Ice cream recipes first appeared in the 18th century and a recipe for ice cream was published in 'Mrs Mary Eales's Receipts' in 1718:
To ice cream
"Take Tin Ice-Pots, fill them with any Sort of Cream you like, either plain or sweeten'd, or Fruit in it; shut your Pots very close; to six Pots you must allow eighteen or twenty Pound of Ice, breaking the Ice very small; there will be some great Pieces, which lay at the Bottom and Top: You must have a Pail, and lay some Straw at the Bottom; then lay in your Ice, and put in amongst it a Pound of Bay-Salt; set in your Pots of Cream, and lay Ice and Salt between every Pot, that they may not touch; but the Ice must lie round them on every Side; lay a good deal of Ice on the Top, cover the Pail with Straw, set it in a Cellar where no Sun or Light comes, it will be froze in four Hours, but it may stand longer; than take it out just as you use it; hold it in your Hand and it will slip out. When you wou'd freeze any Sort of Fruit, either Cherries, Raspberries, Currants, or Strawberries, fill your Tin-Pots with the Fruit, but as hollow as you can; put to them Lemmonade, made with Spring-Water and Lemmon-Juice sweeten'd; put enough in the Pots to make the Fruit hang together, and put them in Ice as you do Cream."
I am not sure whether we would all enjoy this sort of recipe for ice cream today but there is no doubt that flavours have moved on and Georgian England would be shocked at what is served today, good and bad!
Ice cream recipes have moved on too and over the course of the last few years, many major brands have added doughy products, chocolate pieces, gummy bears etc in order to shift more products at an affordable price. Just like the toppings put on ice cream at most of our parlours, many of these contain 'e' numbers ready to send your child into orbit.
One is only likely to find recipes such as Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Liquorice Ice Cream and Coffee & Tia Maria Ice Cream, all made with natural ingredients at your local artisan producer. Really unusual recipes will include such things as Marmite Ice Cream, Strawberry & Mascarpone Ice Cream and Red Bull & Vodka Sorbet.
The basic ingredients of ice cream are milk, cream, egg yolks and sugar with fruit, such as strawberry and raspberry or other produce such as honeycomb or hazelnuts, included to alter the taste. Sadly, the national brands are forced to make the additions cheaply and have to resort to adding milk powder, reconstituted whey, water and other bulking agents. This is because they are profit-driven.
Sugar for My Sweet and an Eggceptional Taste
Relatively few people know this but the secret to good ice cream is not the recipe but the quality of the sugar. Whilst anyone can add milk, cream, egg yolks and other ingredients together, caster sugar, or other recipes that proffer a recommended sugar, never quite taste the same as the best ice cream. This is because a good ice cream contains sugars in differing refinement levels from coarse to ultra-fine. The best will contain up to 20 differently graded sugars.
Some manufacturers do not include egg yolks in their recipes and quote allergies to justify their exclusion. The sad truth is that cost implications drive their real reasoning and the benefits of eggs in all ice creams is not the just the flavour they add but the superb texture of the final product. Any ice cream recipe that omits egg yolks, which are expensive, is short-changing the final product.
Finally, if cost is irrelevant and sheer perfection is sought, there are many recipes for ice cream that will send one to heaven and back. Some fruit ingredients like blood orange, passion fruit, guava or açai or other specialist ingredients like liquid pistachio nut oil or Japanese Green Tea will set one back a king's ransom. The final result is well worth while if made correctly. If not, it can be an expensive disaster.
Japanese 'Fuku' (the best) Matcha - Green Tea - ice cream is exceptionally difficult to find in Europe but it is possible to find it. The ingredients for it can always be found if you are prepared to track them down.
Television programmes such as 'MasterChef' and 'Come Dine With Me' have shown us what can be done if one has the willingness to try and even the experts have commented on the quality of the contestants' super-premium ice cream recipes. If they can do it, so can you. Dust off the apron, put on the pinafore, turn on the gas and start cooking!