of salt, thirteen pounds of snow, and three lemons.
That’s according to a recipe from Antonio Latini’s 1692 book Lo scalco alla moderna (The Modern Steward). Of course, the salt and snow were intended for the freezing pot, not for the sorbet itself. Chances are the cooks the book was intended for would have known what Latini meant. It’s unlikely that anyone made a super-salty, snowy sorbet.
When freezing ices and ice creams was new, the ice or snow and salt were as, or more, important than the other ingredients. So they had positions of prominence in recipes. Once the process was more familiar, the ice and salt took a back seat to the ingredients for the mixture.
To freeze the ices, cooks put the snow or ice in a tub along with the salt. Then they mixed the ingredients for the ice or ice cream together, put the mixture in a smaller container called a sorbètiere, covered it, and put it in the tub. After letting it sit for half an hour or so, they opened the container and stirred the contents. They had to be careful not to let any ice or salt get into the sorbètiere. They repeated the process a couple of times, until the sorbet was frozen. Stirring ensured that the sorbet would be light and snowy, rather than hard and icy.
Fast forward to 2006. I was in Sardinia at a parade for the island’s patron saint, Saint Efisio. As always at parades everywhere, there were lots of vendors selling souvenirs and snacks. I saw a stand where lemon sorbet was being sold, so I rushed right over.
To my surprise, a young man was sitting next to a truck making the sorbet in old-fashioned sorbètieres. Not cranked ice cream makers. Not electric ice cream makers. Sorbètieres.
He poured the lemon mixture into the sorbètiere and put it in a tub filled with ice and salt. Then he turned the sorbetière with one hand and stirred the contents briskly with the other. It took him just a few minutes. As soon as the ice was ready, he handed it off to the people running the stand. They dished it out into small paper cups, with spoon/straws, and served them to the customers.
The sorbet was delectable, tart and refreshing. It was firm enough to eat with a spoon at first, then to drink through the straw as it melted in the summer’s heat.
It was a 21st century treat made the same way it was made in the 17th century.
Lemon Sorbet
Here’s my lemon sorbet recipe. Make it in your contemporary ice cream freezer or in an old-fashioned sorbètiere. Make it whenever life hands you some nice, fat, juicy lemons.
2 cups water
2 cups of sugar
Lemon peel
1 cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (3-4 lemons)
2 tablespoons plain or lemon-flavored vodka
Make a simple syrup by heating the sugar and water together in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Take the mixture off the heat and add the peel from the lemons. Let them steep until the mixture cools.
Stir in the lemon juice. Chill, preferably overnight.
Strain the mixture. Stir in the vodka. Pour the mixture into your ice ceam maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
It’s nice to serve garnished with a sprig of fresh mint.
Makes one quart.
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