Mrs A.B. Marshall
Agnes Marshall, Queen of Ice Cream
Ice House
Mrs. Agnes Bertha Marshall
(1855 - 1905) was a celebrity cook, equivalent to today's television stars of
cookery, who demonstrate and write books, and are personality performers. Her maiden name was Smith. Had
there been television in her day, Mrs. Marshall would have without question
been a cookery "guru" on the small screen - she was always keen to adopt new
technology. Agnes Marshall wrote four books:-
- The Book of Ices 1885
- Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Book of Cookery 1888
- Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes 1891
- Fancy Ices 1894
and these are considered to be some of the finest books of
their type ever written, especially those on ices, of which Mrs. Marshall was
the Queen. Her recipes are clear, accurate, and well illustrated. Mrs. Marshall
has been neglected by historians, and is not famous today, unlike Mrs. Beeton,
whose work benefited from commercial promotion long after her death. In
contrast Mrs. Marshall's family did not make a long term success of her
business which included a cookery school, sales of equipment, and invention of
machines
She ran a domestic staff agency business, sold domestic and cooking equipment, and ran a successful school of cookery. She campaigned for better standards of food hygiene. In 1886 she started a magazine called "The Table". Agnes toured extensively, lecturing and demonstrating her techniques to huge audiences. Mrs. Marshall can be credited with the invention of the ice cream edible cone, mentioned in her 1888 cookery book, the recipe being "cornets with cream". This predates American claims to the invention in 1904! There are no known earlier references to the edible ice cream cone which nowadays we all take for granted.Her books stimulated demand for imported Norwegian ice which was supplied from the building which is now the London Canal Museum.
Marshall's Patent Freezer
The ice cream freezer illustrated was one of Mrs Marshall's own designs. The secret was a wide, flat
design that provided more surface area between the vessel containing the cream mixture, and the mixture
of ice and salt that created the freezing effect. When crushed ice and salt are mixed, the temperature falls
below freezing point. The vessel containing the ice cream mixture needs to be stirred all the time
and there is a paddle in the machine that stays still whilst the circular vessel is turned.
The design was patented in 1885. When the ice cream is made it has to be eaten before it melts or else stored in one of her other
designs, the "ice cream cave", an insulated box able to store ice cream for long enough to take on a picnic. The ice-cream maker pictured in use here is a replica.
