The early recipes for Cream, as ice cream was called contained lots of eggs and cream. It was made in a crank freezer shaped a lot like the early butter churns. The crank ice cream maker was usually wood, which held ice and salt for the freezing mixture, and a metal can with a tight fitting lid for holding the ice cream mixture. The ice cream was stirred by a paddle inside the can, turned by a crank on the outside.
You needed about 12 pounds of ice for a batch. Usually every winter my father would take his truck over to the neighbor who had a pond, and they would saw out large blocks of ice from the pond, and wrap them in sacks of burlap, and he would bring them home and load them into his well insulated locker where he stored his meats. They would last a surprisingly long time.
He had a sharp pointed metal pick, with a handle on one end, and he would lay one of the blocks of ice on his big meat table and splinter it into shattered pieces to fit into the ice cream wooden bucket. Eating some of the broken pieces of ice was also part of the fun.
He would add some rock salt, which he also had available for curing his meats. He would alternate layers of ice and salt to cover the the metal can which would hold the liquid ice cream mixture. He didn't seem to measure, just poured in ice and poured in salt.
Do not over fill the inner metal ice cream can more than two thirds full. You would turn the crank slowly at first, and as the ice cream became more mushy, it could be turned more quickly. Sometimes they stopped and took off the lid to scrape the harder ice cream off the sides of the metal can and back into the middle. Care must be taken not to get any of the saltwater brine into your ice cream mixture or it will spoil your batch.
My mother would cook what she called a custard, on a double boiler. A double boiler was two sauce pans which fitted one on top of the other. The lower pan contained water, the upper pan contained the liquid she was cooking. They used these type of pans to better control the heat, and prevent the milk from scorching. Into the top pan she would put her cream, and sugar, whipped eggs, and lots of vanilla. Maybe a pinch of salt. She would cook this mixture until it just was beginning to thicken slightly. Then they would cool it and add it to the metal inner ice cream can. When the cranking got too stiff to turn it would pass to my dad. If we were adding nuts, or fruits we would do that at the mushy stage. Our favorites would include chopped cherries, nuts,and crushed pineapple. Adults seemed to like maple nut, which was maple syrup and nuts. The favorites of today chocolate and strawberry were not quite as popular then. Strawberries were usually in a jam, and more commonly used as a topping. Chocolate too, was usually a cocoa powder, mixed with butter, water or milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt and cooked on the stove to a soft ball syrup stage and served as a sauce for topping the ice cream.
The finished ice cream was very rich. You could really get a stomach ache if you ate too much. It was a delight and I was lucky that my dad loved ice cream and made it quite often for us to enjoy. A second benefit was that usually the custard mixture my mother made used only the egg yolks. This meant she would bake an angelfood cake with the egg whites and that was my second most favorite dish.
Recipe for the cooked custard ice cream base was 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (like whipping cream), 1 1/2 cups medium cream (like half and half), 2/3 Cup honey, 6 egg yolks and a tablespoon of vanilla. Whip the egg yolks with a fork, add the honey, and a 1/4 cup or so of the cream mixture, to blend the eggs into the cream. As the cream was starting to heat up, she would again, add a 1/2 cup or so of the warmed cream into the egg mixture and stir it well, before adding the eggs into the cream mixture. This was to prevent the eggs from scrambling, before mixing into the custard base. Cook 30 minutes or so, stirring and watching it so it doesn't burn, or boil, until it begins to thicken. It doesn't have to thicken too much, for when it starts, it keeps on thickening as it cools. Let it cool an hour before using it in the ice cream metal cannister.
Mama's mama, on a winter's day,
Milked the cows and fed them hay,
Slopped the pigs, and saddled the mule,
And got the children off to school,
Did the washing, and mopped the floors,
Washed the windows and did some chores,
Cooked a dish of home-made fruit,
Pressed her husband's Sunday suit,
Swept the parlor, made the beds,
Baked a dozen loaves of bread,
Split some wood and lugged it in,
Enough to fill the kitchen bin,
Cleaned the lamps and put in oil,
Stewed some apples she thought might spoil,
Churned the butter, baked a cake,
Then exclaimed: "For Mercy Sake",
The calves have got out of the pen,
Went out and chased them in again,
Gathered the eggs and locked the stable,
Returned to the house and set the table,
Cooked a supper that was delicious,
And afterwards washed all the dishes,
Fed the cat, sprinkled the clothes,
Mended a basket full of hose,
Then opened the organ and began to play,
"When You Come To The End Of A Perfect Day."
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