Cream of the Crop
8 07 2008
On Saturday Carolyn Hart of the Daily Telegraph recommended serving Elderflower ice-cream with our 2006 Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Domaine de Durban in her article Beauty in the Beast.
If our beloved British summer’s cast as Beast again this year, fear not, you can always coax back those beautiful lazy days of heady floral scents and falling blossom by indulging in this marvellous Muscat, with one of my favourite ice-creams below.
The wine…
Domaine de Durban is located in the hills to the east of Beaumes-de-Venise and is owned and run by Madame Leydier and her two sons. By using 100% Muscat de Frontignan à petit grains blanc as opposed to Muscat de Frontignan à grains noir which most others producers in the village cultivate, their delicately-coloured wines are beautifully aromatic and opulent, and with delicious notes of tilleul, jasmine and white peach, their 2006 is indeed a fine match for floral ice-creams such as elderflower.
My favourite ices…
If you’re out and about in London, stroll down to Marine Ices in Chalk Farm for the finest Italian ices made from 100% natural ingredients.
I particularly like their ‘Caribbean Coconut’.
Listen to up-and-coming Jazz stars at Shanghai Blues in the grade II listed building that formerly held the St Giles library in Holborn. Unwind in the understated luxury of the gently lit room and relax with exceptional service. I love to follow their divine melt-in-your-mouth barbequed chilean sea bass rolls with homemade Jasmine Tea, Sesame or Red Bean ice-cream!
Impress your guests with home-made Elderflower ice-cream!
Elderflower Ice-cream
(Recipe by Mark Hix from the Great British Menu)
Ingredients:
- 300ml/½ pint whole milk, preferably Channel Island
- 6 medium free-range egg yolks
- 100g/4oz caster sugar
- 300ml/½ pint Jersey or clotted cream, or a mixture of the two
- 200ml/7fl oz elderflower cordial
Here’s how…
For the elderflower ice cream, bring the milk to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan, then remove from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, pour in the milk and whisk well. Return to the pan and cook over a low heat for about five minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream and elderflower cordial. Leave to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine (according to manufacturer’s instructions) until thickened. Decant into a clean container and place in the freezer.
For those of you with a savoury tooth…
If you’re sweet (and brave) enough, Heston Blumenthal’s Infamous Bacon & Egg Ice-cream has to be done…but it needs no accompaniment!
Welcome to Berrys' Fine Wine Blog from 
Indeed the cream of the crop! I love Domaine de Durban’s Muscats as they are so rich yet refreshing at the same time and I was also excited to see your mention of Shanghai Blues - definitely my favourite restaurant in the world, if not London alone! Their Chilean Seabass rolls are exquisite but you can’t mention them without mentioning the Dim Sum they do or their lobster - some of the best food you are ever likely to eat. A perfect night out in a nutshell - don’t miss out!
I tried this and really enjoyed the combination - could you suggest any other wine matches with Ice Cream?
Thanks!
@ Emma
Many thanks for your comment.
Actually, Kathleen Lisson, who is the Editor of a wine and food pairing blog of the same name has written a blog post about this article -
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-wine-to-serve-with-ice-cream.html
She enjoyed the combination too and also recommends a dessert wine made from the Zinfandel grape over vanilla ice cream. I’ve never tried this combination myself but will give it a go soon - let me know your thoughts if you do too!