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Eight Yolks of Eggs
Six ounces of Castor Sugar.
One pint of Milk. Vanilla Pod for flavouring. Half a pint of Cream.
Put the milk and vanilla on the fire and let it boil, then place it in the oven until a brown skin is formed on the top. Stir the yolks of eggs with the castor sugar to a cream; strain in the milk, and work over the fire until a liaison is formed.
Strain the whole through a sieve, and let it get cold. Whip the cream, and mix it carefully with the custard. Freeze as an ordinary ice; mould it in one mould or several small ones.
A rich frozen custard flavoured by scalding the milk until a browned skin forms on it, in the manner of burnt cream. The written ingredient list is incomplete, so the milk and vanilla must be judged by eye.
- Missing quantitiesThe recipe calls for milk and vanilla but never states how much of either. Eight yolks with six ounces of sugar is the classic proportion for about a pint of milk (20 fl oz Imperial, 2½ US cups) and one split vanilla pod, but the original does not say so and the amount is genuinely open.
- Castor sugarSuperfine or caster sugar, ground finer than granulated so it dissolves into the yolks without grinding. Six ounces is about ¾ cup plus a spoonful. Ordinary granulated will do if you beat it longer.
- Half a pint of creamImperial measure: 10 fl oz, or 1¼ US cups. Use heavy or whipping cream and whip it only to soft, floppy peaks, or it will refuse to fold into the custard smoothly.
- The browned skin is the pointBoiling the milk and then holding it in the oven until a brown skin forms is what gives this ice its flavour; it is a burnt-cream ice, not a plain vanilla. No oven temperature is given; a hot oven and a wide shallow dish will bring the skin on faster. Stir the skin back in rather than discarding it.
- A liaisonPeriod term for a custard thickened by egg yolk. Cook over a low flame or in a bowl over simmering water, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of the spoon: 175-180F. Past 185F the yolks scramble and the sieve will not save it.
- Chill before churningLet the strained custard get thoroughly cold, ideally several hours in the refrigerator. Warm custard churns into coarse, buttery ice.
- Freeze as an ordinary iceA machine churn takes 20-25 minutes. Without one, freeze in a shallow tray and beat hard with a whisk every 30 minutes until set, four or five times.
- MouldingPack the just-churned ice firmly into moulds, cover, and harden in the freezer for at least three hours before turning out; dip the mould briefly in warm water to release. Yield depends on how much milk is used, which the recipe does not say.