Ice To See You, To See You Ice

Fanny has a delicious proposal for me. She is suggesting we go on an adventure together. I'm assuming it's just me and her, she doesn't mention poor Johnnie at all. I'm also assuming there is nothing deliciously underhand going at all, just to be clear. I'm assuming it's something deliciously food related, she's obsessed. I'm hopeful. She's raising her eyebrows to even higher levels than usual and is making mysterious motions towards the kitchen, so, despite a slight feeling of panic, I can only speculate we aren't going very far on this delicious adventure together.

Thankfully, the adventure Fanny has in mind is into the 'realms of home-made ice-cream', so all we need to locate is our freezer. For those less fortunate than Fanny perhaps, who only have a small freezing compartment in their ordinary domestic refrigerators, Fanny says join us anyway, but just cut down her quantities to fit. So just miniscule tablespoons perhaps? For those more fortunate in the freezer department, Fanny promises we can make ice creams in bulk for storage, adding flavours as required. I always find ice cream is best eaten immediately until it's all finished, so storage is a new concept for me...

Fanny has a set of 'basics' that she's keen that we cherish and learn by heart so that they are in our heads and at our disposal whenever we want to make ice cream, throughout the year, before we progress. She knows how to plan an adventure, eh? Her foundation recipe is 1 pint of confectioners custard and either 1/2 pint (when you are willing to pay for more) or a 1/4 pint (if your purse is stretched) of whipped double cream. Indeed if your purse is very stretched, Fanny says you can frankly freeze the flavoured custard on it's own. She does however note that it's flat-out not worthy of the first-class, first-rate standards that we've come to expect from her. So the message is you can, but the real message is don't.

Fanny's method for most freezers is mainly to whip the cold cream until it just hangs from the whisk, and then whip it into the custard. freeze it until the edges are set and the centre is squidgy, whip it again for 5 minutes, then return it to the freezer until it's solid. When frozen, take it out and whip it again and refreeze. If you have a deep freeze, just bung it in and freeze it. So is all committed to memory? I will pass round examination papers shortly.

Well, forget it for now, as Fanny has a recipe of her very own to teach us. It's for Orange Ice Cream. In fairness, it's a similar process, but swapping the custard for a sorbet, mostly. Fanny dissolves sugar slowly in water, with orange zest, then boils it for nine minutes until it's a very fine syrup. She adds an egg yolk and strained orange juice, cooks for five more minutes stirring all the time. Then freeze, whip, freeze, whip and refreeze as before. Whip in whipped cream and freeze for the final time. There you have it, orange ice-cream. Serve in an orange, of course. It's delicious adventure. It soon becomes clear why Johnnie was not invited. Fanny reveals that, despite him being a wine-lover, he has been known to polish off forty-seven portions of this particular ice-cream in one session. Fanny says he is a pig about it, but being Fanny's own recipe of course he is a very discerning pig. Just don't let him near your freezer compartment.