Helado de Chocolate / Chocolate Ice Cream, 1893

by Shannon Costello

Gouffé, Jules. El libro de cocina. Contiene la cocina casera y la gran cocina y un tratado especial de la cocina mexicana formado expresamente por una cocinera poblana. Mexico : E. Rodriguez y Co., 1893. P. 415.

Healdo de Chocolate

Se mezclan y se ponen á hervir, hasta que tengan la consistencia conveniente, ocho onzas de buen chocolate raspado, treinta de leche, diez de natillas y otras diez de azúcar, menéandose todo y agitándose con una spatula; se vacía en un lebrillo, se déjà enfriar y se hiela en la garrafa.

Chocolate Ice Cream

8 ounces good chocolate, shaved [or 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips]
30 ounces [whole] milk
10 ounces cream
10 ounces [1 ¼ cups] sugar

Mix and boil the following until of a suitable consistency: 8 oz. good chocolate (shaved); 30 oz. milk, 10 oz. cream, and 10 oz. sugar. Stir with a spatula constantly. Pour into a basin and freeze until there is frost on the cylinder.

There are lots of instructions on making ice cream on the internet so you can fill in these very vague directions easily. You’ll want to cook it slowly at a low temperature (do not boil) until it coats the back of a spoon. It took about 15 minutes for mine to reach that point.

The author gives several pages of instructions on how to freeze ice cream by hand. Luckily for us, we live in the age of home ice cream makers. Once your mixture is cooled, freeze it according to the directions that came with your maker. It’s a good idea to make the mixture a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight so that it is well chilled when you put it in your ice cream maker. This will speed up the freezing a lot.

This ice cream was very rich and chocolaty, and there was a lot of it. This recipe made twice the ice cream base that I could put in my ice cream maker, so I had to do two batches a day apart. Do choose a good quality chocolate as it will affect the end result. I like Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, but you can use whatever brand you prefer. I also reduced the amount of sugar to 1 cup since I prefer my desserts to be moderately sweet. If you choose to reduce the sugar, keep in mind that cold things taste less sweet than warm things, so the ice cream will not be as sweet as the mix. Finally, I decided to add two tablespoons of amaretto to my second batch, and that was very good. Alcohol inhibits freezing, so if you choose to add it, add it to the mixture at the very end of the freezing process. You could probably also add it to the raw ingredients and cook off the alcohol, but I didn’t try that.