St Cuthman's Secret Sin
If you visit the Abbey of St Sixtus at Westvleteren, home of
the 'World's Best Beer' (allegedly) you will find that the café
'In de Vrede' serves a 'Coupe Trappiste' - ice-cream made with the Abbey's
beer. Perhaps that sounds strange but if you try it, you will get an
inkling of what Paradise really means!
Since St Cuthman's Red Wheelbarrow has been favourably compared to the 'World's
Best Beer' the obvious challenge was to create a
comparable beer ice-cream.
In these days of buying tubs of the
stuff from supermarkets, making your own ice-cream seems a bit of a
challenge.
All the books say you have to buy a special ice-cream machine - but
what did people do before those machines were invented? Simply, they
worked a bit harder. And it's perfectly possible to copy their methods
if you don't want to buy a machine.
All you need is a freezer and a whisk. You could use a manual
whisk but it would be hard work. We used a
Braun hand blender which did a very good job - the 4000 model is just a
bit more powerful which helps.
You also need time. It's quite quick to make the ice-cream but you
have to take it from the freezer at intervals and whisk it to prevent ice
crystals forming and and to give it a smooth texture. As the alcohol
in the recipe slows the freezing process it can take quite a long time but
the actual time will depend on your freezer, the outside temperature, the
nature of the container etc. We suggest you keep careful notes of the
timing on your first attempt, then when you make it again (as we're sure you
will) you will know how long to leave it between whisking.
Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes Refrigeration Time: Lots!
Ingredients:
¼ pint/150ml whole milk
½ pint/300ml double cream
3 oz/85g sugar (caster, or any
other fine sugar)
This is very rich, so you'll only want a small scoop per
person - then seconds . . . and thirds . . .
What we're trying to say is we can't predict how many portions it makes
because it depends on how much you can manage.
However we can say it makes up about ⅔ litre (just
over a pint).
Method:
Keep all the liquid ingredients in the fridge until
ready to use them. Lightly stir together the beer and milk, and put
back in the fridge until required. In a large mixing bowl whisk the
double cream until it just begins to stiffen, then gradually add in the
sugar while whisking - the mixture will be very stiff. Next very
slowly add the beer/milk mixture, whisking all the time. It will have
bulked up with all the air whisked in, but should still fit into a one litre
plastic container suitable for freezing. (We recycled a 1-litre
commercial ice-cream tub.) Put it in the freezer and note the
time.
Check it at 2-hour intervals to see when it is starting to freeze around the
edges - this may take many hours. When you are familiar with how it
behaves in your freezer you may find you can make up the recipe at night,
leave it in the freezer overnight and start the checking/whisking process
next morning. Take it out and whisk it thoroughly (to break up the ice
crystals) and return it to the freezer. Repeat the checking/whisking
process as necessary until the texture is as smooth and firm as you would
expect ice-cream to be. (If at any point the ice-cream sets too
solid to be whisked, put it in the refrigerator for a while until it becomes
soft enough.) After the final whisking allow it to set in the
freezer for another couple of hours before serving. We like to serve
it in the official Adur Brewery tasting glass - if you want to do the same
they will be available in the
merchandise section from October 09. If you want to decorate
it to look more impressive keep things simple - a sliver of dark chocolate
as a contrast in colour and flavour, and a Pompadour wafer is enough.
The flavour of the ice-cream is too good to be covered up with sauces.
We have read that ice-creams of this type will keep for at least a couple of
weeks in the freezer. We can't speak from experience as ours have
never lasted more than a couple of days! But you should be able to make this
a few days in
advance of any dinner party where you want to impress your friends with
a dessert that's delicious, sophisticated and a bit different.