Of all the ways the U.S Navy had to boost morale during World War II
ice cream was the most important.
And so to boost morale around my household
I'm making banana nut ice cream using a recipe from the 1945 edition of 'The Cook Book of the United States Navy'.
So thank you to endured VPN for sponsoring this video as I make ice cream from WW2
this time on Tasting History.
So I've made ice cream before here on the channel with some interesting ingredients
like parmesan cheese ice cream and cucumber ice cream
but today the interesting ingredients are the base ingredients:
the milk and the eggs because fresh milk and fresh eggs were hard to come by in
the South Pacific during World War II so they used powdered milk and powdered eggs.
And I'm definitely curious on how that is going to affect the texture of this ice cream.
Also the recipe is meant to feed an entire crew of a ship so it makes five gallons,
and I don't need five gallons of ice cream because I will eat five gallons of ice cream so I am making it for one quart of ice cream
which I'll still probably eat in one sitting.
And that is because I agree with one 1945 article about the U.S Navy
that claimed "[Ice cream is] Nature's most nearly perfect food."
No notes.
So for this recipe what you'll need is: four teaspoons of cornstarch, a half cup plus one tablespoon or 115 grams of sugar,
a half teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons or 15 grams of powdered eggs, three quarters of a cup up or 90 grams of powdered milk,
two and three quarters cup or 650 milliliters of cold water,
one teaspoon of vanilla extract,
100 grams or about one large banana an eighth of a cup or 17 grams of chopped walnuts,
and about 5 drops of yellow food coloring. Then the recipe says to
"Mix together cornstarch, sugar and salt. Combine powdered eggs and milk. Reconstitute with water the same as for powdered milk or eggs.
Stir into cornstarch mixture. Cook over boiling water or in a steam-jacketed kettle about 20 minutes,
stirring occasionally. Cool completely. Add vanilla. Freeze."
Elsewhere in the book it talks about the additional ingredients, the banana and the nuts to make it whatever flavor you want.
There are a bunch of different versions and it doesn't give any instructions on when to add those ingredients so
I'll just add them in when it seems to make the most sense to me.
Now before we get started actually making the recipe just wanted to let you know that today is the day
that the Tasting History cookbook is available, comes out. It's there.
It's on bookstore shelves as we speak and I can't wait for people to get a hold of it and make things,
and if you do make something from the cookbook make sure to put it up on Instagram or Twitter and tag me.
It's my favorite part of this whole Tasting History thing, is seeing other people
make the dishes that I do here on the channel, it's a lot of fun for me.
Also a huge thank you to my Patreon patrons who,
they did so much recipe testing for me. They tested everything in here out multiple times and gave me wonderful feedback
so I could really lock in those recipes. Huge, huge thank you. And
if you do get it somewhere that you can leave a review online or something please, please leave a review it really really helps with the cookbook.
Now who's ready to reconstitute some eggs and milk?
The cookbook is actually quite clear on how you're supposed to do this and that's to add the cold water to a bowl,
and then slowly sprinkle the powdered milk into the water while you mix it with an electric beater.
Once it's completely mixed then add the powdered eggs and continue to mix until combined.
Then in a wide bowl whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and salt,
and then pour in the liquid while whisking.
Once it's nice and smooth take a pot of water and bring it to a gentle boil, and then set the bowl over the water.
And this is why you need a fairly wide bowl so it doesn't fall into the water.
You can also use a double boiler if you have it or if you're on a battleship,
or a huge commercial kitchen a steam-jacketed kettle. They're very big and very expensive but
you know if you got it use it.
For me I'm just using the bowl over the boiling water.
Whatever you do use a spatula to keep the mixture moving and after a while you'll notice it starts to thicken up.
I have to say I was shocked at how well this thickened up like a real custard.
You know the powdered eggs and the powdered milk I wasn't sure how that was going to go.
It does have corn starch which is going to help thicken it but it really just works like a custard.
After about 20 minutes the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of the spatula
at which point you take it off and pour it into a cold bowl that is set in another bowl full of ice.
The goal here is to bring down the temperature fairly quickly and an ice bath is going to be the best way to do that.
Also it helps to just keep the mixture moving until it reaches room temperature.
Then mash up your banana.
And the recipe is very clear not to mash your banana until this point in the process otherwise
it will turn brown especially in the humidity of the South Pacific.
Then strain the custard through a strainer just to get it as smooth as possible and then add the vanilla and mix,
and then the mashed banana and stir until smooth.
Then the five drops of food coloring and stir until it's a uniform color and then finally mix in the chopped nuts.
Now it's best to cover it and chill it in the refrigerator for about an hour before moving it into the ice cream mixer.
It took about 15 minutes for my mixer to churn and get a nice frozen ice cream
but every mixer is going to be different so just look at the instructions on your ice cream maker.
I'm sure one in 1945 on a Naval vessel would be even different, I don't know.
I have a Cuisinart. 15 to 20 minutes.
And if you want soft serve it's ready. It's good to go but if you want a firmer ice cream
then pop it in the freezer covered. Pop it in the freezer for about an hour or two while it firms up
and I can tell you just why ice cream was so important to the war cause.
July 1, 1914 a dark day for the U.S Navy
because that was the day they executed General Order Number 99 Execute order 99.
Execute Order
99.
"The use or introduction for drinking purposes of alcoholic liquors on board any naval vessel,
or within any navy yard or station is strictly prohibited
and commanding officers will be held directly responsible for the enforcement of this order."
But without spirits to raise their spirits the sailors look too sugar to get them out of the doldrums.
It came in many forms but one of the most popular was ice cream,
but by 1918 with World War One at its zenith
sugar was becoming so scarce that future President and complete buzzkill Herbert Hoover
who then was in charge of the U.S. Food Administration decided that
"ice cream is no longer considered so essential as to justify the free use of sugar in its manufacture."
And this didn't just apply to the military but everyone.
It wasn't an entire blanket ban over ice cream
but it really really made the production go way down.
Now a few years later when sugar production was back up and Prohibition was making alcohol completely illegal
ice cream consumption in the U.S skyrocketed and companies like
Anheuser-Busch and Youngling changed from beer companies to ice cream companies.
And even when they switched back to booze in the 1930s
ice cream was a necessity to get people through the Great Depression.
I still use it to get me through Little Depression.
But then World War II hit and sugar production once again became an issue
hence the less than sweet World War II era carrot cake I made a few weeks back.
But this time in the U.S icing out ice cream was a non-starter at least for those who were doing the fighting.
"Can you imagine a greater tonic to body and spirit than real ice cream served in steaming jungles or on hard-won beachheads?"
No I cannot and so when it came to the U.S. Navy
every large vessel was fitted with a room to store ice cream that was then served in the Gedunk bar.
This was a term applied to a sort of snack bar among large U.S. naval vessels
and when it was time for ice cream everyone lined up to get their scoop.
There's a story about two young officers on the USS New Jersey who didn't want to wait in line for their ice cream
so they just cut to the front and then somebody behind them yelled
"wait your turn" and they turned around thinking who would speak to an officer that way,
only to find that it was four-star Admiral William Halsey.
He was waiting in line with all the other sailors.
Now the story changes depending on who's telling it but it does show the importance of ice cream
as well as having good manners.
Though if your ship is sinking manners be damned
because after a Japanese torpedo hit the USS Lexington
at the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 8, 1942 the order came down to abandon ship.
Well there may not have been any way to save the stricken aircraft carrier but
a group of plucky young sailors did make sure to save as much ice cream as they possibly could.
One survivor recalled a warrant officer breaking the lock off of the ice cream freezer and
handing out ice cream to anyone who was around.
They polished off several gallons of vanilla ice cream before finally lowering themselves into the Pacific Ocean.
Now the Navy's devotion to ice cream was not just because it tastes good because it does,
it was actually because of morale and I really, really mean that.
A Patreon patron of mine who works at the National Archives recently sent me
some declassified documents from the Navy from the end of World War II,
and it's clear that procuring ice cream was a very serious business.
"Beer, ice cream and soft drinks. The above are tremendous morale factors in the forward areas,
much more so than can be appreciated by anyone that has not been out there...
At Berlin Island on Eniwetok Atoll and having 600 men,
the Commanding Officer told me that if his men could get ice cream once a month
it would do more to raise their morale than any other single thing."
Distribution of ice cream to ships and advanced bases must be increased.
Of all specific actions listed herein this should have the highest priority...
ice cream in my opinion has been the most neglected of all the important morale factors."
That was coming from the Secretary of the Navy himself James Forrestal
who I assume talked like that.
He believed in the ability of ice cream to boost men's morale so much
that in the months before the end of the war he had numerous memos coming across his desk
all about ice cream and some with very serious wording.
"Attached is a preliminary memorandum covering the ice cream situation as it now stands."
Then in July of 1945 the Navy Department as it was then called released
the 'Ice Cream Report'.
And can I tell you how much I love that this exists.
An entire report dedicated to ice cream,
detailing the supply of some 48 million pounds of ice cream mixed powder and
installation and service of 468 ice cream machines aboard ship ships in the Pacific Fleet.
Those machines would be able to lend help to the Navy's most popular vessels
the ice cream barges.
"It's officially a BRL, (Barge, Refrigerated, Large).
Built of concrete, 265 feet long, it cost a million dollars.
And it's worth every penny of that to lonely American boys
who are fed up with alphabet rations, however nutritious."
These concrete barges were towed by tugboats to Naval bases all around the Southern Pacific,
and I love imagining the barge playing the Mr. Softy jingle
as it glided up to the shore excited sailors running out to form a line along the beach.
Those barges were essentially massive refrigerators that held 1500 tons
of frozen meat and 500 tons of fresh vegetables, eggs, cheese, and milk,
and of course 2 000 gallons of ice cream and were equipped to produce 500 gallons every day.
But not everybody had access to these floating ice cream barges
and so some had to use a little ingenuity to make their own.
On the South Pacific island of Peleliu in September of 1944 a U.S marine fighter squadron commander named J. Hunter Reinberg
was determined to raise morale by making ice cream for his men.
Not a small feat considering that they were in a tropical island setting with no refrigeration.
But after a few misfires his maintenance crew took waterproof cans meant for storing 50 caliber bullets
and mounted them on the wings of a plane.
Then they affixed propellers to the cans that would churn a little screw on the inside.
Then they filled the cans with milk and and chocolate powder,
and after a short flight up where the air is freezing
they had 10 gallons of chocolate ice cream ready to go.
B-17 crews in Europe did a similar trick but would use the rather turbulent and freezing tail gunners turret
to churn their ice cream as they returned from bombing raids.
And the Army too got in on the ice cream action as the Quartermaster Corps
built dozens of makeshift ice cream factories just behind the front lines
so they could supply troops with half pint cartons as they progressed into Germany in 1945.
It seemed no branch of the military could go without nature's most nearly perfect food.
Though before I call it that I should try this World War II Navy ice cream.
And here we are banana nut ice cream from World War II.
The color is really cool it looks like something I would have really liked as a kid. It's very yellow
like a banana. Let's go.
Hmm a fair cold
but it's really, really good.
Wow!
That is super banana-y eat kind of shocked because there's only one banana.
I guess that's like 90% of the flavor in there.
Really banana-, it tastes like banana nut bread.
And the texture is- I mean if if I didn't know that it had powdered eggs and powdered milk
I wouldn't know that it had powdered eggs and powdered milk.
I wouldn't know that it's not regular ice cream.
And when you're halfway around the world this ice cream would definitely remind you of home.
Another thing that will remind you of home when you're halfway around the world is watching your favorite shows
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Also just to remind you Tasting History cookbook it's out today.
Get it, leave a review, and I will see you next time on Tasting History.