Frozen decay

PalmAs summer yawns its last, I can't help but think about how fleeting time is. The heat and the persistent Basque are like a woodworm that only makes us wish the cold would arrive soon, and when it does, we lament the speed of the days and long for June, with its long days and sweet warmth caressing our skin. Then we recount the friends we've visited, the parties, vacations, and pleasures we've enjoyed. Memories that will ruin the bad times to make room for themselves. Fortunately, we have resources the rest of the year to evoke these moments, and ice cream is one of them.

Ice cream is one of the most widely used preparations in our recipe books, especially in nineteenth-century compilations. I'd like to assume that the profusion of recipes is a result of the impact this sweet treat had. The popularization of ice cream parlors in the 20th century, on the other hand, was detrimental to homemade preparations and diminished the need to transcribe them in pamphlets or compilations. The ice creams in our recipe books are divided into those made with water, such as those made with fruit, sorbets, and granitas; and those made with milk, known as mantecados or creamy ice creams. In this last category, we find biscuit glacé, a traditional French frozen dessert, very popular especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It's made with egg whites whipped with sugar, mixed with whipped cream (sometimes with raised egg whites) and frozen directly in molds, without the need for an ice cream maker like traditional ice cream. The result is a rich and creamy ice cream with a very smooth and airy texture. It's usually presented in tubs, in flan dishes, or in small individual portions, and can be flavored with vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, among others.

Luxury dessert

In classic French cuisine, the biscuit glacé It was served as a luxury dessert at banquets and could be accompanied by cold sauces or decorated with sugar and chocolate filigree. Great figures of French cuisine such as Jules Gouffé in The Pastry Book (1873) and Georges Auguste Escoffier, in his famous The Culinary Guide (1903), among others, document their way of preparing it.

In Mallorca, it was the ice cream maker Mateu Jaume, from Can Joan de s'Aigo, who collected the French testimony included in some notebooks from 1884-1885 that were published under the name of Book of ice creams and quemullaresJaume's recipes reflect a creative and curious person who knew his craft well. We also know that he traveled often and it is very likely that he knew the biscuit glacé first hand. In fact, this statement is supported by the final note of one of his formulas where he states that this kind of biscuit It is his invention, but it is very similar to what is made in Paris. Of the seven recipes in the book, three of them deal with the biscuit glacé made with cream, with less cream, and one that is made without it. It also tells us about the biscuit supreme, which uses raised egg whites instead of yolks and biscuits Flavored with coffee, chocolate, and toasted almonds or hazelnuts. Mateu Jaume maintained two establishments open that competed with other prestigious ice cream shops in Ciutat, so it must have been important to innovate and maintain the quality of the product.

Another later reference to this dessert can be found in Margalida Frau Munar's recipe book, Mallorcan cuisine from a hundred years ago (Documenta Baleares, 2024). Unlike the biscuit From Can Joan de s'Aigo, Fraude uses milk instead of cream. Both authors recommend covering the mold and burying it in snow and salt so that it freezes properly.

The prestige of this ice cream, which sweetened banquets until the end of the 20th century, has declined to give way to other desserts. However, its simple preparation and the need for an ice cream maker can be a good solution for dessert.

Today's recipe is a version of biscuit glacé by Mateo Jaime. I hope you like it.