How to Make Ice Cream in a Paila Using Ice and Salt: An Old-Fashioned Recipe

A while back I bought an antique ice cream maker after haggling quite a bit with the owner, who didn't want to part with her possession. The little machine captivated me from the moment I saw it—it was a UTENTRA, an Italian brand known for making highly collectible espresso machines today. The model I held in my hands had an electric motor and was completely made of copper… an evolution of those machines that turned liquid into delicious ice cream using only a bucket of ice, some salt, and a lot of elbow grease.

After cleaning it, repairing it, and buying a transformer so it would work at 120VAC, I decided to put it to work doing what it was made for. Today I'm sharing some photos of the process and the simplest recipe possible.

Ice cream paila machines

For those who want to make ice cream but can't find an antique machine or don't want to make it in a paila, there are many options that give very good results. Here's one option I recently acquired and recommend.

Step-by-step ice cream paila recipe

For the recipe I used fruit (in this case a pound of blackberries), milk (3/4 liter), and sugar to taste. Many people use egg whites whipped to stiff peaks to give it more texture, but I'm going to skip that ingredient in my recipe—though it's up to each person.

After mixing everything very well in the blender, we pass it through a strainer to remove the seeds.

Next we prepare the little machine by filling it with ice and salt (to improve the freezing point of the ice).

We fill the machine with the mixture, finish assembling it, and start the motor.

In my case the process takes about 25 minutes. Then we remove the ice cream into a suitable container, serve it in little cones, and done! Simple and delicious 🙂

Finally, I'll leave you with a photo I found online of the traditional process of making ice cream in a paila. I liked it and wanted to share it with you.