it at roughly double normal strength, since the pint of cream will mute it considerably; cold-brew concentrate works well here.
- Sifted sugarNineteenth-century sugar came in loaves and lumps, so it was pounded and sifted before use. Six tablespoons of ordinary granulated sugar, about 75 g, is the equivalent.
- The hinge: do not let it boilSix yolks in this quantity of liquid will scramble if pushed. Cook over a low flame or a water bath, stirring constantly, to 175-180F, when it coats the back of a spoon; strain it at once into a cold bowl to stop the carryover heat.
- Moderate fireOn a modern hob this is medium-low at most. The original assumed a range top where the cook moved the pan away from the hottest spot rather than turning a dial.
- Chill before churning"When cold" should mean thoroughly cold - several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. A warm custard churns to a coarse, icy texture.
- Freeze in the usual wayIce-cream freezing at this date meant a pot or pail surrounded by crushed ice and coarse salt, either worked by hand or hand-cranked; note that this recipe pours the cold custard into the mould before freezing, so it may have been set in the mould buried in ice rather than churned first. An electric machine, followed by two or three hours in the freezer in a loaf tin or mould, gives a comparable result.
- YieldThe base comes to at least 1¼ quarts before churning, more once frozen; serves eight or so.
Coffee ice cream belongs to the family of egg-yolk custard ices that French confectioners brought into English service cookery, and by the time Cassell's dictionary was compiled it was standard dinner-party fare. The reliance on a rich cooked base of six yolks and a pint of cream marks it as a crème anglaise frozen rather than the lighter water ices served earlier in a meal. That the recipe says only "freeze in the usual way" is itself telling: ice was by then a commercial commodity delivered to town households, and the pail-and-salt freezer was assumed knowledge in any kitchen with a cook, needing no more explanation than a saucepan would.