THE ORIGINAL ‘RECEIPT’

One pint milk, yolks of two eggs, six ounces sugar, one tablespoon of corn starch; scald until it thickens; when cool, add one pint whipped cream and the whites of two eggs, beaten stiff; sweeten, flavour, and freeze.

~Ladies of Toronto. The Home Cook Book. Toronto: The Musson Book Co. Limited, 1877.

THE UPDATED RECIPE

• 2 c. milk
• yolks of 2 eggs
• 6 oz. granulated sugar
• 1 Tb. corn starch
• 1 pint whipping cream (2 cups)
• 1 Tb. vanilla.

A note from Patricia: although the original recipe from 1877 above notes that there are 2 egg whites that are added at the end and would indeed be uncooked, and my aunt’s recipe noted that these egg whites should be added as well, I have omitted them due to the fact that it’s not a great idea to be eating raw egg whites and I don’t advise it. The recipe is delightful without them.

Blend the sugar and the corn starch, then add these to the egg yolks, and stir together, until smooth.

Combine this mixture with the milk in the top of a double boiler.

Cook over boiling water, at medium heat, for about 30 minutes, until the mixture forms a thin custard.

Refridgerate for several hours, or over night.

When the custard has thoroughly cooled, whip the cream with a whisk or rotary beater, and fold it into the chilled custard.

Flavour with the vanilla, and gently stir to blend together all the ingredients.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze, agitating regularly, until the ice cream is of the desired firmness.

Yield: about 8 servings.

Note: this may be used as a basic recipe: fruit or other flavouring ingredients may be added: additional sugar may be required with various fresh fruits, and the quantity of vanilla may be reduced, or omitted all together. But for true connosseurs of Vanilla Ice Cream, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted any better than the results from the recipe given.

Another note from Patricia: For those of you that don’t have an ice cream maker, I thought I would try my hand at making this without one too. I poured the mixture into a glass pyrex that had a lid, and put it into the freezer. Every half hour or so, I removed it from the freezer and stirred it, being sure to scrape the ice cream that had frozen at the edges. This method worked…. it’s a bit more time consuming than using the ice cream machine but it’s a great solution.)

Yet another note from Patricia: I’m not partial to simple Vanilla Ice Cream (I need something more exciting), so based on my aunt’s advice above, I thought I’d jazz this recipe up. I added 4 Tb of Cocoa Powder, and then added a crushed-up chocolate bar to make my own verson of a Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream. Worth it.

Ideal Ice Cream.

…when cool put it in the freezer stirring it until it is too hard to turn any longer.

~Handwritten receipt book, circa 1877, Higinbothan family papers.

Ice cream and Ices. There are two general forms of ice cream. One in which the materials are frozen uncooked, the other in which the materials are cooked before freezing.

~Reliable Recipes and Helpful Hints. Hamilton, Canada: Egg-0 Baking Powder Co., 1919.

Those who, like ourselves, land at Halifax for the interior, are anxious to obtain rooms at the hotel, and all who have nothing else to do hurry to the ice-shop, where the luxury of a tumbler of raspberry-cream ice can be obtained for threepence.

~The Englishwoman in America. London: John Murray, 1856.