Ice-Cream

Ice-Cream
By Michael O’Meara Oscars bistro Galway

With all the talk of the recession and all this doom and gloom I thought a piece on possibly the most successful dairy product which is known to put a person into a good mood was called for. Indeed ice-cream is a relatively new food which was originally invented in Italy in around the 17th century and then adopted into French cuisine from where its popularity has increased at an exponential rate. The first mention of ice cream in English was 1672 and was served at the feast of St. George at Windsor. Although we take the availability of ice-cream on a hot summers day for granted, it was the development of modern refrigeration which has made ice-cream available to the masses. Before Refrigeration Lake ice would be cut in winter and stored under-ground throughout the summer months. Salt was added to the ice to allow it to cool below zero degrees centigrade. A bowl was placed into the ice-water mix into which the ice-cream would be poured and churned by hand; this was the pot-freezer method. An ice-cream machine was developed by French patisseries but the first hand cranked churn was likely developed in America. Liquid nitrogen has been used to make ice-cream but this might be a little impractical for most home kitchens.
When making ice-cream the churning action coupled with freezing allows for smaller ice-crystal formation, this gives ice-cream its smooth texture.
Now back to the recession, I often hear economists (modern day tarot readers?) go on about the food industry being boring and so on. Well two companies now control more than one-third of the global ice-cream market they are Nestlè and Unilever. In 2007 the global market for ice-cream was predicted to hit $65 billion (Euromonitor) with Europe being the world’s largest market worth $21.5 billion in 2006. This is still a high growth market and might be of interest to a country with the best milk in the world, just a thought and maybe time for the development of an internationally recognised brand a bit like Ben & Jerry’s.

To make a basic ice-cream
6 organic egg yolks
100 gram sugar
300ml full fat milk
300ml cream
1 vanilla pod

1. Place the milk, cream and vanilla pod (split into two with the seeds removed and mixed with the liquid) into a heavy based pot and bring to a gentle simmer, allowing the vanilla to infuse.
2. Place the sugar and egg yolk into a bowl and lightly mix, add half the hot milk and cream to the bowl and stir in the eggs and sugar.
3. Pour this mixture back into the pot with the remaining milk and cream and allow cook till the mix slightly thickens (do not allow the custard to boil).
4. Strain the mix and then pour into an ice-cream machine, churn until smooth and creamy.