Attention to ingredients can lift ice cream float
Like a seven-layer dip after five minutes with a chip-wielding mob, the ice cream float is at its best when it looks a mess. That chilled scoop needs to meld into what’s in the glass, creating a foamy head, a puddle below and the kind of creamy drink that was intended when the float, aka ice cream soda, was invented in the 1870s.
You might think a written recipe amounts to overkill. What does it take beyond ice cream, soda, straw and spoon? Well, a little extra attention to ingredients pays off.
Stirring flavored syrup into plain seltzer makes for a soda that’s less sweet than what you can find on the soft drinks aisle, and that custom blending comes in handy for a tasteful balance once the ice cream goes in.
The scoop you choose matters, too, of course. Gelato will melt faster than premium ice cream, but it has a bit less fat and may result in a different mouth feel. Sorbets, which are typically nondairy, won’t yield a surface that’s quite as foamy. You might not want to choose ice cream with chunks that would get stuck in a straw. But do venture beyond simple vanilla and chocolate.
Finally, there’s the presentation. Stir the syrup and seltzer mixture in each tall glass, leaving a generous amount of head space. Perch the scoop of ice cream on the rim, then fill with more seltzer just until the level of liquid meets the scoop and bubbles form. Blending and melting will ensue with some control, as you drink and stir.
Sure enough, some ice cream will run down the side of the glass, and soon the scoop will fall in and bob on the surface. That’s why you serve an ice cream float on a saucer plate.