Parfait

Layered, molded ice cream treats (with fruits, syrups & liqueurs) were quite popular by the mid-19th century both in Europe and America. They were presented in many fabulous shapes much to the delight of diners of all ages. Parfait, as is currently known by Americans is a multi-layered ice cream treat presented in "parfait" glasses. These glasses are typically thin and tall. The parfait is usually made with rich vanilla ice cream accented with liqueur or other other syrup (chocolate, strawberry) . The most notable difference between an American parfait and the ever popular Ice Cream Sundae is the dish. The parfait is presented tall & thin; the sundae is most often served in a wide-mouth glass that may or may not have a stem. The use of liqueur is generally relegated to the parfait. Did you know? Parfait is the French word for "perfect."

"Parfait. An iced dessert made with double (heavy) cream, which gives it smoothness, prevents it from melting too quickly and enables it to be cut into slices. Originally the parfait was a coffee-flavoured ice cream; today, the basic mixture is a flavoured custard-cream, a flavoured syrup mixed with egg yolks or a fruit puree, which is blended with whipped ccream and then frozen. There is a special parfait mould in the shape of a cylindar with one slightly rounded end...In Britain and the United States a parfait is also the name of a whipped dessert."

--Larousse Gastonomique, Completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 840)

"Parfait. A name properly used of a rich frozen dessert, similar to a bombe and often made in a bombe mold. A typical parfait is composed of two or several elements (a lining for the mould and a filling, which may itself be layered) and is flavoured with a liqueur, or with coffee, chocolate, praline, etc. In North America, the term has come to mean something different, namely a combination of fruit and ice cream, served in a tall narrow glass which exposes to view the various layers of the confection. This sort of parfait is not a frozen dessert. However, the frozen dessert version can be frozen in individual parfait glasses, rather than in a single mould, so there is a relationship between the two different things."

---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 575)

The oldest recipe we have with the name parfait is from a French cookbook dated 1869. It is for a coffee-ice confection.



"Parfait au cafe

Roast 1/2 lb. of coffee in a copper pan;

Boil 3 pints of double cream; put the coffee in it; cover the stewpan, and let the coffee steep for an hour;

Put 12 yolks of eggs in a stewpan, with 1/2 lb. of pounded sugar;

Strain the cream; add it to the egg, in the stewpan; stir over the fire, without boiling, until it thickens, and strain it through a tammy cloth;

Set a freezing-pot and a parfait-mould in some pounded ice, and bay salt;

Put the cream in the freezing-pot, and work it with the spatula;

When the cream is partly frozen, add 1/2 gill of syrup at 32 degrees (probably Baume); continue working the cream, and, when the syrup is well mixed, add another 1/2 gill of syrup, and 1 quart of well-whipped cream; Fill the mould with the iced cream; close it hermetically, and embed it in the ice for two hours; Turn the parfait out of the mould on to a napkin, on a dish; and serve."

---The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe [Chef of the Paris Jockey Club] translated and adapted for English use by Alphonse Gouffe [London: Sampson, Low, Son & Marston] 1869 (p. 562-3)

The Book of Ices, A.B. Marshall [London:Marshall's School of Cookery] 1884 includes a recipe (though not named parfait) is quite similar:



"White coffee cream ice: very delicate

Take a quarter of a pound of fresh roasted Mocha coffee berries, and add them to a pint of cream or milk; let them stand on the stove for an hour, but do not let them boil; strain through tammy; sweeten with 3 ounces of sugar. Freeze and finish as for vanilla ice cream."

---Recipe number 25 Mrs. D. A. Lincoln's recipe for parfait...also a coffee concoction (Boston, 1884)

Philadelphia style ice cream

What is Philadelphia-style ice cream? Excellent question. Generalists claim it is the "finest quality" American frozen confection. Cookbooks and professional industry texts confirm Philadelphia-style ice cream is uncooked. It does not contain whole eggs, though it sometimes contains egg whites. French ice cream, on the other hand, is a cooked product containing whole eggs.

PHILADELPHIA, HOME OF AMERICAN ICE CREAM

"Philadelphia became renowned for its ice cream, and the phrase 'Philadelphia ice cream,' used since the early nineteenth century, came to mean a specifically American style of rich ice cream. One proud Philadelphia confectioner of the nineteenth century James W. Parkinson,...wrote of the prejudicial distinction made between American and French frozen desserts."

---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 163)

"Philadelphia ice cream is a term synonymous with the best in frozen confections. Though not invented here (forms of ice creams have been around since the 13th century) Philadelphians developed an impeccable reputation for ice cream by the end of the 18th century. Victor Collet and James Parkinson built their businesses on elegant glaces and ices impossibly molded into unusual ornaments."

---The Larder Invaded: Reflections on Three Centuries of Philadelphia Food and Drink, Mary Anne Hines, Gordon Marshall, William Woys Weaver [Library Company of Philadelphia:Philadelphia PA] 1987 (p. 57)

"What is this Philadelphia ice cream? It means ice cream "Simon pure," made of the richest ingredients. When American was young and ice cream was "that new dessert." the very best of it was made by the Quakers. So it was that when anyone anywhere wanted to claim high honor for his ice cream he prefixed it with the name Philadelphia. This real-thing ice cream has but three ingredients in its basic recipe: cream, sugar and a touch of the vanilla bean. Fruits and other flavors can be added as you will..."

---"How America Eats," Clementine Paddleford, Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1949 (p. F36)

"Everyone knows Philadelphia as the city of brotherly love where our independence was declared in 1776, but how may of you are aware that it is the ice cream capital of the country, maybe of the world? When Philadelphia became the seat of government and George Washington the first President, "iced creams" as they were then called were often served at the presidential Thursday dinners. We believe they were not quite the same as our luscious delights made commercially or at home in an ice cream freezer, but were mixtures of cream, sugar and eggs beaten in metal bowls over ice so that they had more the texture of the soft ice cream sold in certain places today. After the great exposition of 1876 Philadelphia became known across the country for the excellence of its ice cream, by then a popular American delicacy, and to this day the words "Philadelphia ice cream" connote the highest quality. Philadelphia confectioners were famed for their ice cream."

---"Philly the Ice Cream Capital," James A. Beard, Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1971 (p. J4)

LEGAL DEFINITIONS

In the early 20th century, Pure Food and Drug laws were enacted to ensure standardized quality for the American consumer. The legal definition of ice cream, including Philadelphia style, was the topic of hot debate. In 1916, the US Supreme Court acknowledged two definitions for Philadelphia ice cream: Hutchinson Ice Cream V. Iowa (242 US) 153 [1916]:

"The ice cream of commerce is not iced or frozen cream. It is a frozen confection-a compound. The ingredients of this compound may vary widely in character, in the number used, and in the proportions in which they are used. These variations are dependent upon the ingenuity, skill, and judgment of the maker, the relative cost at a particular time or at a particular place of the possible ingredients, and the requirements of the market in respect to taste or selling price. Thus, some Philadelphia ice cream is made of only cream, sugar, and a vanilla flavor. In making other Philadelphia ice cream the whites of eggs are added; and according to some formulas vanilla ice cream may be made without any cream or milk whatsoever; for instance, by proper manipulation of the yolks of eggs, the whites of eggs, sugar, syrup, and the vanilla bean. All of these different compounds are commonly sold as ice cream; and none of them is necessarily unwholesome."

SOURCE: Findlaw, US Supreme Court Cases

"Our tariffs have supplied diverting examples showing that laws are not always what they seem, and not always passed for the assigned motive, whether personal or partisan. But these examples usually are too obscure for popular understanding. Generally, such incidents pertain to the higher circles into which the common people are intruders...The highest court in the land has within a few weeks pondered over the problem of what is ice cream, and whether there can be such a thing as ice cream without a drop of cream..."Some Philadelphia ice cream"--only "some"--is made of only cream, sugar, and a vanilla flavor." Happy those who get it. But observe, either Philadelphia ice creams, number unstated, "may be made without any milk or cream whatsoever; for instance, by proper manipulation of the yolks of eggs, the whites of eggs sugar, syurp and the vanilla bean. All of these different compounds are commonly sold as ice cream, and none of them is necessarily unwholesome. The people's prosecutor claimed that it was a fraud and a crime to sell ice cream without at least a specified percentage of cream. The sellers of the miscellanous and mysterious compound defended on the ground that one man has a good a right as another to say what he shall put into his ice cream formula. But the Supreme Court found that the buyer also has his rights. He had the right to know what he is buying, and he cannot know without laws implementing standards on the point to which he attaches most importance, that at least some milk and butter shall be included in what he buys as ice cream."

---"How Taxation and Regulation of Food Works," Edward A. Bradford, New York Times, March 4, 1917 (p. SM6)

Current US definitions are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations: TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS CHAPTER I--FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) PART 135_FROZEN DESSERTS. There is no specific reference to "Philadelphia" in the current regulations. There are references to "French" ice cream, contain egg yolks.

"(f) Nomenclature. (1) The name of the food is ``ice cream''; except that when the egg yolk solids content of the food is in excess of that specified for ice cream by paragraph (a) of this section, the name of the food is ``frozen custard'' or ``french ice cream'' or ``french custard ice cream''."

SOURCE: CFR/GPO

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