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Milanese Ice Cream
Beat up the yolks of 2 eggs with 1 pint of cream and 1/2 pound of finely sifted sugar; add the mixture to 2 ounces of Naples biscuits reduced to powder in 1/2 pint of milk. Put all into a bright stewpan, and stir until it is as thick as an ordinary custard, when it may be strained through a sieve. Add 1 glass of sherry wine when frozen, and then put it into a mould. Time, a few minutes to boil the custard. Sufficient for seven or eight persons.
A cooked custard ice cream thickened partly with powdered sponge biscuit, which gives it body and a faint almond-vanilla flavour. Two instructions in the original need attention before you start: the custard must not actually boil, and the sherry goes in late.
- Do not boil the custardThe line "a few minutes to boil the custard" describes the time on the heat, not a rolling boil. Two egg yolks in a pint of cream will curdle above about 180F; stir over medium-low heat until it coats a spoon, then strain at once.
- Naples biscuitsThese were long, dry finger-shaped sponge biscuits, of the same family as the modern savoiardi. Use 2 oz (about 55 g) of plain ladyfingers or a dry sponge finger, crushed to a fine powder, and soak them in the half pint of milk before combining.
- SugarHalf a pound is 8 oz, roughly 1 1/8 cups granulated. That is sweet by current taste; 5 to 6 oz gives a cleaner cream, though cutting sugar too far will make the finished ice harder and icier.
- Which pintThe recipe simply says a pint. In an English book of this period that would be the 20 fl oz Imperial pint, though the 16 fl oz American measure also works; the 20 fl oz version yields a slightly leaner, less rich custard for the same amount of yolk.
- A bright stewpanA tinned copper or well-scoured pan; "bright" indicates a clean, untarnished surface. A heavy stainless saucepan is the modern equivalent.
- The sherryA wine glass of the period is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, though period sources vary up to a quarter pint. Alcohol depresses the freezing point, so keep to roughly the stated amount and fold it in at the soft-frozen stage, as the recipe directs, or the ice will not set firm.
- Freezing and mouldingChurn in an ice cream maker until thick, fold in the sherry, then pack into a chilled mould and firm in the freezer for at least three to four hours. Dip the mould briefly in warm water to turn out.
- YieldAbout a quart, which matches the original's seven or eight small servings rather than modern scoop sizes.
Naples biscuits appear constantly in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English and American cookery, used pounded into puddings, trifles and iced creams as much as eaten plain, and their crumb here does the work of a starch thickener while adding flavour. The name "Milanese" attached to a good many Victorian ices, creams and cutlets without any close tie to Milan; in confectionery books of this period Italian place names often served as a mark of elegance, and Italian confectioners were prominent in the ice trade in London and Paris. What is of its moment is the structure of the recipe: an egg custard enriched with cream, frozen in a hand-cranked pail packed with ice and salt, then repacked in a shaped mould so the dessert could be turned out whole at table. Fortified wine stirred in at the end was a common finishing touch, and it appears in small quantity only.