BAOKLIST ‘
the night and gorging themselves. Maybe Haagen Dazs ought to be aware that they are playing with fire. On the other hand. as the guy in the Tennent's ad shows. if ice cream and female desire get too much. you can always crack open a can of lager and watch the football . . .
The extracts are taken front Hatters" Castle by AJ. Cronin quoted in Ice Cream And Immoralin by Francis McKee (Prospect Books [99/ l.
THE TASTING
The pleasures of ice cream may not be new to us here in Scotland, but the question remains, is Haagen Dazs actually a better product than our Italian descended local delights? Can the cool classics that have been
. trifling with our taste buds all these years hold their own next to the
licked and sucked and savoured and came up with the following:
I Colpi Main Street. Milngavie and from branches of Peckhams. Glasgow. 45p a cone; f l .85 a half litre. A good one to start with. this. because it demonstrates how different ice creams not only are. but set out to be. This additive—free product calls itself a ‘fresh milk ice' and is made of milk. sugar. cornflour and nothing but. The Vanilla is plain. pure white. light. sorbet textured and sweet and tastes very like chilled condensed milk. ()f the flavours we tried. Golden Honeycomb was moreish like Crunchy bars but after a few mouthfuls you realised how sweet it was.
I Mr Boni l.ochrin Buildings. Tollcross. Iidinburgh. 75p a cone. £1.95 a half litre. Ingredients: full cream milk. sugar. butter. powdered milk. stabili/ers. The Vanilla is pale cream coloured. dense. with a smooth texture and very rich buttery taste. There are loads of flavours. including Italian
I exotica such as zztbagliorie. and
E hazelnut slice. and sweet excesses like banana with marshmallows —~ no doubt i lapped tip in the kids’ paradise parlour adjoining. We tried Praline: again very ! buttery with a lot of toffee sauce
i through it and plenty of caramelised
IIUIS.
l I luca’s Musselburgh. (‘raigmillar and
upstart American cream fantasies? We
also from Jenners. Iidinburgh. 35p a cone; £1.60 a half litre. The thought of trips to Luca's is enough to make certain grown-up children I know misty-eyed. Nevertheless. this has several Ii numbers in it. along with milk. sugar. skimmed milk powder. butter and double cream. The Vanilla is close to (‘olpi's — mild. milky rather than creamy — but a bit richer. and smoother in texture with a nice and fresh taste. But we weren‘t so impressed by the chocolate flavour which tasted more of cocoa powder than chocolate.
I Di Rollo Musselburgh and selected
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VIVA MEXICQT
beasts ur‘amt
10, anchor close, Cockburn Street
78 The List 9 22 April 1993
Hoensed
LUNCH — 12—2.30pm EVENINGS — 6—1 lpm (last orders 10.30pm)
EDINBURGH 226 5145 50, east fountelnbridge
EDINBURGH 228 my
stores in Iidinburgh and Glasgow. £2.32 a litre. Ingredients: sugar. skimmed milk powder. vegetable fat. emulsifiers and stabilisers. The Vanilla is very white. frothy —~ more of a Mr Whippy in texture and taste and too sweet for us. The strawberry does taste of real fruit. although these have been used sparingly. but it was also frothy and sweet.
I Baskin Robbins Central Station. (ilasgow; Big Liks. High Street. Iidinburgh. 70p a cone: £3.60 for l2o/ tub. The other American chain. This one puts the emphasis on its 31
flavours and cultivates a striped hats and party poppers feel in its outlets. No tentacular retail distribution network. which endears it to smaller competitors. Ingredients: sugar. cream. semi- skimmed milk and one or two Ii numbers. The Vanilla is pale yellow and was the most vanilla tasting so far —- creamy thick dense texture like Mr Boni's although there was an umistakable hint of bubblegum which was not entirely desirable. The range of flavours is weird and wonderful. the most exotic being Rocky Road ~ a delicioust rich. dark chocolate with whole roasted almonds. but slightly spoilt by bits of synthetic-tasting marshmallow.
I Haagen Dazs Princes Street. Iidinburgh. and numerous other outlets. L' l . l 5 a scoop; £3.65 a 500ml tub. The thing itself: the cream of the crop'.’ Ingredients: fresh cream. skimmed
milk. sugar. egg yolk. vanilla. The Vanilla is magnolia coloured and creamy with a good. strong vanilla flavour. Dense and rich. but less so than Mr Boni‘s. Of the ten flavours available in this country. we tried Raspberry Sorbet and Cream - vanilla with streaks of frozen fresh raspberry syrup and very delicious — and Praline — the caramel streaks in this were better than those in the Boni‘s it was closest to. bttt were not well enough mixed with the vanilla. and there weren‘t as many nuts. To stun up. Haagen Dazs is undoubtedly a very good ice cream. but then. so are many of the others. and some of them are an awful lot cheaper.
FLAVOUB OF THE FORTNIGHT
NABDINIS
This is one of the latest creations from famous ice cream wizards, the Nardinis of Largs: ‘We thought a
Special with a Scots-Italian connection would go down well with our customers, so we combined ice cream and Scots whisky as the basis of this extravaganza.’
Whisky Cocktail
For each glassful you will need:
1 medium scoop of vanilla ice cream ‘A gill of a whisky of your choice
6ft oz Crema (confectioner’s custard) 6ft oz fresh whipped double cream Zoz roasted nuts or roasted flaked almonds
3 standard shortbread fingers
a splash of maple syrup
1 large photo of Largs Bay at sunset - without which this recipe is impossible!
Take a flared sundae dish with a 12ft oz capacity. Blend the whisky into the confectioner’s custard. Pour a splash of maple syrup into the dish - so it makes a V. inch layer. Add the scoop of ice cream. Cover this with the whisky and custard mixture, then sprinkle in the roasted nuts and two of the shortbread fingers, crushed. Pipe on the whipped cream, pyramid-style. Sprinkle some chopped roast nuts on top. Cut the remaining shortbread finger in two and stick them in, as if they were decorative wafers. Finally, give a generous splash of whisky over the lot. flardini (‘simply the best’!), The Esplanade, Largs. 0475 674555.