Can you imagine inventing a Time Machine...... only to use it for Ice Cream runs for the Pharaoh? "Two King Kones, to go"!
How to make Thomas Jefferson’s very own presidential ice cream Yes, Thomas Jefferson really loved his ice cream. Phew, now I could do with an ice cream myself, and that means it’s time for this week’s recipe: a very special vanilla ice cream brought back from France by Thomas Jefferson before he became President in 1801. It’s quite complex, but it uses the original ice-salt method and I played around with a modernised version from Marie Kimball’s book Thomas Jefferson’s Cook Book. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can find the original here. What you’ll need: 6 egg yolks, 2 pints of good cream (I used low fat and it turned out to be a creamy delight), 250g sugar, salt, 2 teaspoons of vanilla (or a vanilla pod if you can find one, but the extract works fine too!) How to make it First, beat the egg yolks until they are thick and a lovely lemon colour. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt and keep stirring until mixed. (You don’t have to throw the egg whites away – I made mine into a meringue which goes very well with the ice cream). Now pour the cream into a pan and bring it to the boil – it will make big, gloopy bubbles! Take it off the heat immediately and slowly pour it into the egg mixture. Now put this combined mixture over a pan of simmering water (i.e. a bain-marie) and let it thicken gently. Once thickened (it should only run slowly off a spoon, like custard), strain it through a fine sieve into a bowl. Add the vanilla and let the mixture cool. Give it a good mix and get ready to freeze! How to freeze your ice cream WITHOUT a freezer Now, I don’t have a proper sorbetiere like Thomas, so I improvised. It’s quite easy, all you need are some roughly crushed ice cubes, some salt, a big container (like a bucket) and a smaller container (like an old ice cream tub) that fits inside the big container with plenty of room for the ice. Then all you need to do is fill the big container with 3 parts ice to one part salt, pour the ice cream mixture into the smaller container and tightly seal the lid and push the small container into the ice. You’ll need to turn or shake the smaller container every hour or so to stop big crystals forming. Or, if you just can’t wait that long, you can do small amounts by placing a plastic foodbag of ice cream mixture inside another foodbag filled with ice and salt and just giving it a good shake for five to ten minutes. And voila! A real historical ice cream made without a freezer!