It’s National Ice Cream Month, which we interpret to include all frozen desserts. There is no National Frozen Yogurt Month, No Sherbet/Sorbet Month.

The history of frozen desserts dates back to 2000 B.C.E. when the Chinese used syrups to flavor snow. Fruit juices were turned into fruit ices. Honey and aromatic spices expanded the menu of flavors.

So, the first frozen dessert was more sorbet than ice cream. Here’s the history of ice cream.

Since ice cream is one of our favorite foods, we created a glossary of the different types of ice cream 10 years ago. Today’s tip, straight from the glossary, is to make a semifreddo.

You don’t need an ice cream machine to make semifreddo. As with granita, it is often made in a loaf pan or even an ice cube tray.

Semifreddo is the word for “half cold” in Italian; frozen soufflé is the English term. Semifreddo may look like ice cream but it is more of a frozen mousse, created by combining equal parts of ice cream and whipped cream. It is frozen in a pan or other container, then sliced and served.

Semifreddo is a special occasion or party dessert that you can prepare ahead of time. The elegant Strawberry-Pistachio Semifreddo recipe below is from Safest Choice Pasteurized Eggs.

Since the recipe uses raw eggs, pasteurized eggs are a worry-free solution (here’s more about pasteurized eggs and the 12 popular foods where you should consider them to eliminate the Salmonella risk).
 
 
> The different types of frozen desserts: a glossary.
 

RECIPE: STRAWBERRY-PISTACHIO SEMIFREDDO

Prep time is 25 minutes; allow another 12 hours for freezing. You can make and freeze the semifreddo up to three days in advance.

You can use a different fruit, replace the nuts, etc. (we just made a raspberry-chocolate chip semifreddo adapting this recipe, and replaced the vanilla extract with Chambord raspberry liqueur). You can also be trendy, as in this recipe for Chocolate Semifreddo with Chile-Chocolate Sauce.

You can also garnish with nuts, sliced fruit, chocolate shavings, crushed cookies or candies, and sauces: chocolate sauce, custard sauce, fruit sauce, whipped cream, etc. You can also top it with meringue, Baked Alaska-style.

Check out the different types of dessert sauces in our Dessert Sauce Glossary.

 
Preparation

1. LINE a 9×5-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

2. PLACE the strawberries in a food processor or blender. Add 1/3 cup of the sugar; process until the berries are puréed and set aside.

3. BEAT the cream and 1/3 cup of the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, just until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

4. BEAT the egg yolks with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a separate large bowl, until pale yellow and tripled in volume. Add the vanilla. Fold the whipped cream into yolks. Stir in the pistachios.

5. POUR half of the egg mixture into the loaf pan. Top with half of the strawberry purée. Use a small spatula to swirl the purée into the egg mixture. Repeat with the remaining egg mixture and strawberry purée.

6. SMOOTH the top with a spatula and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze until firm, about 12 hours. To serve, remove the plastic wrap and invert the semifreddo onto a clean cutting board. Cut into 1/2-inch thick slices. Garnish as desired and serve.
 
 

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Quesadillas, anyone?

Yes, and make them on the grill for a touch of smoky flavor! For just $7.98, you can get this Quesadilla Grill Basket from Williams-Sonoma, on sale from $19.95.

In fact, at these prices get more than one, and grill multiple quesadillas at the same time. Then, enjoy smoky quesadillas hot off the grill, with a crisp golden exterior.

The 12-inch diameter grill basket cooks one large quesadilla or two halves at the same time. The basket is designed to flip and cook without spilling any ingredients from the quesadilla.

Buy this Williams-Sonoma exclusive online at Williams-Sonoma.com.

You can also use it to grill pita and other flat bread. Mmmm!

An elegant broth bowl, with duck breast and
foie gras. Photo courtesy Duet Brasserie.

Homo sapiens (us modern humans) emerged about 200,000 years ago, and for the majority of our existence, we have had no soup. The earliest humans had nothing to boil liquids in. Boiling was not easy to do until the invention of waterproof containers, probably pouches made of clay or animal skin, about 9,000 years ago. Here’s the history of soup.

But back to broth bowls: For a hot yet lighter summer dinner, serve your protein and veggies in a bowl of broth (photo at left).

Inspired by this dish from Duet Brasserie in New York City’s Greenwich Village, we’ve been making our own. It’s easy, and you can get away with more vegetables and less meat, which is both healthier and less expensive.

Duet’s chef created a gourmet broth bowl: duck consommé, smoked duck breast, duck foie gras, scallions, Chinese broccoli and a hard-boiled quail egg.

You can do just as well at home with chicken, beef, seafood or vegetable broth.

While there’s nothing better than homemade broth, we took the quick and easy route and purchased ours from the Pacific Soup Starters line. Our favorite is their Organic Soup Starters Phö, in beef, chicken and vegetarian varieties.

Food 101 Quickie: Phö, pronounced FUH (like duh but with a drawn-out “uh” and often spelled without the umlaut in the U.S.), is the beloved beef and rice-noodle soup of Vietnam. It may be the world’s greatest broth bowl, worth seeking out at the nearest Vietnamese restaurant. Phö means noodles, and the broth can be made with up to 30 ingredients—beef, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fish sauce, ginger, onions and star anise, for starters—exclusive of what you choose to add on top of the broth. Here’s more about phö.
 
*The writing of language was invented independently in at least two places: Sumer (Mesopotamia) around 3200 BCE and Mesoamerica around 600 BCE. The writing numbers for the purpose of record keeping began long before the writing of language.
 
WHAT TO PUT IN YOUR BROTH BOWL

The combination are unlimited! Just a sampling:

 
Cook each ingredient as appropriate. Add the hot broth into bowls, then the other ingredients in an artistic arrangement, and top with fresh herbs.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BROTH, BONE BROTH, STOCK & MORE

Aspic. Aspic is jellied broth made from meat or fish stock. It is refrigerated, where it becomes solid, like gelatin; then is cubed and used as a relish for meat, fish or vegetable dishes. Or, it is used as a filler in a molded dish that includes meat, fish or vegetables.

Bone broth. Like stock (see below), bone broth is typically is made with bones and the small amount of meat adhering to them. As with stock, the bones are typically roasted first to improve the flavor of the broth. The key difference is that bone broth is simmered for a much longer time, 24 hours or more. This long cooking time helps to extract the maximum amount of minerals and other nutrients from the bones.

Bouillon. Bouillon is a clear, thin broth made typically by simmering chicken or beef in water with seasonings (bouillon is the French word for broth). It is stock (see below) that is strained, and then served as a clear soup or used as a base for other dishes and sauces. Bouillon can be made from mixed sources, e.g. chicken and vegetables. It can be enhanced with other flavors—for example, sherry, herbs and spices. The key difference between bouillon and plain broth is that bouillon is always served plain (with an optional garnish), whereas broth can be made more substantive with the addition of a grain (corn, barley, rice) and vegetables.

Broth. Broth is typically made with meat and sometimes a small amount of bones. It is typically simmered for a far shorter period of time than bouillon—45 minutes to 2 hours. The result is very light in flavor and thin in texture, although rich in protein. Plain broth can be thickened with starch or the addition of rice, barley, vegetables or eggs. Examples with eggs include Chinese chicken egg drop soup, Greek avgolemono soup and Italian stracciatella soup. The terms bouillon and broth are often used interchangeably, but as you can see, there are differences.

Consommé. Consommé is a refined broth, a clear liquid made by clarifying stock for a more elegant presentation. Typically, egg whites are added to the stock. The cloudy particles in the stock attach themselves to the egg whites and rise to the surface, where they are skimmed off. The word consommé means consumed or finished in French, indicating a more finished soup than a stock or a broth. In classic French cuisine, a bowl of consommé was often served at the beginning of a meal.

Stock. Stock is typically made with bones and can contain a small amount of meat that adheres to the bones. The bones are often roasted before simmering, which improves the flavor. Stock is typically simmered for a longer time than broth, 3 to 4 hours. The result is rich in minerals and gelatin and more flavor than broth, extracted from the longer cooking time.

Velouté. Velouté is broth thickened with eggs, butter and cream.
 
DISCOVER MORE TYPES OF SOUP IN OUR SOUP GLOSSARY.