“What a pity it isn’t illegal.”
November 14, 2015 2:30 PM Subscribe
" Chinese emperors of the Tang Dynasty liked their ice cream a special way: Fermented buffalo or goat milk was heated, then thickened with flour and seasoned with camphor, which made it flake like snow. For good measure fragments of reptile brain were added, along with an eyeball or two." - "It Ought To Be Called Vice Cream" - Austerity Kitchen on the social and technological history of Ice Cream.
By the way, Taiwanese snow ice is totally delicious, and different from shaved snow or shaved ice.
posted by yueliang at 2:48 PM on November 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by yueliang at 2:48 PM on November 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
I scream,
You scream,
We all scream,
For camphorated brain and eyescream.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:49 PM on November 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
You scream,
We all scream,
For camphorated brain and eyescream.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:49 PM on November 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
Haha, not quite. The Tang Dynasty ice cream thing filtered into the popular consciousness from Elizabeth David by way of Edward Schafer, and got garbled along the way:
* "clear wind rice" (the ice cream-like thing a Tang emperor once ate) wasn't actually fully frozen, just extremely chilled, so it probably wasn't ice cream
* "dragon brain powder" is actually what camphor was called! No brains involved. "Dragon eyeball powder" isn't identified in Schafer, but probably isn't actual eyeballs.
* not flour but "crystalline rice" was the thickener. No clue what that is. Sugar, maybe?
Man, now I want to eat this.
posted by peppercorn at 2:52 PM on November 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
* "clear wind rice" (the ice cream-like thing a Tang emperor once ate) wasn't actually fully frozen, just extremely chilled, so it probably wasn't ice cream
* "dragon brain powder" is actually what camphor was called! No brains involved. "Dragon eyeball powder" isn't identified in Schafer, but probably isn't actual eyeballs.
* not flour but "crystalline rice" was the thickener. No clue what that is. Sugar, maybe?
Man, now I want to eat this.
posted by peppercorn at 2:52 PM on November 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
Oh, wait, dragon eyeball powder must've been dried longan!
Also, that article is great. That moral panic about Italians being allowed to corrupt nice Scottish children with iniquitous ice cream, wow.
posted by peppercorn at 3:03 PM on November 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, that article is great. That moral panic about Italians being allowed to corrupt nice Scottish children with iniquitous ice cream, wow.
posted by peppercorn at 3:03 PM on November 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
So, ice cream that tastes like moth crystals? Perhaps an acquired taste.
Anyway, I'm off for a bit of Italian hokey-pokey, and I don't care who knows it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:07 PM on November 14, 2015
Anyway, I'm off for a bit of Italian hokey-pokey, and I don't care who knows it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:07 PM on November 14, 2015
That moral panic about Italians being allowed to corrupt nice Scottish children with iniquitous ice cream, wow.
It got worse.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 3:58 PM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
It got worse.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 3:58 PM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
So you're saying, the Tang Dynasty didn't use an powdered fruit drink??
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:01 PM on November 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:01 PM on November 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
When I saw "Fermented buffalo or goat milk", I thought "CHINA INVENTED FROGURT", but it's never that simple.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:06 PM on November 14, 2015
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:06 PM on November 14, 2015
Recipe for Nesselrode, or Frozen Pudding from The Ice Book: A History of Everything Connected with Ice, with Recipes (1844): “Take one pint of cream, half a pint of milk, the yolks of four eggs, one ounce of sweet almonds pounded, and half a pound of sugar; put them in a stewpan on a gentle fire, set it as thin as custard; when cold, add two wine-glasses of brandy and two wine-glasses of nectar, (a delicious beverage, prepared only by the author.) Freeze, ...
I would stop right there. And, oh man, am so tempted to make this right now. It would involve needing to buy some brandy and deciding what alcoholic concoction could replace "nectar", but I see both of these as pluses.
posted by maupuia at 4:27 PM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I would stop right there. And, oh man, am so tempted to make this right now. It would involve needing to buy some brandy and deciding what alcoholic concoction could replace "nectar", but I see both of these as pluses.
posted by maupuia at 4:27 PM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wouldn't be surprised if "nectar" was some sort of fruit and sugar reduction.
That, or a home-made alcoholic cordial.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:59 PM on November 14, 2015
That, or a home-made alcoholic cordial.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:59 PM on November 14, 2015
Yeah, some googling suggest nectar is fruit juice/syrup/puree. So am going with that. And, you know, two glasses of brandy is probably sufficient alcohol! Will post back with the results once done :)
posted by maupuia at 5:04 PM on November 14, 2015
posted by maupuia at 5:04 PM on November 14, 2015
What are you using for the "pounded almonds"? Just crushed almonds, or almond flour?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:07 PM on November 14, 2015
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:07 PM on November 14, 2015
Let me know how it works out.
One suggestion- if you're using citrus fruit for the nectar, use peel and then strain. Or, if you can still get cherries, use those, because they will work really well with the almonds.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:28 PM on November 14, 2015
One suggestion- if you're using citrus fruit for the nectar, use peel and then strain. Or, if you can still get cherries, use those, because they will work really well with the almonds.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:28 PM on November 14, 2015
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The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream
posted by grobstein at 2:32 PM on November 14, 2015 [3 favorites]