Ice cream entrepreneur

As a child, Paco Magsaysay must have loved ice cream. But then, what child doesn’t? Now a family man, he has turned into an ice cream entrepreneur, whipping up some truly delectable concoctions of this rich and creamy dessert through his line, Carmen’s Best, named after a daughter.

Paco’s ice cream history, if we may call it that, began when his father, former senator Jun, went into cattle raising, eventually venturing into making dairy products.      

Contrary to our previous belief that ice cream must have started in some western country, our research showed that it began in the mountains of ancient China, where the people initially used snow as its base. That must have been the time of Marco Polo, who is supposed to have brought pasta to the Chinese, which evolved into today’s noodles. Could he have been, in turn, the one who brought the idea of making ice cream to the west? Regardless, ice cream is one thing that anybody from any country loves, especially when it comes in different exciting flavors. 

Do you know that ice cream making has to have an overrun? Not quite like what we know of surplus garment production, but overrun in the air that ice cream must contain. Without that air, ice cream will be rock hard and without the proper proportion, it will have little body and will be mushy. We remember the ice cream makers in our hometown using wooden buckets with metal inner containers, stirring the mixture until their arms ached.

Today the process has been mechanized and the big players have produced ice cream in a multitude of flavors  richer, creamier, more delicious.

Back to Paco. He has an interesting slogan  “From cows to cones.” True enough, his products come fresh into his atelier. The selection is what we’d call gourmet, as his homemade mixes are made of 100 percent fresh milk and cream from their family’s own dairy farm. We remember ordering a few tubs and he said he’d be waiting for the milk and cream to be delivered that evening. They are that fresh! He sources his ingredients from various parts of the world  Tahitian vanilla, chocolate from Switzerland, Horlicks (remember that from times past?) from England and turon de jijona from Spain. Try any of their specials (in one pint containers  between P350 and P380 per)  butter pecan, salted caramel, vanilla (plain and Tahitian), cookie dough, rocky road, turon, and malted milk. 

Part of the sale from Carmen’s Best is donated to the Philippine General Hospital Medical Foundation. So have your ice cream and help a cause.

Now here is a recipe which I asked a good friend, who is an excellent cook, to give me after she served the dish to us during one of our lunches together. We are sharing this with you, dear readers. Your family will enjoy it. It is a take-off from the original minced pigeon in lettuce served in many Chinese restaurants. Here, she has substituted ground pork and the end result is just as delicious, thus this is called mock minced pigeon.

You need 250 gms ground pork; 50 gms liver, minced; 50 gms carrots, minced; 100 gms water chestnuts, minced; 50 gms dried mushrooms, soaked, then diced; 1 sprig of spring onions and coriander, finely chopped; 2 cloves garlic, minced; small onion; thumb-size ginger, diced; 20 gms pine nuts (optional), crushed; 1 tsp mushroom sauce; 1 tbsp soy sauce; a dash of pepper; 1 tsp oyster sauce mixed with one half cup water; 1 tbsp Chinese wine (optional); a dash of sesame oil; 10 gms sotanghon, cut into pieces; iceberg lettuce and hoisin sauce.

Cook pork, add garlic, ginger and onion. Add liver, chestnuts and carrots. Season to taste with salt and pepper, soy sauce and mushroom sauce. Add spring onions and coriander, reserve some for garnish. Do not overcook, lest it become dry. Add oyster sauce mixed with water. Remove from fire, garnish with pine nuts and crisp sotanghon which has been puffed in oil to smoking point. Serve in “cups” of lettuce leaves and hoisin sauce on the side. Great as starter or main course.

Have a delicious Sunday meal!

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