When I was a kid there was a particular dessert called a Sundae. Its hard to be exact about exactly what one was but we had them on holiday, and, well, on a Sunday too. It really was quite confusing as a nipper, what with two different spellings of a word that sounded the same!
So, Sundaes. Yes. Basically I think they were [ and are ] ice-cream with fruit or sauce or often both. The Sundaes I remember the most are Peach Melba, Banana Split and the daddy of them all, Knickerbocker Glory. With a name like that you could build empires!
Peach Melba was vanilla ice cream with peaches and some of that delicious peachy syrup from the can. It came in a half globe glass bowl on a stem. Heaven.
Banana Split was a big boat of a thing with a mountain of ice cream and whipped cream flanked by two halves of banana like two subs circling an ice berg. The whole heap was drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with chopped nuts. The entire shabang was served on a cigar shaped dish or glass bowl. Bliss.
Knickerbocker Glory, the mothership of Sundaes, came in a tall thick cut glass vase at least a foot tall. You paid handsomely for this bad boy but the pain was worth it. The Glory was layer upon layer of ice cream alternated with tinned fruit like peaches, strawberries, grapes and pear.
The vast column was crowned with a mop of whipped cream and pomaded with nuts and raspberry sauce. A long spoon unique to the Knickerbocker was the final bit of kit. The dessert of choice at our own wedding, the Glory is quite simply the Nuclear Ferry of sweets.
All of the above concoctions of delight were liberally peppered with garnish like chopped nuts, chocolate sauce, raspberry sauce, chocolate sprinkles and hundreds and thousands in various amounts and combinations. Tinned fruit was critical and without a cut glass stemmed bowl it just wasn't a Sundae.
Great pretenders came along now and then like ice-cream floats, mixed ice, Bird's dream topping with strawberries and fools of various types, but they were misguided and everyday. Compared to Sundaes, they were, well, just fools!
What was or is your favourite Sundae or ice-cream dessert readers?
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, we were never that big on desserts when we were growing up and they were never a regular part of the dining experience.
I remember lots of ice cream and confectionery but they were just sort of regular, sporadic events, not associated with dinner times.
However, saying that, whenever we visited my grandparents (on mum's side), dessert was observed religiously! Lovely home baked apple pies with custard or ice cream, jam tarts, lots of custard dishes.
One of my favs was the great big tin of Fruit Salad my gran used to get and she used to give me the cherries, the rarest fruit in the tin! I loved getting them to the chagrin of my sister! hehe!
Ha ha, maybe that's a new brand Ed, Chagrin Cherries! There were delicious weren't. They were FAB1 pink as well weren't they? My other cherry treat was glace cherries or is it glazed? In fact I'm pretty unclear about what they were actually made of! I remember eating them out of a plastic tub, which was next to the flour and baking soda in my Mum's cupboard!
ReplyDeleteAs for custard and puddings, well, its almost the definition of bliss ain't it! Your Gran sounds like she was a master of the art. My fave to this day is Jam Roly Poly and Bird's custard. There's just something about suet pastry, jam and the yellow stuff that makes my mouth water just describing it! Maybe we should have a pud today Ed!
Indeed Woodsy about having a pudding today...I have a Heinz treacle pudding that has been sitting in the cupboard for far too long. It definitely needs drowned in Bird's custard and scoffed!
ReplyDeleteThose glace/glazed cherries....I remember those too. I recall them as being incredibly sweet and sticky when eaten straight out of the jar/container. Something is ringing a faint bell in my head about having them in the house one Christmas and seeing them in Babycham.
It's been far too long since I had a good old bowl of bananas and custard too...that taste is one of those that takes me right back!
Happy glaze Ed! ha ha
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