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Almond and Orange Ice
Blanch and pound 1 ounce of sweet almonds with a little orange-flower water to prevent them oiling. Put them into a saucepan with 1 pint of cream and the yolks of 3 eggs, well beaten. Stir constantly till the egg thickens; then pour it out, let it cool, put it into the freezing-pot, and work the handle until it is sufficiently frozen. Put half a pound of loaf sugar and a cupful of water into an enamelled saucepan, with the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth, and the thin rind of an orange. Put it on the fire and bring it to a syrup, then add to it three-quarters of a pint of orange-juice. Strain this and freeze it like the almond cream. Put a piece of cardboard into the mould, dividing it in two. Place the almond ice on one side and the orange ice on the other. Remove the cardboard, close the mould, and let it remain in the ice until wanted. Time, half an hour to freeze. Sufficient for a quart of ice.
Two ices frozen separately and set side by side in one mould: an almond custard and an orange water ice. Nothing here is difficult, but the equipment and the sugar work assume a Victorian kitchen.
- The freezing-potThis is a pewter or tin canister set in a bucket of ice and salt, turned by hand until the mixture sets — the ancestor of the churn. Any modern ice cream machine does the same job; without one, freeze in a shallow pan and beat thoroughly every 30 minutes until firm.
- Custard temperature"Stir constantly till the egg thickens" means cooking three yolks with a pint of cream over gentle heat until it coats a spoon, somewhere around 175F on a thermometer; pushed much hotter it will curdle. Straining as you pour out is not in the original, but it guards against lumps.
- Almonds and orange-flower waterPounding blanched almonds dry releases their oil and turns them to paste, which is why a little orange-flower water goes into the mortar. A food processor with a spoonful of the water does the same. Orange-flower water is sold in Middle Eastern groceries and is potent — the "little" means a teaspoon or so.
- Loaf sugar and the egg whiteLoaf sugar was refined sugar broken from a cone; ordinary granulated is the equivalent. The beaten white is not for texture but to clarify the syrup — impurities rise with the froth and are removed when the syrup is strained.
- Quantities in cupsHalf a pound of sugar is about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons. The pint here is most likely an imperial pint of 20 fl oz, which makes a pint of cream nearer 2 1/2 US cups and three-quarters of a pint of orange juice nearer 1 3/4 cups, or five to six juice oranges; read as a US pint the figures would be 2 cups and 1 1/2 cups.
- The two-colour mouldThe cardboard divider only works if both ices are already frozen to a stiff, packable state. Pack each side firmly, withdraw the card straight up, close the mould and ripen it in the freezer at least two hours before turning out.
- YieldThe recipe claims a quart, though the two mixtures as written come to rather more than that, and the halves are not necessarily equal. Six modest servings, turned out and cut in slices rather than scooped.