I just got back from a wonderful afternoon and evening at my parents'.
Standard 4th of July fare: Homemade southern fried chicken and homemade potato salad and all the sides and snacks. Family, neighbors, and good conversation with no where to be and no set time to be there.
Before dinner itself can be served, everybody has to take a turn cranking the ice cream. It takes about an hour of cranking and adding ice and salt to get it set nice and firm. When the strongest men can't crank it any more, it's ready -- to pack. The inside beater is removed, the canister re-sealed, and lowered back into the salt water. More ice and salt are piled on top. Then a couple of blankets thrown over the lot to keep all that cold in.
Dinner is served, conversation continues, and about an hour and a half later, the ice cream is hard set inside its little ice fortress and ready to serve.
I was an adult before I found out that most people don't make ice cream the way my mother always has. Her's is really a frozen custard. Which gives it a creamy smoothness and extra richness that other recipes just can't match.
Today I found out that "My Mom's Recipe" was gotten from her Aunt Hazel. The aunt that raised her, and my favorite "grandma." (As a child, it never occurred to me to ask why my grandma's name was Aunt Hazel. It was just her name.) Where Aunt Hazel got it, no one remembers. She had been making it long before taking my mom in back in the 40s. Some woman's magazine? A neighbor? Aunt Hazel's mother or grandmother before her? We don't know.
Anyway. To keep this national treasure from disappearing from the face of the earth, I'm putting it out there in cyber space.
Mom’s Homemade Ice Cream
(frozen custard)
makes 1 gallon
Mix:
1/2 cup Sugar
4 Tbsp. Flour
Dab of Milk -- just enough to make a thick paste from the Sugar and Flour
Add:
4 Egg Yolks, beaten
2 cups Milk
dash of Salt
Boil until thick. This is a custard. That means stirring so the eggs don't cook at the bottom. Bring it to a good solid boil and keep stirring as it thickens. It thickens as you cook. So don't stop early and think it will thicken as it cools.
My mom actually uses only 1 cup of Milk above, then adds the 2nd cup as the mixture is coming off the stove. To help it cool faster.
Refrigerate this custard for 3 or 4 hours to get it completely down to refrigerator temperatures (40° F).
In a separate bowl, mix:
1-3/4 cups Sugar
1/2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp. Vanilla
1 qt. Half and Half or 1 pt. Heavy Cream
Refrigerate this mixture as well.
Just before making the ice cream, beat 4 Egg whites until stiff.
Put everything into the ice cream freezer -- custard, cream mixture, and egg whites. They're just layered in the ice cream freezer -- no need to mix or fold them together, the ice cream beater will do that for you. Fill with Milk to the Full Line.
Now crank that puppy as describe in the ice cream freezer manual (and above). It goes easier with people to trade off. [Personal bias: If you're not hand cranking, you're not making REAL homemade ice cream :-)]
Enjoy.
Happy 4th of July, all y'all!
11:05 AM PT: Looks like I've been Spotlit Communitively. Thank you DK gnomes, elves and faeries.
11:06 PM PT: I've realized this recipe may make 6 quarts (1.5 gallons) NOT 1 gallon as stated. I'll check back with my Mom to make sure.
Sat Jul 06, 2013 at 11:26 AM PT: Mom says it's one gallon.