"I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream"

Ah, summer. I've heard the ice cream truck's chimes through the neighborhood more than once already, but honestly, what passes for an ice cream treat from your average ice cream truck is likely more artificial coloring, flavoring and high fructose corn syrup than I want to have anything to do with. And as we get into these warm, humid (well, humid by Spokane's standards), dog days of summer, thoughts do, naturally turn to ice cream. As a kid in New England, in Boston no less, I was proud of the fact that Bostonians eat more ice cream per capita than any other Americans. There were lots of Mom and Pop ice cream shops--I remember one Sunday feature in the Boston Globe covering lots of ice cream shops on the North Shore. Two friends and I decided to hit as many of them in one night as we could. We ate too much ice cream that night, but spent a lot of time driving around the coastal towns with the windows down and the radio on. Lots of time standing in line outside to walk up to the ordering window and sitting on slightly sticky picnic table benches. I lament the fact that it seems, likely because Bostonians eat so much more ice cream than others, that there are far fewer such shops in other places I have lived. Only one ice cream shop within walking distance of campus in Gainesville, FL. Florida, I mean, shouldn't there be ice cream shops everywhere in the state of eternal summer?

I remember taking walks down to the beach at home to get an ice cream cone and to walk along the water's edge. Or going with my Grandfather on his rounds to the ice cream shops and bakeries who were his customers (he was a bakery supply salesman when there were such salesmen to make calls on small businesses) or in the evenings after a long day at the beach to just patronize his customers. I remember distinctly the orange pineapple ice cream at The Vanilla Bean ice cream shop in Narragansett, RI. It was a flavor they were "trying out"--I don't think it made the final cut.

And that flavor inspired tonight's ice cream making and the flavor made. No pineapple this time around -- hard to get that local in the Inland Northwest. But an orange flavored custard base to make a beautiful ice cream that is delightfully flavorful for use ice cream sundaes tomorrow. A friend is coming over for chick flicks and ice cream. Yummy!

A couple of years ago, on a complete lark, I bought an ice cream machine--thankfully not the old fashioned kind which needs a lot of ice, rock salt and elbow grease. It was on sale, a good reliable brand and fully automatic. I have to admit I only use it a few times a year, but there is something lovely about cooling hot custard knowing that it will become a frozen treat. There is also something good about knowing exactly what goes into that ice cream--no weird colors, flavors, gums or thickeners. Just sugar, cream, egg yolks, a little salt, milk and whatever flavors suit one at the time. I am able to use organic cream and milk, organic sugar, local organic free range eggs and organic or local flavorings when I make ice cream at home. And there is something very special about homemade ice cream. It is somehow creamier, sweeter, and more refreshing.

A good recipe for the custard base that can be flavored in a multitude of ways is as follows:


ICE CREAM

8 large egg yolks (save the whites for meringue)
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups skim milk
2 cups heavy cream

In a medium sauce pan over NO heat whisk the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Stir in milk slowly. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, make the custard. Stir for about 15 minutes until the custard begins to thicken and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Take off heat. Pass mixture through a fine sieve. (This is necessary to avoid having bits of cooked egg ending up in the final product.) Chill in a bowl, placed in a bowl of ice. Stir in cream. Put in ice cream maker according to machine directions. Makes 1.5 quarts (which is a standard amount for many of the home-use ice cream machines available on the market).

To make the orange flavored ice cream I made tonight, before putting the mixture through the sieve, add strips of orange zest (careful to avoid the pith, I used a very sharp vegetable peeler to take off just the orange part of one orange in 7 strips). Let sit for 30 minutes to infuse. I also added about 1/8 of a teaspoon of orange oil to pump up the orange flavor. Discard the orange zest when sieving the mixture.

Anything that could be steeped the way an orange peel is can be made this way. That works for vanilla beans for good old fashioned french vanilla, for example. Things like fruit or cookie bits should be added when the machine is doing its work. So can anything that might not need to be strained out -- like cinnamon.

My Mom's favorite is surely peach bits in homemade ice cream. She still remembers making it somewhere, maybe my grandparents' house one summer. I don't have that memory, though. The possibilities are almost endless. Make a batch that combines two favorite flavors, or a flavor from childhood that is no longer available, and with each creamy spoonful or each luscious lick, the memories will flood back making something as simple as ice cream a sort of time machine to a time when things were simple and fun.