PROCEDURE IN FREEZING DESSERTS
63. The preparation of frozen desserts is comparatively simple in nature, for it usually involves nothing except the cooking of the raw ingredients and the proper combining of the materials required in the recipe. Sometimes a custard mixture containing starch is prepared, and other times a real custard is made. The same rules that apply to the preparation of these dishes under other conditions should be followed here. As the housewife is already familiar with these principles, she will find that there is very little to master about the preparation of frozen desserts up to the time of freezing. A point that should always be remembered, however, is that the mixture should be prepared long enough before the freezing to be entirely cold when it is put into the freezer, and that, if possible, it should be cooled in a refrigerator. No trouble will be experienced in preparing enough frozen dessert for the number that are to be served if it is remembered that 1 quart of unfrozen mixture will serve six to eight persons when it is frozen.
64. FREEZING THE MIXTURE.--With the preparation of the mixture well understood, the housewife should turn her attention to the principles that are involved in its freezing. As has been explained, a can that has a cover and a bail may sometimes be used, especially if the dessert does not need turning, but a freezer is necessary for good results in the preparation of a frozen dessert that requires turning. In the case of those that need no turning, such as mousses, parfaits, etc., a mold of some kind or a vacuum freezer is required.
The usual type of freezer consists of a pail, generally wooden, and a can of smaller size that sets inside of the pail. The space between the can and the pail is where the ice and salt that freeze the mixture are packed. The can, which is the container for the mixture, contains a removable dasher that is turned during the freezing and thus beats air into the mixture. It is covered with a top that has an opening in the center through which one end of the dasher extends, and a ring of cogs surrounding this opening. For the entire freezer there is a top piece that fastens to both sides of the wooden bucket. It contains a set of cogs that fit into the cogs on the cover of the can. To one side of this piece is attached a crank, which, upon being turned, moves both the can containing the mixture and the dasher inside the can.
65. The first thing to be done in the freezing of any dessert is to get the ice ready for use. This may be done in numerous ways, but perhaps the most convenient one is shown in Fig. 7. A bag made of a heavy material, such as canvas or ticking, and wooden mallet are used for this purpose. Place the ice in the bag and, as here shown, hold the bag shut with one hand and pound it with the mallet held in the other. Continue the pounding until the ice is broken into small pieces, and then empty it into a dishpan or some other large pan. After the proportion of salt to ice has been decided upon, mix the salt with the ice in the manner shown in Fig. 8.
