Ice Cream Makers

In the eighteenth century, ice cream was a rare and expensive treat in the United States, enjoyed only at the most genteel gatherings. However, there was nothing elegant about the process by which it was made. Home cooks and professional confectioners alike faced the same difficulties. First, they had to obtain ice, chip it into manageable pieces, and mix it with salt. They put the ice-and-salt mixture into a large wooden tub or bucket. Then they mixed the ingredients for their ice cream; poured the mixture into a metal freezing pot with a cover, called a sorbetière; secured the cover; and set the pot in the tub. Sorbetières made of pewter or even silver could be purchased, but some cooks simply used any pot with a cover.