Red Hot and Cool
By Bruce Cole - Published 05.21.04
Growing up in a small town, we used to plead for rides in the "country" after dinner because we knew they always ended with a stop for an ice cream cone at the Plain View Dairy in Arlington, Ohio. It was a typical country dairy, the kind of combination grocery store/milk processing plant that no longer exists, with the exception of one or two scattered here and there across the Midwest. Inside it was brightly lit with fluorescent lights and decorated by a few too many yellow strips stuck full of flies dangling from the high ceiling. Dairies have a particular scent, ("smell" would be a condescending description of the honeyed and milky aroma ) that for some, might induce nostalgia for the cow-milking days of old, even if it meant getting up at 4 a.m., 365 days a year, but it's a sweet fragrant memory for the rest of us who just showed up to eat the ice cream. Outside, a lone maple tree and a couple of picnic tables offered a shaded refuge from a blistering summer sun, and served as a spot to do some people watching in addition to a little ice cream cone combination critiquing. "Ugh, she’Äôs got a dip of Red Velvet Chocolate and Red Indian...she's cute though, wonder where she goes to school?" Besides Rocky Road, my favorite
flavor was Red Indian, which was fire engine-red and flavored with lip-smacking cinnamon red hots. The dairy, which stood on the corner of a cornfield, burned to the ground long ago, but it’Äôs easy to recreate Red Indian Ice Cream at home (although in these politically correct days, you might have to rename it).
Ingredients
3 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
8 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz. cinnamon red hots
Red food coloring (optional - for that fire engine red color)
In a heavy saucepan, bring 3 cups whole milk and 2 cups heavy cream to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low, then add 8 oz. cinnamon red hots and stir continuously until they are melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk 8 large egg yolks with 1/2-cup sugar until smooth.
Bring the milk mixture to a boil again, reduce the heat to a simmer, and slowly whisk in the egg yolk mixture.
Add 4-6 drops red food coloring.
Strain the mix and cool completely.
Process the mix according to the instructions of your ice cream maker.
Save some for your kids if you can stop yourself from eating it, and don’Äôt forget to sprinkle with a few extra red hots for that extra kick.
"Bought me a cow and the cow pleased me, I fed my cow under yonder tree. Cow goes moo, moo..."
Recipe © 2004 Bruce Cole. All rights reserved.