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Ginger Cream Ice
Take a quarter of a pound of preserved ginger, cut this into very thin slices (using a silver knife if it is at hand), put them into a saucepan with a pint of cream--or a pint of milk boiled and mixed with the yolks of six eggs--half a pound of sugar, and two table-spoonfuls of the ginger syrup. Stir the mixture over the fire until it thickens a little, then strain through a sieve. Pour into a mould, and when the cream is cold, freeze in the ordinary way. Keep in ice till wanted. Probable cost, 2s. 2d. for this quantity if made with cream; 1s. 4d. if made with milk and eggs. Sufficient for a little less than a quart of ice.
A Victorian ginger custard ice, given in two versions: an all-cream mixture and a cheaper milk-and-egg-yolk custard. The instructions assume a hand-cranked pail freezer, so the sequence needs rearranging for a modern machine.
- The hinge: do not boil the custard"Stir the mixture over the fire until it thickens a little" means cooking to about 175-180F, when it coats the back of a spoon. Past that the yolks curdle, and the straining step will not rescue a broken custard, only strain out its lumps.
- Mould before or after freezingAs written, the mixture goes into a mould, is cooled, then frozen "in the ordinary way" — packed in ice and salt, with occasional stirring. With a churn, chill the strained custard thoroughly, churn it, and only then pack it into a mould or container to firm up.
- QuantitiesA quarter pound of preserved ginger is about 115g, half a pound of sugar about 225g, a pint 20 fl oz (imperial) rather than the American 16. The sugar is high by modern taste but does real work: it keeps a hand-frozen ice from setting into a solid block.
- Preserved gingerThis is stem ginger in heavy syrup, still sold in jars; crystallised ginger is not the same thing and gives no syrup for the two tablespoonfuls called for. Fresh root ginger will not substitute — it is far hotter and carries none of the sugar.
- The silver knifeCarbon-steel blades of the period discoloured acidic and sugary preserves and left a metallic taste. Any stainless blade now does the job the silver was there for.
- Six yolks to a pintThat is a rich custard base by any standard, and with a full pint of milk it wants gentle heat and constant stirring, or a bain-marie if the pan is thin.
- Yield and servingA little under a quart. Let it stand a few minutes out of the freezer before scooping; a high-sugar custard ice softens quickly.
Ginger ices were a familiar item on the nineteenth-century dessert table, and preserved stem ginger reached Britain in glazed jars from Canton. Cassell's habit of pricing every recipe is on display here: 2s. 2d. with cream against 1s. 4d. with milk and eggs, the sort of arithmetic a household cook was expected to weigh before deciding which version to make. The two-tier approach — cream for the better table, an egg custard when economy mattered — runs through the whole book. "Freeze in the ordinary way" and "keep in ice till wanted" presume the reader owns a freezing pail and has a reliable supply of ice.