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Cherry Sundae
Turn measure of ice cream in a saucer champagne glass, pour over this several maraschino cherries and one ounce of cherry phosphate syrup. Serve with a spoon.
A fountain formula rather than a kitchen one: three components, assembled to order. The only real question is what "cherry phosphate syrup" means, since that determines whether the dish tastes sweet or sweet-tart.
- "Turn measure"A fountain "measure" was a fixed-size ice cream dipper or conical measure; sizes varied, but a serving of this kind ran on the order of 1/4 to 1/3 cup. "Turn" means invert the measure into the glass so the ice cream keeps its dome. One measure per serving; the recipe makes one sundae.
- Saucer champagne glassA wide, shallow-bowled coupe on a short stem, holding about 5 ounces. Any small footed dessert glass or coupe works; the point is that the shallow bowl shows off the cherries and syrup around the base of the scoop.
- One ounce of syrupTwo tablespoons. Fountain syrups were commonly measured in fluid ounces, and fountain stations were often fitted with ounce ladles or measured pumps; there is no need to convert further.
- Cherry phosphate syrupNot simply cherry syrup. A phosphate syrup is flavoring syrup dosed with acid phosphate, a dilute phosphoric-acid preparation (usually with mineral salts added) that fountains used for a clean sourness without the fruitiness of citric acid. It is still sold to bartenders and soda hobbyists; the dose is small, though sources differ on the exact proportion.
- If you skip the phosphatePlain cherry syrup gives a much sweeter, flatter sundae. A small squeeze of lemon juice is the nearest common substitute, though it reads as lemon rather than as the sharp mineral edge acid phosphate provides.
- Maraschino cherriesAt this period these were often still true marasca cherries preserved in maraschino liqueur, bitter-almond scented and not especially sweet, though imitations were also on the market. Modern brined, dyed, corn-syrup cherries are a different product; Luxardo or another Italian-style cherry in syrup is closer to what the recipe assumes.
- Order of assemblyIce cream first, then cherries, then syrup poured over. Reversing it puts the syrup under the scoop where it pools unseen, which defeats the point of the shallow glass.
Sundaes were a soda-fountain invention of the 1880s and 1890s, generally traced to the practice of selling ice cream with syrup on days when carbonated drinks were frowned upon or restricted, hence the name's association with Sunday. By the time trade manuals like this one were printing standardized formulas, the sundae had become a fixed part of the dispenser's repertoire: a measured scoop, a fixed ounce of syrup, a named glass, so that any clerk could turn out the same thing at any counter. The phosphate is the period detail here. Acid phosphate was a fountain staple in the decades around 1900, valued because it made sweet syrups taste bright rather than cloying, and it appears in hundreds of fountain recipes before largely disappearing from American counters by mid-century.