The ice van cometh

[Morfudd]

Hello e gulleteers I hope you dont mind my using this forum to tell you about the Lola's new venture and to, hopefully, get your comments and feedback on it!

I recently bought an ice cream van on e bay. It was pink and called Mr.frosty at the time which is probably why I bought it! After some serious competitive bidding in which I paid 500 quid, I flew down to Cornwall to pick it up. On my return journey Mr.Frosty conked out by the time I reached Devon, but fortunately i had joined the RAC the previous day so Mr.Frosty and I got a very comfortabel lift back to London! It took me two months to find a replacement Perkins engine for the old 1970's rustbucket, which entailed joining the Bedford van's enthusiasts club and so forth, all rather entertaining. I parked it outside my house in Battersea and spray painted myself with the help of some friends and customers from Lola's. Then I hand painted it in the tradition of ice cream vans of a certain era!

It has now been refurbished with interior and exterior butterflies, strawberry garlands, flowers and a peacock and 'Lola's on ice' is on the road!

I thought why should kids (and adults) eat these nasty palm oil mr whippy's and things when they can have proper organic restaurant made ice creams instead?

We do a daily changing menu which includes things like Haiitian vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce, fresh fruit or Pedro Ximenez sherry; fresh mint ice cream; burnt caramel ice cream with brandy snap; 'Pina colada' (coconut sorbet with fresh pineapple 'kebab'); dark chocolate sorbet; Eton Messs; pineapple and chilli sorbet; espresso ice cream; Vin santo ice cream with a cantuccini 'flake', roast beetroot and orange sorbet etc.

We dont have a jingle ( I disconnected 'if you go down to the woods today' as it felt rather sinister, so we have a captain's bell to 'pied piper' the children, and eventually. I hope, some arias to 'pied piper' the adults.

If anyone would like to taste our ices, please let me know. I would be happy to offer e gulleteers complimentary ones so long as you give me some feedback on the ice creams and sorbet recipes that we are using - we are still in a somewhat experimental stage - especailly with things like beetroot and orange!

Lola's on ice is often parked outside lola's (trying to avoid parking tickets and being 'moved on'!) Or call on the restaurant number 020 7359 1932 to find out if I am around. Tell me you are an e gulleteer if you turn up outside the van!

Morfudd

[Andy Lynes]

That sounds fantastic. I hope you are doing 99's. I'm in London next week and will make sure I stop you and buy one.

[Morfudd]

I dont know how to make 99's! Does anybody have any suggestions? Using dark chocolate of course

[Morfudd]

Andy sorry I meant to say, please do let me know when you are around, would like to have your opinion on the recipes

[Hallie]

Please remind me of the location of Lola's.

[Andy Lynes]

Lola's website.

I wonder if you can get The Kinks' "Lola" for ice cream vans.

[Morfudd]

that would be fun! Hallie, Lolas is the Mall 359 Uper Street Islington N1

[jackal10]

We need pictures, both of the van and close-ups of the ices...

I do hope you have waffle cones and also chocolate flakes...

[adt]

this sounds absolutely wonderful. how exciting when people make the effort to do interesting, creative things.

what gourmet treat is lurking at the bottom of your Screwballs, though?

(at least, I think that's what they were called?? sounds vaguely obscene now )

[Andy Lynes]

Screwballs is correct - we buy them in the supermarket for the kids. (For those not in the know, its a plastic cone filled with ice cream with a ball of sugar coated bubble gum at the bottom.)

How about real cider or lager and lime ice lollies?

[adt]

How about real cider or lager and lime ice lollies?

or for the classy punters, perhaps a foie gras ice-cream and sauternes-ice Mivvi?

perhaps not.

[silverbrow]

This is fantastic - doubly so because Lola's is only down the road from the City.

Morfudd, if there's any free ice cream going count me in, actually, count me in if I have to pay for it as well.

How about venturing into the City? On hot days like today I have no doubt you'd do a brisk trade. If you do decide to venture into the Square Mile let me know - and try to come down Ludgate Hill to ensure I get first dibs.

[Morfudd]

Silverbrow, would love you to try the ice creams when you are around...the city is an excellent idea, as is Canary Wharf if I can get past security - I gather there is always a 'sugar run' at about 4pm, although it is a bit far away! I have doing my Pied Piper in the Islington area so far, absolutely TERRIFYING to see a line of children impatient for vanilla!

The most popular ice creams so far are, well vanilla, vanilla with raspberry sauce, dark chocolate ice cream (actually Ramsay's dark chocolate sorbet with less sugar in it but children seem to understand the word ice cream over sorbet.) The kids love the fresh mint ice cream, here is the recipe which I think works rather well -

500 ml whole milk

40 g fresh mint

500 ml double cream

100g caster sugar

bring ingredients slowly to just under boiling point, cool then let infuse for a few hours or overnight. Strain and churn.

Great with a topping of fresh raspberries and strawberries.

The adapted Ramsay recipe for dark chocolate sorbet is:

500 ml whole milk

500 ml water

150g caster sugar

3 tblsp glucose syrup

400g Valhrona chocolate or similar (min 70%)

Richard Corrigan has given me a recipe for Horseradish ice cream which we will try out soon and sounds absolutely delicious. We have been trying to make a Wasabi ice cream which is working on the same principle but have achieved less than satisfying results so far, so if anyone has any ideas for this (the hot and cold thing..it is a proper japanese ice cream but cant find any leads..)

The beetroot and orange is also far from perfect but people seem to like the concept.

i am going down to the Fat Duck next week to see Heston make ice cream with liquid nitrogen. I thought it could be so fabulous to get a flask of liquid nitrogen on the van, have my custard and make ice cream in twenty seconds in front of the kids...apart from the theatricals of billowing gas, it would be a great science lesson!

[Jon Tseng]

Any chance of nicking the recipe for foie gras ice cream off of claude bosi? (though I have a nasty feeling you will need a pacojet)

;-)

J

[Morfudd]

I shall try! But I think my liquid nitrogen comes first. Have you tasted it? Is it delicious?

[Jon Tseng]

I shall try! But I think my liquid nitrogen comes first. Have you tasted it? Is it delicious?

←

I've had the lime sour thing... frozen mousse not ice-cream though

A bit fragile. Think will be a bit of a nightmare handing it down from the van counter to the punter without it disapparating...

J

Edited July 14, 2005 by Jon Tseng (log)

[adt]

I thought it could be so fabulous to get a flask of liquid nitrogen on the van, have my custard and make ice cream in twenty seconds in front of the kids...apart from the theatricals of billowing gas, it would be a great science lesson!

Sounds fantastic for showmanship. Presumably the custard will need some slight structure (e.g. lightly aerated/mousse-like), in the absence of churning, to make the texture of the finished product work?

Unless the speed of freezing renders the ordinary churning process simply unneccessary.. you're manifestly going to the right place to find out...

[Jon Tseng]

Sounds fantastic for showmanship. Presumably the custard will need some slight structure (e.g. lightly aerated/mousse-like), in the absence of churning, to make the texture of the finished product work?

So basically get out a frozen parfait mix with beaten egg whites, no?

J

[adt]

I suppose it's ok to feed raw egg whites to children? Well, I mean obvioulsy it's ok, but I was thinking about official government advice etc.

[Jon Tseng]

I suppose it's ok to feed raw egg whites to children? Well, I mean obvioulsy it's ok, but I was thinking about official government advice etc.

←

Wouldn't freezing it kill all the bad shit?

[adt]

as far as I know, freezing only suspends the life and reproduction of such microorganisms, and doesn't kill them off.

[curlywurlyfi]

oh I wish I'd seen this thread sooner - I walked past Lola's last night! fabulous idea morfudd. I once (for charideeee) inveigled an icecream van on Beachy Head to let me pull + sell icecreams to the general public for half an hour, and it was such fun!

[Jon Tseng]

What time is th van out?

It is just daytimes or is it out evenings too?

J

[Morfudd]

There shouldnt be an issue about raw eggs because the custard is cooked first using egg yolks then chilled quickly to get over that danger point. It will be then kept chilled until the liquid nitrogen is added and it makes the ice cream in 20 seconds. At least that is the theory. Heston said that it had a strange texture if it was poured in too quickly but I have yet to see the process for myself and how he solves the textural issue.

I had a fabulous meal at El Bulli last year and saw lots of things being produced there with liquid nitrogen but not ice cream!

The van is only out 'on the road' at certain points during the day at the mo, unless it is hired for a party, which is either day or evening. Since I am currently the only insured driver (and the only person stupid enough to consider driving it around!) there are a few logistical difficulties, since I am still hands on at Lola's.

If anyone has any suggestions on recipes that are either weird or truely delicious and would be a hit, would love to hear about them.

[PoppySeedBagel]

How about hokey pokey ice cream - it's made from vanilla ice with added 'hokeypokey' - ie cinder toffee. You'd have to make the cinder toffee yourself, I suspect, but that's quite fun. It's a great name, traditionally English, and having had some in Cornwall on holiday last year, can confirm that it tastes good too. HP + toasted almond might be even better.

Edit - apparently it's not English but NZ - I have an old Good Housekeeping recipe, so assumed it originated here

Edited July 14, 2005 by PoppySeedBagel (log)