Before Haagen-Dazs there was Margilan
Print Edition
MEMETYUSUP Sidiq had never heard of Haagen-Dazs, but he is proud of his homemade ice cream, a real treat in northwest China’s sweltering summer.
Haagen-Dazs was founded just 56 years ago. Margilan, the ice cream store Memetyusup inherited from his father has been serving up creamy delights for 84 years, and it was 57 years ago that the 10-year-old began to learn the trade’s secrets.
In 1933, Memetyusup’s father left what was then the Soviet Union for Yining in what is now the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and settled down to make ice cream. Back then, it was the only ice cream in town.
Today, Memetyusup is still producing the “taste of childhood,” as one customer puts it, made simply with milk, eggs and sugar. The recipe has changed little, but a mixing machine has cut out some of the hard work. The precise proportion of ingredients is Memetyusup’s secret.
“He adjusts the proportions according to the quality of milk so that the flavor remains constant,” says Adiljan Eysaq, 22, his grandson and apprentice.
One of Adiljan’s daily chores is to scour two huge iron pots, each weighing 250 kilograms. It is the first step in making perfect Margilan ice cream. Before Adiljan was allowed to do it himself, he was under the close supervision of his grandfather for six years.
“If the pot is not clean, the ice cream will go sour,” Adiljan says. After that, he pours milk into the sparkling pot and Memetyusup adds just the right amount of sugar. The milk is then brought to the boil.
“Duration and temperature are the key,” says Memetyusup. “Too hot and the milk will be burnt; not enough heat and the sugar will not melt.”
It takes him five hours to produce the perfect caramel milk. Then he adds eggs, stirs thoroughly, and puts it in the freezer.
A scoop in Margilan is about the same size as a small carton of Haagen-Dazs but sells for just 2 yuan (30 US cents).
Memetyusup shakes his head when he learns his “competitor’s” ice cream costs 15 times as much. Price, he says, is not necessarily an indicator of quality.
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