With a patent five-minute freezer (it really takes, however, from
fifteen minutes to half an hour to freeze any thing), it is as cheap and
easy to make ices in summer as almost any other kind of dessert. If one
has cream, the expense is very little, as a cream-whipper costs but
twenty-five cents. A simple cream, sweetened, flavored, whipped, and
then frozen, is one of the most delicious of ice-creams. By having the
cream quite cold, a pint can be whipped, with this cream-whipper, in
five or ten minutes. It will require ten cents’ worth of ice--half of it
to freeze the preparation, and the other half to keep it frozen until
the time of serving. Salt is not proverbially expensive; a half-barrel
or bushel of coarse salt will last a long time, especially as a portion
of it can be used a second time. In summer, fruits, such as peaches or
pears, quartered, or any kind of berries, are most delicious half frozen
and served with sugar. The chocolate ice-cream with fruit is excellent.
The devices of form for creams served at handsome dinners in large
cities are very beautiful; for instance, one sees a hen surrounded by
her chickens; or a hen sitting on the side of a spun-glass nest, looking
sideways at her eggs; or a fine collection of fruits in colors. One may
see also a perfect imitation of asparagus with a cream-dressing, the
asparagus being made of the _pistache_ cream, and the dressing simply a
whipped cream. These fancy displays are, of course, generally arranged
by the confectioner. It is a convenience, of course, when giving dinner
companies, to have the dessert or any other course made outside of the
house; but for ordinary occasions, ices are no more troublesome to
prepare than any thing else, especially when they can be made early in
the day, or even the day before serving.