Ice-Creams and Sorbets

Appears in
Paramount Desserts
Paramount Desserts

By Christine Manfield

Published 1998

  • About
The making of good ice-cream and sorbet is quite straightforward. It is the ability to transform ingredients into conceptual artworks based on principles of design and construction that takes the cook into another realm and level of preparation - a new world of cooking and science. Ice-cream and sorbet construction is a direct response to and understanding of alchemy.

Like the famous French chef Antonin Carême, who perfected the art of ice-cream moulding and sculpture in the early nineteenth century, I also believe in luxurious excess and grandiose gestures with food. Doing so gives a formality, a sense of occasion to food, and allows the cook’s personality to shine through. It encourages folly, where artistry and a sense of architecture are revealed without compromising flavour.