Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (180 page)

2)
The chocolate ice cream

½ cup sugar

⅓ cup water

A 6-cup saucepan with cover

2 Tb instant coffee

6 ounces semisweet baking chocolate

2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

A larger saucepan of simmering water removed from heat

A wooden spoon

crème Chantilly:

2 cups chilled heavy cream in a 2½-quart bowl

A large bowl containing a trayful of ice cubes and water to cover them

A hand-held electric beater

A rubber spatula

Combine sugar and water in saucepan; swirl over heat until sugar has dissolved completely, and liquid is perfectly clear. Remove from heat; stir in the coffee. Break up the chocolate, stir it in, cover, and set in the pan of hot water. While chocolate is melting, beat the cream into
Chantilly
as follows.

Set bowl of cream over ice cubes and water. Circulating beater about bowl to incorporate as much air as possible, beat until cream has doubled in volume and beater leaves light traces on surface.

The
pralin
from Step 1 (save 2 to 3 Tb for final decoration, Step 3)

With the electric beater, whip the chocolate until perfectly smooth and shiny. Beat the chocolate for a moment over ice to cool it, then beat in about half a cup of the
crème Chantilly.
Finally, fold the chocolate mixture into the
Chantilly
along with the
pralin.

3)
Molding, freezing, and serving—freezing time 2 hours minimum

If you are in a hurry:
A 6- to 8-cup pan, or ice trays 2 inches deep

Otherwise:
A 6-cup conical mold, or a narrow bowl or dish with rounded bottom, to give the effect of a mountain peak

Immediately turn the ice cream mixture into pan, pans, or mold. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze. If you have used a shallow pan, the cream should be ready to unmold in about 2 hours; you will probably need 4 hours for a mold or a bowl.

A chilled serving dish

1 cup heavy cream beaten into
Chantilly
(as in Step 2), sweetened to taste with confectioner’s sugar and flavored with ½ tsp vanilla extract

The reserved 2 to 3 Tb
pralin

Just before serving, dip pan or mold in tepid water to loosen the ice cream. Turn serving dish upside down over mold, and reverse the two to unmold ice cream onto dish. Top with the
crème Chantilly,
sprinkle with the
pralin,
and announce the name of your snow-capped mountain as you bring it to the table.

MOUSSE GLACÉE, PRALINÉE AUX NOIX—APPAREIL À BOMBE

[
Walnut-caramel Ice Cream—or Filling for
Bombes Glacées
]

French frozen mousses are of two types, one with sugar syrup and cream, and the other like this, with custard and cream. Using this base, you may incorporate any flavoring you wish, from melted chocolate to crushed pineapple, and from crumbled peppermint sticks to walnut brittle. It makes a tender, smooth ice cream, suitable for freezing in a serving bowl, in a soufflé dish, in parfait glasses, or to be packed into a decorative mold lined with regular ice cream.

For 1½ quarts, serving 8 to 10 people

1)
Walnut brittle and caramelized walnuts—pralin aux noix—2½ cups

1⅓ cups sugar

½ cup water

A heavy 2-quart saucepan with cover

8 ounces (2 cups) shelled walnuts (some may be walnut pieces; 8 perfect halves needed)

A lightly oiled baking sheet

A fork, for taking walnuts out of caramel

An electric blender

Combine sugar and water in saucepan, and set over moderately high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir sugar with a spoon while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment as liquid boils and changes from cloudy to perfectly clear. Cover pan, raise heat to high, and boil for several minutes until bubbles are thick and heavy. Uncover, and continue boiling, swirling gently, until syrup turns a nice caramel brown.

Immediately remove from heat and add the 8 perfect walnut halves; quickly take them out one by one with fork, drain off excess caramel, and place right-side up at one end of baking sheet. If caramel has thickened or begun to harden, set over heat again to liquefy. Remove from heat and pour in the rest of the walnuts; stir about
with fork, and turn out onto baking sheet. (Do not wash out caramel-cooking pan; reserve for next step.) When caramel-walnut mixture has hardened, in about 20 minutes, break it up into 1-inch pieces. Grind in electric blender, flicking switch on and off rapidly so that some pieces will remain ⅛ inch in size, to give texture and interest to the mousse.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: Both
pralin
and caramelized walnuts freeze perfectly for several months in an airtight container.

2)
The ice cream mixture—appareil à bombe

½ cup milk heated in the caramel-cooking pan

4 egg yolks in a 2½- to 3-quart stainless steel bowl (metal is preferable because easy to heat and cool)

A hand-held electric mixer

The ground
pralin
; some for now, some for later

A pan of almost simmering water, large enough to hold bowl for egg yolks

A wooden spoon

A second bowl with 2 trays of ice cubes and water to cover them, to hold the first bowl

¼ cup kirsch or dark rum

Set milk over low heat, stirring occasionally, to melt the caramel. Meanwhile, beating the egg yolks, gradually incorporate 1 cup of the
pralin
and continue beating until mixture is thick and sticky. By driblets, beat in the hot milk, then set bowl in the pan of almost simmering water. Stir rather slowly with spoon, reaching all over bottom of bowl, until custard gradually warms through and thickens enough to coat spoon with a creamy layer. (Be careful custard does not overheat and curdle the egg yolks; however, you must warm it to the point where it thickens.)