With a patent five-minute freezer (it really takes, however, from fifteen minutes to half an hour to freeze any thing), it is as cheap and easy to make ices in summer as almost any other kind of dessert. If one has cream, the expense is very little, as a cream-whipper costs but twenty-five cents. A simple cream, sweetened, flavored, whipped, and then frozen, is one of the most delicious of ice-creams. By having the cream quite cold, a pint can be whipped, with this cream-whipper, in five or ten minutes. It will require ten cents’ worth of ice—half of it to freeze the preparation, and the other half to keep it frozen until the time of serving. Salt is not proverbially expensive; a half-barrel or bushel of coarse salt will last a long time, especially as a portion of it can be used a second time. In summer, fruits, such as peaches or pears, quartered, or any kind of berries, are most delicious half frozen and served with sugar. The chocolate ice-cream with fruit is excellent. The devices of form for creams served at handsome dinners in large cities are very beautiful; for instance, one sees a hen surrounded by her chickens; or a hen sitting on the side of a spun-glass nest, looking sideways at her eggs; or a fine collection of fruits in colors. One may see also a perfect imitation of asparagus with a cream-dressing, the asparagus being made of the pistache cream, and the dressing simply a whipped cream. These fancy displays are, of course, generally arranged by the confectioner. It is a convenience, of course, when giving dinner companies, to have the dessert or any other course made outside of the house; but for ordinary occasions, ices are no more troublesome to prepare than any thing else, especially when they can be made early in the day, or even the day before serving.

Frozen Whipped Cream.

Flavor and sweeten the cream, making it rather sweet. Whip it, and freeze the froth.

Vanilla Ice-cream.

Beat the yolks of eight eggs with three-quarters of a pound of sugar until very light. Put one and a half pints of rich milk on the fire to scald, highly flavored with the powdered vanilla-bean (say, one heaping table-spoonful). When the milk is well scalded, stir it into the eggs as soon as it is cool enough not to curdle. Now stir the mixture constantly (the custard pan or pail being set in a vessel of boiling water) until it has slightly thickened. Do not let it remain too long and curdle, or it will be spoiled. When taken off the fire again, mix in a quarter of a box of gelatine, which has been soaked half an hour in two table-spoonfuls of lukewarm water near the fire. The heat of the custard will be sufficient to dissolve it, if it is not already sufficiently dissolved. Cool the custard well before putting it into the freezer, as this saves time and ice. When it is in the freezer, however, stir it almost constantly until it begins to set; then stir in lightly a pint of cream, whipped. Stir it for two or three minutes longer, put it into a mold, and return it to a second relay of ice and salt. The powdered vanilla can be purchased at drug-stores or at confectioners’. It is much better than the extract for any purpose, and is used by all the best restaurateurs.

Delmonico Vanilla Cream.

Ingredients: One and a half pints of cream, one ounce of isinglass, one pound of sugar, yolks of eight eggs, half a pint of milk, vanilla powder.

Scald the cream only; then add the isinglass dissolved in the milk, and pour it on the sugar and eggs beaten together to a froth; add the flavoring. Strain, cool, and freeze it; then pack it for three hours and a half at least.

Chocolate Ice-cream

is made in the same way as the vanilla ice-cream, adding a flavoring of chocolate and a little vanilla powder. For instance, to make a quart and a half of cream: Make the boiled custard with the yolks of six eggs, half a pound of sugar, one pint of boiled milk, and a tea-spoonful (not heaping) of vanilla powder. Pound smooth four ounces of chocolate; add a little sugar and one or two table-spoonfuls of hot water. Stir it over the fire until it is perfectly smooth. Add this and a table-spoonful of thin, dissolved gelatine to the hot custard. When about to set in the freezer, add one pint of cream, whipped.

To Make a Mold of Chocolate and Vanilla Creams.

Freeze the different creams in two freezers. Cut a piece of pasteboard to fit the centre of a mold; fill each side with the two creams, remove the pasteboard, and imbed the mold in ice and salt for two hours.

Strawberry Ice-cream.

Sprinkle sugar over strawberries, mash them well, and rub them through a sieve. To a pint of the juice add half a pint of good cream. Make it very sweet. Freeze it in the usual way, and, when beginning to set, stir in lightly one pint of cream (whipped), and, lastly, a handful of whole strawberries, sweetened. Put it into a mold, which imbed in ice. Or, when fresh strawberries can not be obtained, there is no more delicious cream than that made with the French bottled strawberries. Mix the juice in the bottle with the cream, and add the whipped cream and the whole strawberries, when the juice, etc., have partly set in the freezer.

Many prefer this cream of a darker red color, which is obtained by using prepared cochineal.

Napolitaine Cream.

To make a form of three colors: Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice-creams are frozen in three different freezers, and filled in a mold the form of a brick in three smooth layers of equal size.

Chocolate Fruit Ice-cream.

Make a chocolate cream. When set in the freezer, add about half a pound of assorted French candied or preserved fruits cut into small pieces. Put it into a melon-shaped mold, to imitate a plum-pudding. When ready to serve, turn the cream on a platter, and make a circle around it of whipped cream, sweetened and flavored with vanilla. This cream is a decided success, and a beautiful dessert for a dinner-party. It may be improved by sprinkling over it chopped almonds dried of a light-brown color, mixed with chopped pistachios. This is intended to imitate the rugged appearance of the rind of a melon.

Frozen Fruit Custard.

Ingredients: One pint of rich milk, one pint of cream (whipped), yolks of three eggs, one and a half cupfuls of sugar, one pint of fresh peaches cut into pieces not too small, or fresh ripe berries.

Beat the eggs and sugar well together. Heat the pint of milk almost to the boiling-point, and add it gradually to the beaten eggs and sugar. Return it to the custard-kettle, and stir it constantly until it has slightly thickened, taking care that it does not curdle. When the custard is partly frozen, having stirred it in the usual way, add the whipped cream; stir a few minutes longer, and then stir in the fruit. Put all into a mold, which place in a fresh relay of ice and salt.

German Steamer Baked Ice-cream.

This dish was at least a curiosity, served at the table of one of the German steamers. A flat, round sponge-cake served as a base. A circular mold of very hard frozen ice-cream was placed on this, and then covered with a mÉringue, or whipped white of egg, sweetened and flavored. The surface was quickly colored with a red-hot salamander, which gave the dish the appearance of being baked.

The gentleman who told me about this dish insisted that it was put into the oven and quickly colored, as the egg surrounding the cream was a sufficiently good non-conductor of heat to protect the ice for one or two minutes. However, there is less risk with a salamander.

Pine-apple Ice-cream Pudding.

Add one pound of pine-apple grated fine to the yolks of eight eggs well beaten with one pound of sugar, one and a half pints of boiled cream, and a very little salt. Stir all together over the fire until it begins to thicken. When beginning to set in the freezer (having stirred it in the usual way), add a pint of cream (whipped). This addition of the whipped cream is a great improvement, although it is generally omitted. Put it into a form. When ready to serve, press the tuft of leaves, cut from the pine-apple and trimmed, in the top of the cream. Surround it with whipped and sweetened cream.

Iced Rice-pudding (Francatelli).

Wash and parboil half a pound of rice; then put it into a stew-pan, with a quart of milk and a pint of cream, two sticks of vanilla, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and a little salt. Allow the rice to simmer very gently over or by a slow fire, until the grains are almost dissolved, stirring it occasionally with a light hand. When the rice is done, and while it is yet hot, add the yolks of six eggs; then stir all well together for several minutes, in order to mix in the eggs, and also for the purpose of breaking up and smoothing the rice. Let this rice custard be frozen like an ordinary ice-cream, stirring it from the sides until it is set, when put it into a mold, and immerse it in the ice and salt.

While the above part of the process is going on, a compÔte of twelve oranges should be prepared in the following manner: First, separate them into sections, and remove every particle of the white pith with a small knife, laying the transparent pulp of the fruit quite bare. When all the oranges are ready, throw them into a stew-pan containing about a pint of sirup (made with one pound of sugar and nearly a pint of clear water); allow the pieces of oranges to boil up gently in this for two minutes, and then drain them in a sieve. Boil the sirup down to about one-half of its original quantity; then add two wine-glassfuls of curaÇoa and three table-spoonfuls of peach marmalade or apricot jam; mix all together, and pour this preparation over the oranges in a basin. When about to send the pudding to table, turn it out of the mold on a platter, dress the compÔte of oranges on the top and around the base, pour the sirup over it, and serve.

Biscuit GlacÉs, in Small Cases.

Beat well eight yolks of eggs, with ten ounces of sugar, and a very little salt; add one pint of cream. Stir over the fire until slightly thickened. Flavor with vanilla powder, the extract of almonds, lemon, or with coffee or chocolate. It may also be made by adding a purÉe of peaches, strawberries, raspberries, or pine-apple to the custard. When just beginning to set in the freezer, stir in lightly one-half pint of cream (whipped); then partly fill paper cases with the mixture. Smooth over the tops. Set the cases in the freezer well dried, and allow them to harden until ready to serve.

Biscuit GlacÉs (Francatelli).

Ingredients: One pint of clarified sirup, twelve yolks of eggs, two whole eggs, a large wine-glassful of maraschino.

Mix the whole of the ingredients in an earthen basin; then pour the preparation into an egg-bowl that has been previously warmed with hot water and wiped dry. Whisk the soufflÉ briskly (the egg bowl being placed on a stove containing hot ashes) until it resembles a well-prepared, firm, sponge-cake batter. Fill the paper cases with the preparation, and smooth over the tops. Place them in a tin pail or in the freezer, surrounded with ice and salt, and half a pound of saltpetre mixed, and let them remain well covered for three or four hours at least, before serving, without stirring them. Or, they may be frozen all together in one mold, and some sifted macaroon powder or grated chocolate sprinkled over the surface, to imitate a baked soufflÉ.

Nesselrode Pudding (CarÊme’s Receipt).

Ingredients: Forty chestnuts, one pound of sugar, flavoring of vanilla, one pint of cream, the yolks of twelve eggs, one glass of maraschino, one ounce of candied citron, two ounces of currants, two ounces of stoned raisins.

Blanch the chestnuts in boiling water, remove the husks, and pound them in a mortar until perfectly smooth, adding a few spoonfuls of the sirup; then rub them through a fine sieve, and mix them in a basin with a pint of sirup, made from one pound of sugar, clarified, and flavored with vanilla; one pint of cream, and the yolks of twelve eggs. Set this mixture over a slow fire, stirring it without ceasing, until the eggs begin to thicken (without allowing them to curdle), then take it off. When it is cold, put it into the freezer, adding the maraschino, and make the mixture set; then add the sliced citron, the currants, and stoned raisins (these two latter should be soaked the day previous in maraschino, and sugar pounded with vanilla) to the whole. Thus mingled, add a plateful of whipped cream, mixed with the whites of three eggs beaten to a froth. When the pudding is perfectly frozen, put it into a mold, close the lid, place it again in the freezer, well surrounded with pounded ice and saltpetre, and let it remain until the time of serving, when turn it out of the mold.

Iced Pudding.

Ingredients: One and one-half pints of custard, composed of the yolks of four eggs, a pint of boiled milk, four table-spoonfuls of sugar, a flavoring of vanilla, eight ounces of fruits, consisting of equal parts of dried cherries, pine-apple, dried pears, or apricots, all cut into very small squares. These fruits may be selected, or perhaps it would be more convenient to purchase half a pound of the French preserved dried fruits; or add one ounce of candied citron sliced, two ounces of currants, two ounces of stoned and chopped raisins, and half a pint of cream whipped.

Freeze the custard in the usual manner, then mix in the fruits and whipped cream. A gill of maraschino is an improvement to this pudding, but may be omitted. If added, it should be at the same time with the fruit. Put into a mold, and place it on ice and salt. Serve whipped cream around it.

Tutti Frutti.

When a rich vanilla cream is partly frozen, candied cherries, English currants, chopped raisins, chopped citron, or any other candied fruits chopped rather fine, are added; add about the same quantity of fruit as there is of ice cream. Mold and imbed in ice and salt. It may be served surrounded with a whipped cream.

Fresh Peaches Half Frozen.

An exceedingly nice dish for breakfast, lunch, or tea may be made of quarters of large fresh peaches, half frozen, and then sprinkled with granulated sugar.

Peaches and Cream Frozen.

Peel and quarter the fresh peaches; mix them with sugar and cream to taste. Arrange some of the quarters of the peaches tastefully in the bottom of a basin, or charlotte mold, then fill, and freeze the mass solid, without stirring. Turn it out to serve.

Lemon Ice.

Boil three pints of water and one quart of loaf-sugar until reduced to nearly one quart of liquid, skimming it when necessary. When cold, add the juice of seven lemons, and the thin-sliced yellow part of the rind of four of them. Let it infuse an hour. Strain it into the freezer without pressing. When beginning to set in the freezer, stir in lightly and well the beaten whites of four eggs. Put into a mold, and return it to a fresh relay of salt and ice. Or it may be frozen and served in the lemon-skins. A neat slice is taken off the top of the lemon. The juice, etc., is carefully removed. When the preparation is set in the freezer, the skins are filled, the tops fitted over, and all imbedded in the ice. I once saw at one of Delmonico’s dinners a course of these lemons (one for each person) filled with Roman punch.

Currant Ice.

Boil one quart of water and a pound of sugar until reduced about a pint—i. e., until a pint of water has boiled away; skim it, take it off the fire, and add a pint of currant-juice; when partly frozen, stir in the beaten whites of four eggs. Mold, and freeze again. A good ice for fever patients.

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