ED-Fischer 28 THE MILKSHAKE   ENTHUSIASTS OF SPICY FOODS, known also as fiery ...

THE MILKSHAKE

ENTHUSIASTS OF SPICY FOODS, known also as fiery foods (a phrase I love), know that the one thing that puts out the fire faster and better than just about anything is milk. It might not occur to you as your tongue swells under the influence of an extra-hot pickled jalapeno in the heart of a bite of a nacho platter, but it works.

So when the temperature outside rises, it makes sense that along with frosty adult beverages, milkshakes are craved, and are ideal for putting out the flame.

One of the few items on the menu at the burger joint in San Bernardino, CA, that would become McDonald's was the shake. In 1954, Ray Kroc, a Multimixer salesman who came along and eventually wrangled the franchise, was amazed at the pace at which the meals were served. Fifteen-cent hamburgers and 20-cent shakes were served to the customers in 15 seconds. The brothers McDonald had already begun to franchise, but it was Kroc who launched it into space.

Of course, the McDonald brothers didn't invent the shake, nor were they the only people selling them. Lunch counters in pharmacies and chain stores, soda shoppes and snack bars were working the mixers as well. Drug-store soda fountains offered up a variety of ice cream and soda drinks with diversity depending upon where in the country you were.

Though frozen desserts date back hundreds of years—flavored shaved ice and fruit drinks being among the oldest, with varieties of ice cream-like concoctions not far behind—the first person to commercially prepare and distribute ice cream in America is said to have been a Baltimore man named Jacob Fussell, in 1851. He was a milk dealer that originally sold milk and ice cream out of a wagon, then eventually more ice cream, and is credited as the first American to create an ice cream factory.

That said, Augustus Jackson, a Philadelphian and former White House chef, is said to have moved back to Philly in the 1830s and begun mixing up a variety of ice cream flavors that he delivered packed in tin cans to parlors in the area. Others claim that the first ice cream parlor is said to have opened in New York in 1776. (Coincidentally, some credit a Philadelphia soda water concessionaire named Robert M. Green with inventing the ice cream soda. One day, so the story goes, he ran out of cream for one of his carbonated water beverages and added ice cream instead. His sales took off.)

The ice cream cone became famous a bit later. Though its origins are murky, most agree that the cone came to prominence at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO. Several waffle makers were at the fair and claim credit, but the International Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers (whoever they are) credit Ernest Hamwi as the one who gets the goods. The story goes that he was cooking up a thin waffle material at a booth next to an ice cream stand, and when his neighbors ran out of dishes, they started curling Hamwi's waffles.

On the other hand, in 1903 an Italian immigrant named Italo Marchiony, living in New York, applied for a patent for a "molding apparatus for forming ice cream cups and the like." Marchioni sold ice cream from a cart and is said to have switched to using the waffle-like cups to keep overhead down, which resulted in a boom in his business and a fleet of carts.

The milkshake, or at least the malted milkshake, is credited to the old Walgreens chain, where a man named Ivar "Pop" Coulson invented the beverage in 1922. Up until then the drinks were made with milk, malt powder and chocolate syrup, but one day to make an extra-cool drink, Pop added some ice cream. This was a major revolution, and the Walgreens chains really took off.

COULSON'S ORIGINAL OLD-FASHIONED CHOCOLATE MALTED MILK

Use a frosted malt can

1 1/2 oz. chocolate syrup

3 - #16 dips of vanilla ice cream

5 1/2 oz. of cold milk

Add malt powder (one heaping       tablespoonful)

Place on mixer only until mixed—do not          over-mix

Use a generous portion of whipped       topping in a #1808 - 10 oz. glass

Pour malted milk in glass approximately          2/3 full

Serve remainder of malted in a shaker along with the glass to the guest with straws and package of fountain treat cookies

Priced at 20 cents, Coulson's new malted came with a glassine bag containing two complimentary vanilla cookies from the company bakery (source: Walgreen's website).

SHAKE SHACK, MADISON SQUARE PARK Recently opened in Madison Square Park, The Shake Shack is Danny Meyer's (Union Square Cafe, Blue Smoke, etc.) latest venture and continues his trend of "nostalgia" food. Blue Smoke, for instance, was an effort to capture the ribs Meyer remembers from his St. Louis childhood.

The Shake Shack actually serves hot dogs, frozen custard, shakes and little else. The dogs come either taxi-style (onions and sauerkraut) or Chicago-style. Piled high with toppings including lettuce, tomato, green peppers, onion, pickled hot peppers, mustard and pickles, the Chicago-style dog comes on a light and flaky poppy-seed roll. The dogs are fresh-tasting, with a slight, pleasant snap when you bite. The flavors merge and continue to evolve as you eat.

The custard is light, rich and creamy—a wonderful change of pace from the generic soft-serve found at most places. o