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Orange and Lemon Ices
The rind of three oranges grated and steeped a few moments in a little more than a pint of water; strain one pint of this on a pound of sugar and then add one pint of orange or lemon juice; pour in the freezer, and when half frozen add the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth.
A straightforward water ice from the era of the hand-cranked freezer, with one element that no longer passes muster: four raw egg whites folded into a mixture that is never heated.
- The raw whites are the problemThe whites go in at the half-frozen stage and are never cooked. Freezing does not kill Salmonella; it only suspends it, so anything present in the eggs is still present in the finished ice. Use a current recipe built on pasteurized whites or a cooked meringue if you want the aerated texture.
- "The freezer"This means a wooden-bucket churn with an inner metal can, packed with cracked ice and coarse salt and turned by hand. "Half frozen" is the slushy stage when the paddle starts to meet resistance, roughly the point a modern machine reaches after ten to fifteen minutes.
- The sugar is not optional ballastA pound of sugar to two pints of liquid is roughly a third of the finished mixture by weight, which is what keeps a juice ice scoopable rather than a solid block. Cutting it down produces something closer to a flavoured ice cube.
- Grated rindTake only the coloured zest; the white pith beneath turns the steeping water bitter. Three oranges give roughly two to three tablespoons of zest. The recipe does not say whether the steeping water is hot or cold; straining, which it does specify, is essential or the finished ice is gritty.
- Juice quantityA pint of juice is around four to six oranges, or twelve to sixteen lemons. Lemon juice at that volume against a pound of sugar makes a notably sharp ice; the orange version is much rounder.
- YieldAbout a quart and a quarter before any aeration, enough for six or so servings; ices of this kind were served both as a small course between courses and as a dessert.
Water ices found a place in American cookbooks early, since they need nothing but fruit, sugar and a means of freezing. The Home Cook Book (Chicago, first edition usually dated 1874, with later printings through the 1870s) was compiled by committees of church and charity women who sold it to raise funds, and its ice recipes assume the reader either owns a patent freezer or can borrow one, along with a supply of ice cut in winter and stored in an ice house. Beaten whites added at the half-frozen stage lighten the body and slow melting. Serving a small sharp ice midway through a long dinner was a mark of a formal table in the 1870s.