Comebacks we'd like to see: #12 -- Milkshakes made with milk
Filed under: Food
This post is part of our series ranking the top 25 bygone products and trends we'd like to see return.
My first real job outside of babysitting was for an odd local fast food chain in Portland, Ore. called "Arctic Circle." We were famous for three things: our fry sauce, our enormous taco salads, and our milk shakes. The milk shakes were made with soft serve ice cream, seasonal mix-ins, and real milk, mixed in old-fashioned steel cups. I still remember the grinding noise of the milkshake blades grazing the edge of the cup, and working the milk machine, purposely making a shake that was far too much to fit in the cup so I could pour the leftovers into a little cup and indulge.
Unfortunately, today's milkshake is barely recognizable compared to those of the middle of the century. Most milkshakes consumed by Americans today come from McDonald's, Wendy's or Starbucks; where they are all individually "branded", Shamrock Shake, Frosty, Frappuccino, so that it's clear the milk is but a minor player. Nonfat milk solids, corn syrup solids, guar gum, dextrose, cellulose gum, vanillan. Is this progress?
Not in my book. Give me simple ice cream (maybe even made with actual cream!), a handful of berries or a teaspoonful of vanilla, and a nice pull from the milk machine. Mix it up with the original "immersion blender," pour it thickly into a glass, and give me a long-handled spoon. Now that is a milkshake.
What soda fountain treat do you miss the most?



Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-16-2008 @ 5:06PM
Ken Noe said...
Doesen't anyone rember the malted? Seems like nobody knows how to make one. Even in so called" Ice Cream" shops {Hagen Das, etc.} it turns out to be nothing but a milk shake.
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5-16-2008 @ 7:59AM
Scott said...
These days fast food shakes are chemical concoctions.
But everytown has some little place that still des it right.
If you are ever in Austin Texas head to Dirty Martins just north of the Unoveristy of Texas campus.
They scoop the ice cream into one of those aluminum mixer cups, pour in th emilk, pump in some syrup and put the cylinder on that familar pale green mixing machine to give you a thick tasy real shake.
Katz's deli at 6-th & Rio Grande does the same thing. One shake there is enough for rwop people.
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5-16-2008 @ 9:11AM
Matt said...
There is a restaurant chain that still makes classic milk shakes. It's called Steak N Shake. Some of the best shakes I've ever had. They are real milk shakes, they scoop the ice cream into the metal cup, add the milk and flavor and mix it on an old style mixer. Each shake is made fresh and to order.
They even have real malted shakes. (Never had one malted, but I used to work there and made my fair share of shakes and know that malted is an option.)
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5-16-2008 @ 1:13PM
Bill Lynes said...
I went to Steak-n-shake for the first time about 1950 in Kirkwood, Missouri. They had real milkshakes and malts then, but T&M's had thicker ones. T&M's stood for Tomlin and Miller's. They were a couple of high school teachers that opened a frozen custard stand in the summer. I worked there and ran the malt machines. We put more ice cream in ours and they were so thick you could turn them upside down and the shake wouldn't fall out. I have since moved to Florida and am a regular Steak-n-shake customer again.
5-16-2008 @ 9:53AM
brenda said...
you can still get a milkshake made from real milk at all stewarts shops. they also still make malteds. real icecream and real milk at a reasonable price,and you can catch them on a week special
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5-16-2008 @ 11:29AM
jessica said...
Kroll's restaurant in Green Bay, Wisconsin. If you've ever been to Lambeau field, chances are you've been to Krolls. They've been there for 'forever'. Home of old-fashioned burgers, malts and milkshakes so delicious, it's a good thing for my waist that i now live an hour away :-(
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5-16-2008 @ 11:49AM
Mom said...
I live in Bluffton, SC and there is a place called Cheeburger, Cheegurger (spelled right) and they make great milkshakes. Unfortunately my cholestoral won't let me enjoy them as much as I would like.
5-16-2008 @ 1:26PM
Fred B. said...
When I grew up in the 50's, Cunninghams was the place to go for a sandwich and a malt. A tuna fish sandwich made with real mayonaise, celery and onions. The malt was made with real ice cream and real milk and a couple of spoonfuls of malt powder and chocolate syrup. The stuff they serve today that they call shakes doesn't even contain any dairy products. It's all chemicals and artificial ingredients. Blah....
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5-16-2008 @ 2:41PM
Karen Kinnane said...
Oh my! The Blue Door, a Pompton Plains, NJ sweetshop across from Jones Hardware Store on the Nwk. Pompton Tpk, used to make THE BEST milkshakes in the 1950s. My Grandpa would take Grandma and me in for a shake each as a treat. I got pineapple, with real pineapple in it, Gramps got chocolate, and Grandma got vanilla on the theory (wrong!) that it had less calories. Modern shakes are not the same, not so good. The ingredients are mostly chemical, and the company is long gone!
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5-16-2008 @ 3:03PM
MarjAZ said...
When I was very small, my mother and I used to "go up town" to shop and each time, we would end up at Fantle's Dress Shop, in the basement coffee shop to have a chocolate malt. It was heavenly. Now, I was not a child who was used to sweets, and these malts were not sticky sweet as the ones you get today. Does anyone have any idea as to why this would be? I know that malted milk powder that you get in the supermarket is very sweet and therefore would add sweetness along with the ice cream, but I sure would like to be able to get a "malted milkshake" like in the good old days.
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5-16-2008 @ 4:07PM
Jerry Ramey said...
When I read Bill's comments, it made me think of a place in Virginia that my parents would take my sister and I to when we were in town visiting relatives. It was located in Woodway, Virginia, just a few minutes drive outside of Pennington Gap. It was called The Knob Drive-In. It's closed now. My parents went there when they were dating in the late 1950's. They had really good cheeseburgers, crinkle-cut fries, and onion rings. But the real treat for my sister and I were their milkshakes. They were served in styrofoam cups. I used to stick my spoon in the cup, turn it upside down, and the spoon wouldn't fall out! Now that was a milkshake!
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5-17-2008 @ 7:15PM
Maureen's said...
Bethany Beach Delaware
Maureen's Ice Cream & Desserrts makes old fasion Milk shakes & Malts that you would die for.
They scoop the ice cream into one of those aluminum mixer cups, pour in the milk, pump in some syrup and put the cylinder on that familar pale green mixing machine to give you a thick tasy real shake.
Maureen's also has a Coffee Bar , Bleded Ice Coffee Drinks, Smothies, Desserts and Special Treats
Located at: 99 Garfield Parkway ( next to Mango's )
Bthany Beach, DE 19930
302 539 5540
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5-30-2008 @ 12:10PM
Kay said...
If you are ever in Central California...there is a sweet little ice cream shop that still makes ice cream that is true ice cream. Superior Dairy ice cream is simply the best! They make shakes out of it in the old fashioned steel cup. They deliver it to your table in the frosty steel cup with a glass to pour it in to. (pour if you can, it is sooo thick) Other treats are offered like a sundae so large that it takes four teenage girls to eat one. You can go to the restaurant and eat and pick up a half gallon or two to bring home with you.They charge a really reasoable price for premium ice cream. HANDORD, CA
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5-18-2008 @ 10:22PM
Tom Kerrins said...
Growing up we would finish playing baseball and go over to Reback's drug store in Oak Park, Il for a coke. We'd watch as they took care of us, then wait on the adult and make him a malt. We said how great it would be to work there! Finally I turned 15 and asked for a job. I got hired and was taught how to make shakes and malts, as well as other ice cream treats. It started with 3 large scoops of New York vanilla ice cream,a shake took 2 scoops, followed by a cup of cold milk, a good heavy squirt of chocolate (Hershey), then came the best ingredient 3 large spoonfuls of Horlicks malted milk powder. Then blend til most of the ice cream was smooth. Serve in a tall glass with a long spoon for the ice cream chunks. MEMORIES
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5-19-2008 @ 4:51PM
Grace said...
I appreciate what you're saying, but a Frappucino isn't even supposed to be a milkshake, it's a coffee drink.
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5-25-2008 @ 10:02PM
Amy P said...
Saunder's milk chocolate caramel. It's from Detroit. It's amazing. The melted plastic, strangley opaque hot "fudge" they serve here in FL is bizarre to put it mildly. Saunder's is amazing; chocolatey, buttery & a bit salty at the same time. When I was pregnant I would have done some pretty drastic things for a mint chip & Saunder's sundae.
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6-06-2008 @ 9:11AM
Terry Carr said...
Some of you folks must live on the moon, or don't have mom & pop ice cream stores in your town. I have no trouble finding traditional milk shakes in Miisisippi or Tennessee, or Missouri. Good old vanila ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whole milk. What a heart stopper!
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7-06-2008 @ 8:06PM
Bob said...
Bethlehem Dairy Store (aka The Cup and Mowrer's Dairy), Bethlehem, PA, www.bethlehemdairystore.com.
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