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Pistache Ice Cream
(Gelato di pistacchi) Milk, one quart.
Sugar, six ounces.
Pistaches, two ounces.
Skin the pistaches in warm water and grind them very fine with a tablespoonful of the sugar, then put in a saucepan with the yolks and the sugar, mixing everything together. Add the milk and put the mixture on the fire stirring with the ladle and when it is condensed like cream, let it cool and put in the freezer. 221
A plain pistachio custard base, typical of the terse Italian gelato formulas of the period. The one real gap is the egg count, which the original never gives.
- The missing yolksThe ingredient list omits them entirely, yet the method calls for "the yolks." Comparable custard gelati of the period typically use several yolks per quart of milk; the original as printed is genuinely ambiguous on this point.
- Weights, not cupsSix ounces of sugar is a scant cup granulated; two ounces of shelled pistachios is a scant 1/2 cup. Weighing is more reliable here, since ground nuts pack unpredictably.
- Skinning the nutsHot water loosens the papery skins on shelled pistachios in a minute or two; the skins are what turn the finished cream a dull brown-green rather than a clean pale green. Rub them in a towel while still damp.
- Grinding with sugarThe tablespoon of sugar is not seasoning, it is an abrasive. It keeps the nuts from packing into oily paste in a mortar or food processor and gives a finer grind.
- "Condensed like cream"This is the hinge. The custard is done when it coats the back of the spoon and reads 175-180F; past 185F the yolks scramble and the base turns grainy. Keep the heat moderate and never let it approach a simmer.
- Cooling and strainingChill the base thoroughly, ideally several hours, before churning. Passing it through a fine sieve after cooking removes any set egg and the coarsest nut fragments, though some prefer to leave the texture.
- The freezerIn 1919 this meant a hand-cranked pail packed with ice and rock salt. Any modern ice cream machine does the same work; without one, freeze in a shallow pan and beat well three or four times during freezing.
- YieldAbout one quart, serving six to eight as a small Italian portion. There is no cream in the formula, so the result is a lean gelato rather than a rich American-style ice cream.
Pistachio has long been one of the standard flavors of Italian gelato, and Sicily has long been its center: the pistachios of Bronte, grown on the lava slopes of Etna, are the ones Italian confectioners have traditionally prized for their deep green color and resinous flavor. This recipe comes from a compact English-language collection aimed at American households around 1919, when Italian immigration had made these flavors familiar in cities. Its brevity is characteristic of the genre: the book assumes a cook who already knows how to bring a custard to the coating stage and how to pack a freezer with ice and salt, so it spends its words on the nuts and says almost nothing about technique.