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Printable recipe below! We're making up a traditional ice cream recipe that dates back to 1813. This ice cream was made at the white house during President Madison's inaugural ball. This homemade ice cream recipe still tastes amazing today!
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0:00
Would you believe this ice cream was
0:02
made in 1813? Our country was barely 37
0:05
years old and we were in the middle of a
0:07
war with Britain and the White House was
0:10
about burnt to the ground, [music] but
0:11
you know what they still made time for?
0:14
Ice cream. Now, Dolly Madison became
0:16
famous [music] for it and there's more
0:18
behind the story and that is how it made
0:20
its way to the table of the president's
0:22
inaugural ball. This is the third video
0:26
in our America [music]
0:27
250 series where we spend the summer
0:31
the food and the people that actually
0:33
built this country. Stories you've never
0:35
heard before in honor of 250 years of
0:39
this great nation. And today on the
0:41
menu, the [music] ice cream that made it
0:43
all the way to the White House and the
0:45
cake that American women baked to win
0:47
elections [music] long before they were
0:49
even allowed to vote.
0:55
Today y'all are in for a treat because
0:57
we are making ice cream the same way
1:00
Dolly Madison did for the inaugural
1:03
ball. There was no electricity, [music]
1:05
there was no hand crank. This is old
1:07
school, old fashioned just the same way
1:09
Dolly made it.
1:23
Now, I got this recipe from the
1:24
Virginian Housewife Cookbook. So, we're
1:27
talking about strawberries and they said
1:30
"Mash them up a little, then run them
1:32
through a sieve or a cloth to just press
1:34
all the juice in there. It's all that
1:35
you're going to use." Now, I've made
1:37
strawberry homemade ice cream for a long
1:38
time and I just usually just cut the
1:40
strawberries up and mix them in there.
1:42
But, she would strain this through a
1:43
colander
1:45
just to maybe use just the juice. So,
1:48
we're going to see and it's best when
1:50
you mash these if you can let them sit.
1:56
There we have it.
1:58
You can see that we got a lot of that
2:00
juice out there of them strawberries.
2:01
I'm going to save these because I really
2:04
think
2:06
that I would like to maybe top the
2:07
finished ice cream with some of these
2:09
berries. I think it would dress it up
2:10
just a little. So, here we go, folks.
2:14
Sugar.
2:17
A quart of heavy cream.
2:19
They got fresh from the cow that day,
2:21
separated it and brought it to the
2:23
wooden house, put it in the wooden ice
2:25
chest out there
2:27
in the little ice house and let it
2:29
chill. So, we're going to put a whole
2:31
quart in there.
2:34
To that,
2:36
juice of a half a lemon.
2:39
Roll it around a little, which I've done
2:41
done.
2:42
It'll juice easier.
2:45
If any seeds laying right there on top,
2:47
go ahead and get them.
2:53
Let's give it a stir.
2:56
You can see how the color changed from
2:58
sort of white
3:00
to sort of pink.
3:03
What the ice cream machine it is, isn't
3:05
it? You don't see no hand cranker here.
3:07
Sure ain't got no electricity out of
3:09
here. Now, they would have probably done
3:11
this a little different than I did, but
3:13
it really is the same method of
3:15
procedure. They would have had a wooden
3:18
bucket
3:20
and then there would be a pewter or a
3:21
copper can that would go inside that
3:23
bucket. They would have ice just like I
3:25
got ice cuz they would gather it out of
3:27
the Potomac River in the winter, chip it
3:29
up, put it in the ice house. So, to get
3:32
this started, I chilled this Dutch oven
3:34
about a hour in the freezer. Makes a big
3:36
difference, it does. So, off comes the
3:39
lid
3:40
and people say you can do this in two
3:42
Dutch ovens, like put this in a 16,
3:44
but I am not going to put rock salt and
3:47
let it melt inside my Dutch ovens. Going
3:49
to create a a of problem and a lot of
3:51
rust. So, in go Dolly strawberry ice
3:54
cream.
3:56
Oh my gosh.
3:58
I can't hardly wait.
4:03
Now, they would have to have somebody
4:05
man the machine, which is the pewter can
4:07
or copper and turn it every once in a
4:09
while. We'll do the same.
4:12
Lid goes on good and tight.
4:14
We're going to take a layer OF ICE
4:16
FIRST.
4:24
TRY TO MAKE SURE YOU GET IT ALL THE WAY
4:26
AROUND.
4:30
We'll get this off the lid for the
4:31
moment. I need to get the handle up here
4:33
cuz that's going to be an important part
4:35
of the process.
4:37
Rock salt.
4:39
Salt melts ice, right? Well, when you
4:41
combine rock salt with this ice, it's
4:43
going to drop it down to even a freezing
4:45
temperature even more. So, we're going
4:48
to give it a shake.
4:53
A layer of salt.
4:55
More ice.
5:04
Now, you don't have to use this method
5:06
to make this ice cream. You can put it
5:09
in your hand cranker or you can plug it
5:11
into the socket and listen to that motor
5:13
churn and learn and just drive you crazy
5:15
or you can do it this way out in the
5:17
backyard and gather the family around.
5:19
You'll make a memory. So, we got another
5:21
layer ice in there. We're going to have
5:23
a little more salt.
5:27
Now, more ice.
5:35
I like to make sure that that ice is
5:37
popped down in there well.
5:43
Okay, let's just see if it'll turn.
5:46
Don't that sound like one of them old
5:47
crankers? Just
5:50
This way, I want you to do it that when
5:52
you start, just to let some of that ice
5:54
get on the bottom of that Dutch oven and
5:55
do it.
5:57
One more layer of salt and we'll keep an
5:59
eye on it
6:01
and make sure we need to add some more
6:02
ice. We'll
6:04
give the little Dutch oven a
6:06
turning every once in a while.
6:12
Now, I'm here to tell you, I don't know
6:13
exactly how long this is going to take.
6:15
It's going to take the right amount of
6:16
time. It will. Cuz I've never really
6:19
done this with this big wash tub. I used
6:21
to put it in buckets years ago in just a
6:23
little bitty deal. So, we'll probably
6:24
give it a good rotation one way
6:27
then go back the other. Just keep it
6:28
sort of [music] mixing. That's going to
6:30
help it freeze faster. Eventually, we
6:32
will take the lid off and see if there's
6:34
anything in it.
6:37
This recipe actually begins with a woman
6:39
named Sally Shadd. [music] Now, history
6:41
hasn't preserved everything about her
6:43
the way it should have. But, here's what
6:45
we do know. The Shadd family were free
6:48
[music] black people in Wilmington,
6:49
Delaware. That alone was remarkable at
6:51
the time when most black Americans were
6:53
enslaved. After getting married,
6:55
>> [music]
6:56
>> Sally went into the catering business.
6:58
And somewhere in those early years of
7:00
the 1800s, she created something nobody
7:03
had quite made before.
7:05
>> [music]
7:05
>> Word traveled fast in Wilmington and
7:07
eventually all the way to Washington.
7:09
[music] Even Dolly Madison, the first
7:11
lady of the United States, came to
7:13
Wilmington herself to try it. She loved
7:16
it so much that she put it on the menu
7:18
at President Madison's inaugural [music]
7:21
ball in 1813. Eyewitnesses at the ball
7:24
described a magnificent pink dome of ice
7:27
cream [music] at the center of the
7:28
table. They called it strawberry bomb
7:31
flambé. Dolly Madison got the credit.
7:34
Her name went on the [music] ice cream
7:35
brands. Soda fountains across America
7:38
advertised Dolly Madison ice cream with
7:40
her portrait [music] on a sign. And
7:42
unfortunately, Sally Shadd was largely
7:45
forgotten.
7:50
You know,
7:51
>> [music]
7:52
>> if I stick it in an ice cream freezer, I
7:54
think the temperature would be 20 to
7:55
25°. I want to check here, so I brought
7:58
my Chef's Temp down here. I just want to
8:00
see what the temperature is.
8:02
We'll get it down here in the middle.
8:06
Oh.
8:08
Oh, wow. So, we're doing some good in
8:10
our freezer.
8:12
We're going to give it a quick turn
8:13
while we're here.
8:25
BEFORE WE FINISH UP THAT ICE CREAM,
8:27
LET'S TALK about a tradition that most
8:28
[music] Americans have completely
8:30
forgotten. And it started with women who
8:33
couldn't even vote, but they changed
8:35
[music] democracy one cake at a time.
8:40
Before America [music] was even a
8:41
country, when colonial men gathered for
8:44
militia training days, women baked
8:46
enormous spice fruitcakes to feed the
8:48
crowds. They called them muster cakes
8:51
because the men were [music] mustered,
8:53
called up for military training.
8:55
Sourdough leavened, loaded with dried
8:57
fruit, spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon,
9:00
and sometimes soaked in brandy. After
9:03
[music] the revolution, those same women
9:05
kept baking. Except now, the men weren't
9:07
training. They were voting. And the
9:09
women who had fought alongside them,
9:11
sacrificed alongside them, [music] still
9:13
couldn't cast a single ballot. So, they
9:16
baked. They brought election cakes to
9:18
the polling places, fed the voters, and
9:20
according to historians, used those
9:23
cakes to quietly campaign for the
9:25
candidates they believed in. The men
9:27
voted, the women baked, but make no
9:29
[music] mistake, those women were doing
9:32
politics. The first written recipe
9:34
appeared in 1796 [music]
9:37
in Amelia Simmons' American Cookery, the
9:39
very first cookbook written by an
9:41
American. Somewhere in [music] the 20th
9:43
century, the tradition just disappeared.
9:50
Elections got more [music] formal.
9:52
People stopped gathering the way they
9:53
used to, and election cake went [music]
9:56
with it. And now most folks have never
9:58
heard of it, but we're changing all that
10:00
today.
10:05
What would go better with an 1813 ice
10:07
cream recipe? A cake, but not just any
10:10
cake, an election cake. When we got to
10:13
researching, but what is this election
10:15
cake all about? Well, to me, when I was
10:17
looking at the recipe, it looked a lot
10:19
like a spice cake, and I've never made
10:21
one of these, so I really don't know
10:22
what it's going to turn out to be, but I
10:24
want to recreate some history, so we're
10:26
going to get started. So,
10:29
I had me some butter that I creamed
10:30
together with sugar, and let it whip
10:32
there pretty good about, I'd say, 2 or 3
10:34
minutes. Good and smooth. To that,
10:38
three cackleberries.
10:43
We need to mix it up really well till it
10:45
is good and smooth.
10:50
Whole coriander seed,
10:52
cinnamon,
10:54
nutmeg, allspice. Sound like a spice
10:56
cake to y'all? Does to me. We going to
10:59
sprinkle them in.
11:02
Give it another mixing.
11:06
The thing I really loved about this
11:08
recipe when we were looking at it,
11:11
it had brandy in it and wine. Now,
11:14
Madeira wine was what they probably
11:16
would have used at the time, but you can
11:18
substitute that with a port.
11:21
So, if we can get this open,
11:24
this have been sitting in the house
11:25
quite a while, Shan. I need them.
11:28
About a fourth of a cup,
11:33
which is there.
11:35
To that, we need a fourth of a cup of
11:37
brandy.
11:40
>> Have you had brandy before?
11:42
>> Not since I come out of a blizzard back
11:43
in 1816, so I'm going to try this just
11:45
to make sure, too.
11:50
Oh, that's nice. I've never really drank
11:51
brandy. A fourth of a cup of it, as
11:54
well.
11:56
Which is about so.
11:58
In it goes.
12:05
>> [music]
12:13
>> Now, this
12:14
traditionally was used with a sourdough
12:16
mix, but we're going to make it with
12:18
just [music] yeast. So, I started out
12:20
with some warm milk. And then we're
12:21
going to add some dry rapid-rise yeast
12:24
to it and some sugar to get it to
12:25
activate. So, you need to let this sit
12:27
about 10 minutes till it gets nice and
12:30
bubbly. Now, we're going to add it to
12:32
our mixture right here.
12:35
We're going to combine that with our
12:37
all-purpose flour.
12:44
You got that in the bowl? Let's change
12:46
to a spoon and let's get that all folded
12:49
in and mixed well.
12:55
Now, this is thicker than a lot of cakes
12:57
I made. Sort of looks like cookie dough.
12:59
But, to that, we are going to add some
13:02
raisins. Now, I love a raisin right out
13:04
of the box.
13:06
I do. But, I usually don't cook with
13:08
them. But, I'm going to go with the
13:09
recipe cuz I'm feeling really
13:10
emotionally connected to these [music]
13:12
people back then. So, in they go.
13:16
We'll get them mixed up.
13:24
>> [music]
13:31
[music]
13:36
>> I'm surprised.
13:38
I [clears throat] really get the the
13:39
allspice and the nutmeg.
13:41
But I got the crunch of one of them
13:43
little coriander seeds.
13:45
I'm thinking this is going to be all
13:45
right, Shannon.
14:04
Now, after about 45 minutes, I need you
14:06
to check that ice cream.
14:08
>> [music]
14:08
>> Now, you remember you're thinking a
14:09
Dutch oven holds heat, but when you
14:11
chill that that thing holds cold as
14:13
well. That's why we're using it. But
14:15
pull it up out of that ice and salt
14:17
solution, rake it all of off the lid
14:20
really good cuz my mother scolded me
14:22
many times. If you took the lid off that
14:23
ice cream freezer and you got a little
14:25
rock salt in there, what'd you get? A
14:28
thrashing.
14:29
Pull it up, take the lid off, take your
14:31
scraper.
14:32
It's already freezing around the outside
14:34
edge, and when you can mix that up, it's
14:35
going to help that middle freeze even
14:37
quicker. Put the lid back on, get it
14:39
mashed back down in there, add some more
14:42
ice, add some more salt.
14:44
Let her go, but every once in a while,
14:46
turn it turn it turn it.
14:52
>> [music]
15:15
[music]
15:21
>> I would set that on the table, even here
15:23
and at the president's inaugural ball.
15:26
But, let me walk you back through this
15:27
ice cream making just a minute. Now,
15:29
about
15:31
2 hours in,
15:32
I checked it, stirred it really good,
15:35
put the lid back on, packed it with more
15:37
ice, more salt, and then I dragged out a
15:39
tarp, about triple layered it, stacked
15:41
it on top there because that's going to
15:43
help hold that cold in right at the end.
15:45
I was so amazed when it come out of
15:47
there. It was like the best ice cream
15:48
ever.
15:48
>> Wait, I want an honest reaction on that
15:52
cake.
15:52
>> Okay.
15:53
>> Because it's actually got a lot of
15:55
moisture in it.
15:56
>> I was surprised as dry as it looked when
15:58
we were starting, but you can see the
16:00
moisture in there.
16:07
I am literally shocked
16:09
that it is that moist, and you have my
16:12
vote. I will vote for you with this
16:14
election cake. It's a little warm out
16:15
here, and the ice cream is beginning to
16:17
melt, but I'm going to have me some of
16:19
this.
16:21
Mhm.
16:23
So
16:24
creamy, smooth, and froze up so well
16:27
make me want to do a little dance here
16:30
and say,
16:31
"God bless America. I'm glad they put
16:33
that on the table so we would know it."
16:35
Have me a little dance. Yes, sir. It was
16:37
good, mage. [music]
16:40
Now, I'm going to tell you right now
16:42
them folks did know how to party it up
16:44
back in 1830. They did. Now, I would
16:47
love for y'all to try this. Please do.
16:49
Make the ice cream. Make the cake. It is
16:51
such a great thing, and it's so simple
16:53
and easy to do, but I guarantee you
16:56
you'll gather them around the table and
16:57
do this. And if you would actually do it
16:59
in that Dutch oven, you will be the hit.
17:01
I promise you. Now, remember, this is
17:04
our third episode in celebrating
17:06
America's 250th.
17:08
But, be sure you check them others out,
17:10
and watch this one, and there's one more
17:12
to come, but it is with great pride,
17:14
honor, and privilege that I tip my hat
17:16
to all the service men and women and all
17:18
the veterans that have kept that old
17:20
flag a flying over camp. We commend you
17:22
all, we do, and we lift you up in prayer
17:24
daily. Rest of you, get on up in here
17:27
cuz our ice cream's melting fast. Give
17:29
you a big old hug.
17:31
God bless [music] you each and every
17:33
one, and I'll see you down the best ice
17:35
cream and cake trail ever.
17:37
>> [music]
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