Eton Mess ice cream

One of the most rewarding things that we can prepare at home during the summer is ice cream. They all fascinate me... And even more so if they are homemade. Today we are going to see how to make an Eton Mess Ice Cream that, I assure you, will surprise you a lot.

This ice cream is inspired by the classic dessert of English origin, Eton Mess, a preparation that combines, in its traditional format, whipped cream, strawberries and meringue . Sometimes it is also made with bananas or other types of soft fruit.

To make this ice cream, we will prepare a white cream made mostly with milk , although it also incorporates cream, of course. Then we will mix this cream with strawberry jam trying to create a zig zag effect, so that when we have a scoop of ice cream we find the white cream with streaks of jam. To present it, we will prepare some meringue cookies with strawberry coulis that we will use as a sandwich.

Do you remember the famous cuts of ice cream? Well, we will try to simulate something similar, only with a slightly more striking appearance.

The result is an ice cream with a texture and consistency closer to gelato than ice cream. The difference between the two, among other details, is that gelato is made with a greater amount of milk than cream and, conversely, ice cream has a greater amount of cream in its mix, it contains more fat . The flavors of the gelato are much more intense, while the texture of the ice cream is much creamier.

If I'm honest, the cream or white cream ice cream that I share with you reminds me a lot of Mini Milk. Do you remember? It was an ice cream from our childhood, between the 80-90's, very popular among young children. Possibly our parents bought them for us because they were a perfect size for the children (they were quite small) and, for us, it was one of the best ice creams because of its incredible flavor.

When I tried this white cream once buttered, it totally transported me to those years. So, if you have the mix once buttered in t-shirts or ice cream molds, you will have some incredible homemade Mini Milks ;)

But, now we continue with our Eton Mess ice cream.

KitchenAid Rectangular Revol Pan and Ice Cream Scoop

Origin of the famous Eton Mess dessert.

There are many stories that surround the origin of the famous English dessert. As we can imagine, some of them are real and others fictional, but all of them are formidable because they allow us to go back to those moments and in the way they could have been created, allowing us to experience them firsthand. And in many cases, with funny anecdotes.

Of all the stories and origins related to the origin of the Eton Mess, that of the dog and the pavlova is without a doubt the most widespread.

Legend has it that during the 1920s a cricket match took place at Eton College . A family brought a surprise to the boys of the game so that they could enjoy once the game was over, a delicious strawberry pavlova that they carried in a picnic basket . Before the game ended, a labrador retriever that was playing around the area, jumped on the basket and crushed the pavlova . This was not a problem for the boys, nor for the family, since they did not care about the small mishap that occurred and decided to take it anyway. In fact they said it was absolutely delicious.

It's a very funny story, although not very credible... And the reason is that the Eton Mess had already been mentioned in old documents almost 30 years before this story, around the year 1893.

However, it is believed that Eton Mess was first served at a cricket match between Eton and Harrow and has continued to be served ever since at this annual match at the famous Lord's Cricket Ground, or simply Lord's, a stadium of cricket located in the St. John's Wood district of London.

The word "mess", "disorder/mess" in English, is believed to refer to its appearance.

Actually, the name of the dessert can have multiple meanings, although none has been shown to be correct. Some say that it refers to its chaotic appearance, while others think that it derives from the Latin " missum ", which refers to "a portion of food".

For our part, we'll give dessert a twist, which is certainly a fantastic option for summer, but we'll make it more refreshing. In addition, we will change its presentation a bit to adjust it more to the ice cream format. But, of course, we can always present the ice cream in a cup or glass, and accompany it with natural strawberries and dry meringues. I leave it to your choice!

Ingredients

FOR THE ICE CREAM (1 liter):

• 610g whole milk
• 165 g liquid whipping cream, 35% fat
• 39 g skim milk powder
• 20g dextrose
• 140g sugar
• 20 g inverted sugar (you can see the recipe in: Pumpkin ice cream)
• 6 g neutral for creams (can be replaced by yolks, see NOTES section)
• 150-200 g strawberry jam

• 240 g egg white, at room temperature
• 325g sugar
• Strawberry Coulis (recipe below)

• 100 g strawberries, clean and stemmed
• 30g sugar
• 10 g lemon juice

TO DECORATE:

• Chopped freeze-dried strawberries (optional)
• small meringues
• natural strawberries

Elaboration

WE PREPARE THE MIX FOR THE ICE CREAM

1. Prepare two large bowls. We fill one of them halfway up with cold water, if possible from the refrigerator, and ice. Place another bowl inside this one, metallic if possible, and set aside while we prepare the mix so that it reaches a cold temperature.
2. In a large pot, add the milk together with the cream.
3. With the cold mixture, without turning on the heat, add the powdered milk along with the dextrose. Mix with the help of some rods to help the mixture integrate evenly.
4. We pass the turmix to make sure there are no small lumps.
5. Turn on the heat and place at medium heat.
6. While it acquires temperature, mix the neutral for creams with the sugar. We booked.
7. Once the mixture reaches 40ºC , add the neutral sugar along with the sugar and inverted sugar. Beat after each addition.
8. Once we have all the ingredients added, mix constantly until reaching 85ºC . It is important that you help yourself with a digital kitchen thermometer in this process.
9. Remove from heat.
10. Pour the mix into the bowl that we have prepared (with cold water and ice) to cool it.
11. Stir constantly to help the mix lose temperature and, in this way, help it cool down sooner. When it reaches 35º-30ºC, we can pour the mix into an airtight container and refrigerate at 4ºC for 6-12 hours. Ideally, we should let it rest for 12 hours.

we butter

1. Take the mix out of the fridge and grind with the turmix to homogenize the mix.
2. Use your refrigerator, the one you have at home, following its instructions. In my case I have carried it out with the KitchenAid refrigerator .
3. Pour the mix into the fridge and butter for 20-25 minutes .
4. Put in the fridge and then transfer the mix to a container suitable for storing ice cream like this one from Revol . We have a layer of ice cream, add a few tablespoons of strawberry jam and stir to distribute and generate "swirls". Fill with the rest of the ice cream and repeat the same process with the jam on the surface.
5. Cover very well with film, place the lid and cover the entire container with film again.
6. Store in the freezer for 12-14 hours .

KitchenAid Refrigerator

NOTE: We will have a bit of mix left over if we use the Revol container, we can pour it into another container and store it in the same way

WE PREPARE THE STRAWBERRY COULIS

1. Wash the strawberries very well, remove the stem and chop these.
2. Add to a saucepan along with the sugar and lemon juice.
3. Place over medium low heat and cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. You should reduce the amount of water quite a bit, but not excessively. We must obtain a dense consistency.
4. Remove from heat and pass through a strainer.
5. Let it cool down to room temperature. If we are not going to use it on the same day, store it in an airtight container in the fridge until the next day.

WE PREPARE THE MERENGUE COOKIES

We assemble the French meringue

1. Add the egg whites to the KitchenAid bowl and begin to assemble them.
2. Once it begins to foam, we will begin to incorporate the sugar little by little and beat at the same time.
3. We will continue until we achieve a firm consistency. We will have a very bright meringue.

KitchenAid glass bowl

WE PREPARE THE COOKIES

1. Line a perforated tray with a Teflon sheet or silpat/mat, but that is not perforated .
2. With the help of an ice cream scoop, we have a ball of meringue on the teflon. It is not necessary to use the ice cream scoop, but it will make it easier for us to make them the same size. We can use a normal spoon instead.
3. We have a teaspoon of strawberry coulis on the meringue and, next, with the help of a toothpick we make a zig zag.
4. We repeat this same process in the rest of the cookies.
5. With the surplus of meringue, we put it in a pastry bag and we pour small meringues. Ideally, use different types of nozzles, if possible. We will need another tray for this step.
6. Place in the oven, previously preheated to 75ºC and leave the cookies for 4 hours and the meringues for around 2 and 1/2 hours .
7. The ideal is to check how the small meringues are after 2 and 1/2 hours, if it is necessary to leave them longer, we leave them. To know if the cookies are ready, they must be completely dry.
8. Once ready, remove and let rest for a few hours at room temperature. It is important that they are not in a place with humidity, it must be cool and dry.

WE SERVE ETON MESS ICE CREAM

1. Remove the ice cream and leave at room temperature for 4-5 minutes. Meanwhile, we can decorate the surface with pieces of meringue, natural strawberries and freeze-dried strawberries.
2. Moisten the KitchenAid ice cream scoop by immersing it in a glass of water.
3. We form a ball of ice cream and arrange it on a meringue cookie.
4. We accompany with natural strawberries, meringues (if we wish) and a little strawberry coulis. We can present it in a sandwich format or a ball arranged on the biscuit and, if we wish, another superimposed biscuit.
5. We serve right away.

Grades

• It is important that you do not change the ingredients to obtain an optimal result in the ice cream , both in flavor and in texture and consistency.
• It is very important that you follow all the steps that I detail in the preparation, as well as comply with the specified temperatures so that the results are good.
• If we don't want to use neutral for creams , we can use yolks instead. In fact, this ingredient is used to stabilize the ice cream and to be able to make ice cream without the presence of eggs. If we use egg yolk instead of neutral , the amounts change completely. They would be the following: 592 g whole milk, 83 g cream, 45 g skimmed powdered milk, 100 g egg yolk, 140 g sugar, 20 g dextrose and 20 g inverted sugar.
• In case of using yolks instead of neutral for creams, these must be incorporated at the same time that we incorporate the neutral. One element replaces the other.
• The buttering time can vary , we must obtain a creamy consistency.
• If it is very hot, I advise you to freeze the container where we are going to store the ice cream in order to prevent it from melting and, consequently, spoiling the final texture.
• I do not recommend adding natural strawberries to the ice cream because they change their texture when subjected to a freezing process , the final result is not very pleasant. For that reason we use strawberry jam. We can also add, if we wish, candied strawberries.
• In my case I prefer to add the meringues on the surface , but they can be incorporated into the mix once we have buttered the ice cream. Keep in mind that they will bring a lot of sweetness. Ideally, let each person add the amount they want to their ice cream, but you can do it if you wish.
• Meringue cookies are optional , but we can't deny that they are a great way to present ice cream.
• In my case, I have made them with strawberry coulis, but they can be made only with meringue.
• In my case, I got 8 meringue cookies , of a good size. If we wish, we can make them smaller and get more units. In this case, you will have to adjust the final cooking time. Instead of 4 hours, it will be less time.
• Another option to prepare the meringue cookies is to bowl them in the shape of a rosette instead of arranging them with a spoon as I show you.
• It can be kept frozen for 3 months , trying to prevent it from thawing every time we serve ice cream. This step will cause the ice cream to begin to form ice crystals.

You have to try this Eton Mess ice cream ... Incredibly refreshing, slightly sweet and with details of strawberry jam that combines perfectly with the white cream. Without forgetting the meringue with spirals of strawberry coulis that will give us that crunchy touch.

At home we have loved this variety of ice cream and the way of presenting it, very different from others that I have carried out. I think it's perfect as a dessert or even to accompany a coffee. Everything is to combat the heat of this summer with style!

I hope you like it and looking forward to knowing how it went!

Sources: The Runnymede on Thames