“The soup was dark purple. And what did it taste of? Pepper!
The fish was bright green. And what did it taste of? Pepper!
The meat was pale blue. And what did it taste of? Pepper!
Everything tasted of pepper, even the ice-cream– which was black.”
- –dinner at Cruella’s in The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Dodie Smith
Reading the original The Hundred and One Dalmatians, you’ll find that the play on ‘De Vil’ is much heavier than in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians film. Cruella loves a blazing fire, shivering and trying to warm up, while the others around her swelter and melt.
And the food Cruella eats? Never hot enough. At The Dearly’s dinner party, Cruella cracks so much pepper over her food, it causes everyone to have sneezing fits.
At Cruella’s own dinner party, every food the guests eat, tastes of pepper. The meat, the fish, the soup– even the ice cream!
Now, many of us would think that pepper is something served with savoury foods. But team it up with other cake spices– think cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger– and you end up with a well rounded ‘spice cake’ flavour instead. Cruella might not find this pepper ice cream spicy enough, but at least it’s a pepper ice cream most of us would enjoy eating.
For those that want to assume pepper ice cream should include chilli pepper, team some chilli up with a chocolate ice cream–a pretty common flavour combination nowadays. Add enough chilli and Cruella might just want to join you for a dish.
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Cruella’s Pepper Ice Cream | The Hundred and One Dalmatians
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of ginger
- 1 cup full fat milk
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2/4 cup white sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 300ml thickened cream
- 5–8 drops black pepper essence
Instructions
- In a medium sized saucepan, pour in the milk, peppercorns, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a simmer. Stir to ensure all sugar is dissolved.
- Turn off heat, cover with a lid and let sit for 1 hour to infuse.
- After 1 hour, strain into a larger saucepan, and reheat until the milk is still ‘touchable’– warm but not hot enough to cook an egg.
- Whisk in 3 egg yolks, and consistently stir until the mixture thickens. (Approximately 10-15 minutes).
- Add in the thickened cream, add in the and stir until combined.
- Freeze according to your ice cream maker.
Notes
Alternatively, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, I pour it into a frozen metal mixing bowl. I stick it in the freezer to cool down quickly, then bring it out every 5-10 minutes to stir it. I then spoon it into a bread loaf baking pan, press on baking paper over top and freeze until firm.
Haven’t read the original The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith? Here’s the link in Amazon.
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I’m a certified PEPPER-phile [in my book, anyway 🙂 ] and this definitely hits the spot. Spot on!
★★★★★