I really made this pretty much as was described in the recipe. I used one large cucumber. It was easy to de-seed by simply running a spoon down each half before dicing it. When it said peel of two lemons, I interpreted it as lemon zest. I did try to find the size of Victorian lemons, but couldn't find anything definitive on lemon sizes. I used two lemons and zested most of it, but left a bit as I thought that maybe lemons were a tad smaller then. I added the 3/4 pint of water which is 1 1/2 cups and 1/2 cup of sugar. I cooked it until the cucumber was soft. I mashed it up with a potato masher. I didn't have a tamis (which is pronounced tammy lol), which is a type of sieve. My sieve ended up doing duty as a wading pool strainer, so I did end up using my stick blender to smooth out the mixture in the end. I juiced the lemons, in my antique glass lemon juicer no less :), added a tiny drop of green food colour and 1/3 c brandy. It's a little less than a wine glass, but I'm not a drinker. I went by taste here. At this point, I let the mixture cool. The recipe doesn't say so, but I think the instructions to freeze and finish as usual would allow for this, as it's a pretty important part of the freezing process. Once the mixture was cool, I added the cream, sweetened with almost 1/2 c of sugar. I used 10% goats milk light cream because it was the only kind I could find which didn't entail a trip to a grocery store for a single item.
I used a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker. It's electric and while I've always wanted an old fashioned crank ice cream maker, this one is quite effective and efficient. I do like that I can turn it on and walk away, just checking it every so often. Realistically, I probably make more ice cream because it's electric than if it were hand cranked.
This ice cream was interesting. It was light and refreshing. It was adult ice cream and it you'd added a full wine glass, it would have been far more potent. It was something to be eaten in small amounts though, which makes sense when you look at the way a Victorian meal was served. It would make a good palette cleanser between meals, but I think it would shine as an ending course for a Victorian luncheon or picnic.
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup white sugar
1 3/4 cups water
1/3 - 1/2 cup brandy
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 cups cream (sweetened to taste) I added 1/2 cup sugar here.
green food colour
Interesting! I will have to try this. I notice the original recipe calls for ginger brandy - is such a thing now available? Or is it the same as regular brandy? I have a Cuisinart too, so I could try it as is.
ReplyDeleteI did a quick search for Ginger Brandy and found several varieties still available. However, that meant another trip to town and into another store. I only go to town once a week generally, so I used the regular brandy I had on hand. I'm sure the ginger brandy would add some nice spice, but it was pretty good with what I used.
ReplyDeletehm, sounds interesting - but I have a feeling that the men in this household might not eat it:) I've made garlic ice cream once - because I was told this is it for garlic fans, but not even my father liked it - and he'd eat anything garlicky usually;)I think maybe I should stick to fruit - in this household we are not terribly traditional with food, but ice cream is kind of the holy grail - untouchable:))
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