Homemade
ice cream is a time-honored summer ritual. My earliest ice cream memories involve sitting on folded
towels atop my grandparents’ manual ice cream freezer out in their back yard. I
would take my turn at the crank with all the other cousins and then we’d share
the delicious contents with the family. There was plenty of ice cream making at
our house, too. Both my younger sister and I have July birthdays and we were
always treated to a batch of our favorite flavor to celebrate the occasion. If
the family had managed a summer trip to Austin – passing through Gillespie
County’s peach orchards on our way – my choice would be peach. My sister
invariably chose peppermint, Mother’s special recipe with the secret
ingredient.
It’s been years since I spent summers in the place I grew up, and I make my own
birthday ice cream now (Frangelico Peach; see recipe below). But my mother and
sister carried on the birthday ice cream tradition all the way through to last
summer. Since Suzy’s birthday falls near the Fourth, she was usually able to
spend that weekend at Mother’s house in Midland. They would watch the Miss
Texas Pageant on television and make Suzy’s ice cream together. Mother was in
and out of the hospital the whole month of July last year before she died, but
they did manage to get the ice cream made anyway. The freezer they’d bought
especially for the birthday ritual now belongs to my sister. It turns out,
however, that the equipment is the easiest part.
With Mother gone, I wanted to surprise Suzy by continuing her birthday
tradition, but I’d have to confer with her about the actual recipe. Both of us
had made the ice cream with Mother, but no reliable written copy of the recipe
seemed to exist. Mother’s longtime caregiver, Lucy, assured me that the recipe
was on a card in one of the little metal recipe boxes. It wasn’t. We’re not
sure where the original peppermint ice cream recipe came from but Suzy thought
maybe Helen Corbitt’s Cookbook (Houghton-Mifflin, 1957), a treasure that
no 1950’s Texas homemaker would have been without. Mother’s cookbooks and
recipes had since come to me, so I checked Helen Corbitt and found a
recipe that probably inspired Mother’s version. The quantities aren’t the same
and there’s no mention of the secret ingredient, but it could be where she
started. Suzy was pretty sure about the amount of half-and-half, milk, and eggs.
I would have to do some testing to figure out the right ratio of sugar and
candy.
Locating the secret ingredient candy was my next hurdle. This particular ice
cream is made with a peppermint stick candy known as “pure sugar sticks,” the
most common brand being Bob’s Olde Timey Pure Sugar Sticks. The
sticks are made with sugar rather than corn syrup, resulting in a somewhat
porous texture and no shiny coating. Small bags of the sticks can be found
anywhere during the holiday season, but they are mighty scarce in July. All
those years, Mother must have either had a secret source or she planned ahead,
stockpiling a few bags after Christmas.
Since the candy was nowhere to be found, I made a batch with regular hard,
shiny peppermint sticks. It just wasn’t the same. Since this was a mission for
posterity’s sake, I knew I had to conduct a thorough search. I called just
about every store around town, describing the candies to baffled grocery
employees who in turn generated vague, unsatisfying responses. Finally, I
called Crestview Mini-Max, famous far outside its neighborhood for its small
town feel and scrupulous customer service. The grocery manager knew exactly
what I was talking about. He looked in the store room, found an old box with
the company name and address and in no time I was on the phone to Bob’s
Candies of Albany, Georgia. The mail order division sent enough little
sacks of candy for many, many freezers of ice cream.
With peppermint candy in the house and a reasonable approximation of a recipe,
I got out my trusty White Mountain freezer and went to work. Since I
planned to print the recipe, I knew I’d have to heat the egg custard to at
least 165 degrees to kill any possible Salmonella bacteria — though we’d never
done it that way growing up, and Suzy still doesn’t. (Note: It is currently
common practice in food writing and commercial food service to avoid recipes
that include raw eggs because of the danger of contamination from Salmonella
bacteria. How ice cream is made in private homes is the responsibility of the
consumer). Cooking the custard isn’t really difficult, but it’s necessary to
watch the heat so the eggs don’t curdle. In addition, the custard has to cool
completely before making the ice cream. The other change I made involved an
insider’s trick I learned from an article in Fine Cooking magazine
(Aug/Sep. 1995, No.10) written by a professional ice cream maker. The addition
of a small amount of low-fat dried milk to the custard stabilizes the emulsion
without adding fat by absorbing some of the extra water in the mixture. It’s a
great hint that makes a positive contribution to the texture and “mouth-feel”
of the finished product.
The first batch wasn’t quite sweet enough to suit me and the next one made
everyone’s teeth ache. I finally settled on a recipe I liked (see below) and
was ready to make it for my sister. It is lovely ice cream; pale pink, creamy,
and refreshing on a hot day. As part of Suzy’s gift, I passed along half of my
stash of candy bags so she could make some for herself. The moral of this
story: Now is the time to write down those treasured family recipes.
Suzy’s Peppermint Ice Cream
(makes about 3 quarts)
16oz Bob’s Olde Timey Pure Sugar Sticks peppermint candy
1 1/2 quarts half-and-half
4 whole eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup low-fat dried milk powder
The day before you make the ice cream, put the candy sticks in a container
with the half-and-half and refrigerate to dissolve. Whisk together the eggs and
sugar and set aside. Combine the milk and milk powder in a heavy saucepan over
medium-low heat, whisking to blend. When the milk is hot to the touch, remove
about 1/2 cup of the milk and, whisking as you pour, add the sugar/yolk
mixture, tempering the eggs. Once again whisking as you pour, add the
milk/sugar/yolk mixture to the saucepan and whisk gently until the mixture
begins to thicken. Heat the mixture carefully and slowly so as not to curdle
the eggs. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl. Cover and chill
for at least four hours or overnight. Combine the custard with the
half-and-half in which the candy is dissolved in the canister of a one-gallon
ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturers directions. For the candy
contact Bob’s Mail Order Candy, P.O. Box 3170 Albany, Georgia 31706;
1-800-569-4033; http//www.bobscandies.com
Frangelico Peach Ice Cream
(makes about 3 quarts)
7 large, ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
3 tbs Frangelico hazelnut liqueur (substitute Amaretto or dark rum)
3 eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup non-fat dried milk powder
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
Combine the peach slices and the liqueur in a sealed container and macerate in
the refrigerator for at least four hours or overnight. In a mixing bowl, beat
the eggs until thick and then add sugar, beating to dissolve. Combine the milk
and milk powder in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. When the milk
is hot to the touch, remove 1/2 cup and, whisking as you pour, add the hot milk
to the egg/sugar mixture, tempering the eggs. Once again whisking as you pour,
add the milk/sugar/egg mixture to the saucepan and whisk gently until the
mixture begins to thicken. Heat the mixture carefully and slowly so as not to
curdle the eggs. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl, cover and
chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. When the custard is cold, purée
the peach mixture to small chunks in the food processor and whisk it into the
custard along with the whipping cream. Pour mixture into the canister of a
one-gallon ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s
directions. The alcohol in the liqueur keeps the peach pieces from freezing too
hard and Frangelico has a marvelous affinity for peaches.
This article appears in August 9 • 1996 and August 9 • 1996 (Cover).