Ice cream was originally invented by the Chinese , but was brought to popularity in Europe by Italian street icecream sellers, during the Victorian period.
Home-made ice cream was also very popular. Isabella Beeton published her very successful book, the ‘Book Of Household Management’ in 1861, and this gave many simple but delicious recipes.
Custard was often used as the basis for many of the different flavours.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup thickened (full) cream
2 1/2 cup milk
4 beaten egg yolks
Gently warm the milk. Whisk in the egg yolks. Stir over a low heat until it thickens. Do not boil. Cool slightly, and stir in the sugar. When the mixture has properly cooled, the cream is then stirred through.
Using this custard as a base, the following flavours may be added:
-ginger-1/2 cup of chopped crystalised ginger, 1 tbl ginger syrup, 3 3/4 cups of ice cream custard.
-crushed biscuits of your choice-1 cup, 3 3/4 cups ice cream custard.
-coffee-1/2 cup black coffee, 1/2 cup suger (dizzolved in the coffee), 2 1/2 cups ice cream custard, 100ml thickened cream.
-caramelized sugar- 150ml, 2 1/2 cups ice cream custard.
For each flavour, stir the additional ingredients into the custard. Freeze for one hour, then whisk the semi-frozen mixture, and return it to the freezer, for several hours, until serving.
Jam ice cream was also made, substituting the 1/2 cup sugar in the ice cream custard recipe for 1/2 cup of jam of your choice. Apricot or home-made strawberry jam were popular, and economical!
Decorate each serve with your choice of a complimentary garnish such as crystallised gingeror berries, slivered almonds, petals (eg. rose, violets), or sugared peel.
