When a Victorian hostess wanted to end a dinner party with a bang, she served a bombe. An ice cream bombe – complete with what looked like flames erupting from the top.
Bombes, aka bombs, were ice creams made in special molds in the form of either a round bomb, the kind we see only in cartoons today, or a torpedo, like the ones launched from submarines in old movies.
At the time, confectioners were making all sorts of fanciful ices and ice creams. They sent ice cream chickens to the table in spun sugar nests. They arranged ice cream bananas in wicker-like almond paste baskets and topped ice cream pineapples with real pineapple crowns. And they made bombes.
Most were made with two or three compatible flavors of ice cream layered in the mold. A bombe could be as simple as a layer of strawberry ice with a center of vanilla ice cream or as elaborate as imagination allowed. Spun sugar flames topped the bombes in imitation of the flames that erupt from atop a live bombshell. The bombes were said to have looked very realistic.
Famed mid-19th century chef and author Charles Elme Francatelli was known for his bombes. He often named them for prominent people of his time, including Prime Minister Robert Peel. His Peel bombe had an outside layer, or “rind,” as Francatelli called it, of red currant ice. The center was filled with his Italian cream ice, a flavorful mixture of almond, clove, cinnamon, coriander, orange, candied citrus peels, and Cognac.
By the end of the century, the bombe-making era was fizzling out. The editor of the Encyclopædia of Practical Cookery wrote that it was odd that culinary practitioners were inclined to “introduce the arts of warfare into their peaceful and uneventful occupations. The Bomb-ice is just one of these remarkable productions, having no more than a very fanciful resemblance to the bomb-shell from which it is designed.” Although the entry gave Francatelli high marks for having popularized the bomb-ices and for his “artistic taste and genius,” it reported that the bombe had become old-fashioned.
The editor of the “Queen” Cookery Books 1899 edition on ices agreed. S. Beaty-Pownall wrote that although bombes were still seen on menus, this “grim reminiscence of war declined in favour after the Crimean campaign.” Experiencing real bombs made ice cream bombes seem less playful. They were still made, but the flaming tops were extinguished. Bombes became nothing more than multi-flavored, molded ice cream desserts.
Today’s bombes are benign. One, currently popular online, is made in a metal mixing bowl and imitates a watermelon rather than an explosive device. Its outer layer is lime sherbet, then comes a thin layer of vanilla, and finally a center of raspberry sherbet with chocolate chips playing the role of watermelon seeds.
Building a Bombe
To make your own ice cream bombe, just make or buy two or three compatible flavors of ices and ice creams. Let the designated outer flavor soften a bit, then use it to line your mold or a metal mixing bowl. For a neat effect, cover that layer with a smaller bowl to hold the ice cream evenly. Put it in freezer to firm up for about an hour. Then take it out, remove the smaller bowl, and add your next flavor. Again, use a smaller bowl to keep the ice cream layer even. Freeze. Then take out and fill the center with another flavor. You can also sprinkle some nuts or chocolate chips or cookie crumbs between layers.
When you’re ready to serve it, run lukewarm water over the bottom of the bowl. When you feel it begin to loosen, turn it onto a serving platter. Top it with a sauce or a whipped cream frosting if you like.
However, in the interests of peace, I recommend forgoing the spun sugar flames.
I made a watermelon bombe a few summers back...I used mint ice cream, vanilla, and a strawberry-watermelon sherbet with cocoa nibs. It looks so good and is a huge crowdpleaser.
Using a hot knife also helps when cutting into the bombe.
What about some Italian meringue on top for Baked Alaska bombe?
Posted by: gastroanthropologist | January 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM