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Orange Ice
Make the same simple syrup as for lemon ice, add two cups of orange juice, the grated rind of two oranges and one-fourth cup of lemon juice. Strain and freeze.
A three-ingredient water ice that depends entirely on the syrup ratio and the churning. The original assumes you have already read the lemon ice entry a few lines above it.
- The missing syrupThe recipe is a cross-reference and gives no quantities of its own. Period simple syrups for water ices vary considerably, commonly in the region of two parts water to one part sugar, boiled briefly and cooled; check the lemon ice entry in your copy rather than guessing, since the sweetness is the whole structure of the dish.
- Sugar is not optional seasoningIn a water ice sugar controls freezing point and texture as much as flavour. Cut it back and you get an orange-flavoured ice block; too much and it will not set firm at all.
- Grated rindTake only the coloured zest, no white pith, and steep it in the hot syrup rather than adding it cold. The straining step that follows is there to remove it.
- Oranges then and nowModern commercial navels and juice oranges are generally sweeter and lower in acid than much of the fruit a cook of this period would have had, which is part of why the quarter cup of lemon juice matters. Taste before freezing and add more lemon if the mixture tastes flat.
- "Freeze" means a crank freezerThe original assumes a bucket churn packed with ice and rock salt, roughly three parts ice to one part salt. A modern ice-cream machine does the same job; without one, freeze in a shallow pan and rake with a fork every 30 minutes for about three hours for a granita texture.
- Chill firstThe mixture should be cold before it goes into the machine. Warm syrup churns slowly and throws large ice crystals.
- Yield and servingThe yield depends entirely on the syrup quantity, which this entry does not give; expect at least a quart and a half if the syrup is made to the proportions above. Water ices harden solid in a home freezer; move to the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving.
Water ices reached American cookbooks by way of French and Italian confectionery, and by the late nineteenth century they were common both as a dessert and at church suppers and ice-cream socials. The Butterick Publishing Company, better known for dress patterns and The Delineator, aimed its cook book at middle-class households running without professional staff. Orange ice appears in the period as both a dessert and a palate cleanser served between heavy courses. The reliance on a hand-cranked freezer packed with ice and rock salt places the entry before household mechanical refrigeration, when ice was a delivered commodity.