Frosty, festive inspiration from 1930s ‘hand freezer’ By: Eva Wasney Posted: 6:00 AM CST Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022 Last Modified: 1:13 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/12/2022 (743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Christmas ice cream. No? Well, then I’d like to take this opportunity to push for the revival of the ice cream-as-holiday-dessert trend of the 1930s.

Ice cream is far and away my preferred dessert for most occasions — I’ve had an ice cream cake for almost every birthday — so I’m an easy convert, but Mrs. Madeline Day, a former Free Press cooking columnist, makes a sensible argument for the frozen treat over mincemeat or plum pudding:

“If you think that these desserts are too rich or too heavy to eat after one of the hearty holiday dinners that we are accustomed to serve, there is always the other very popular choice, ice cream,” writes Day in a December 1936 column.

After all, this recipe has all the trappings of classic English holiday fare — nuts, raisins, candied fruit — in a lighter, cooler package. If Winnipeg is the year-round Slurpee Capital of the World, I don’t see why we can’t start serving ice cream to guests in the dead of winter.

I have no idea why ice cream was “very popular” during the tail end of the Depression, but it may have something to do with misleading advertising. Day’s column ran alongside an ad for Crescent ice cream, which describes its products as “dainty, wholesome, healthy.”

Tutti frutti ice cream is typically made with chopped candied fruit and this recipe gets a little more festive with the addition of nuts and raisins.

The inclusion of macaroons, however, caused some confusion. Macaroons can be a few different things — almond flour cookies, coconut meringue thingies, chocolate coconut drops — and what form they took in 1936 remains a mystery. I went for the chocolate drop variety and was very into the result.

The original recipe notes that this ice cream can be churned with a “hand freezer” (a hand-cranked tub surrounded by ice and salt) or frozen in a “mechanical refrigerator.” I used an ice cream maker with great results. The method is easy enough to follow, but I’d halve the flavour ingredients or double the custard quantity if I made this again. It’s very chunky.

Merry ice cream Xmas!

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney

 

Day 5: Tutti Frutti Ice Cream, 1936

2 cups (500 ml) milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) sugar
4 tbsp (60 ml) flour
Pinch salt
2 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) sultana raisins
1 cup (250 ml) chopped nuts
2 cups (500 ml) macaroons, crumbled
1/2 cup (125 ml) glace cherries, chopped
1 cup (250 ml) cream, whipped
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla or brandy extract

Scald the milk and pour into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl over simmering water.

Mix the sugar, flour and salt together. Sift into the milk and cook for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick and smooth. (From Mrs. Day: If you are very careful it will not lump, but if it has a single one, strain it, for lumps do not belong in this ice cream.) Let the custard cool.

Plump raisins by covering with boiling water. Drain and dry completely.

Add the raisins, nuts, macaroons and cherries to the custard. Whip the cream until it holds its shape and fold into the custard mixture with your choice of extract.

Pour into a tray and freeze without stirring or churn in an ice cream maker for 10 to 15 minutes before freezing.

Original recipe by Mrs. Madeline Day. Edited for clarity.