Take a trip to the rugged and romantic Northern Territory, to the tiny town of Elsie Creek to make these tasty Outback Spiders. It’s an Aussie Summer favourite that every kid grew up with. Did you?
Where can you find the Outback Spider?
Inside the kitchen of the small house that shields them from the searing outback sun, stands the formidable father and son team, Connor and his father Richard.
Richard drops his large cowboy hat on the kitchen island’s stool where three small children sit wearing roller skates. ‘Kids, this is a family secret, you know…’
The three wide-eyed children nodded, crinkling up their suntans with widening smiles.
On the other side of the kitchen counter, Connor puts down five tall glasses, metal straws, and long-handled spoons. ‘Are we ready to do this, Dad?’
‘You bet. It’s been a long time since I’d made these. Now, you three little billy lids, we have a choice, we can make the brown cow, the Outback Spider, the purple cow, or the redback spider!’
Whoops! Didn’t we skip ahead. What the heck is an Outback Spider?
With Connor being a man of few words, his father, Richard, explains.
I ask, as the author, ‘What is an Outback Spider? Considering we live in the land of venomous spiders, deadly snakes, billabong bunyips, and crocodiles.’
‘It’s our own Elsie Creek variation of the ice cream spider.’
‘So why is this drink so special to you, Richard?’
‘Ice cream was a treat as a kid. We don’t have milk cows here in the Territory, milk comes in tins that you had to make yourself, and my grandmother made ice cream by hand. With only small amounts to share, she’d make it stretch by creating these Outback Spiders she drank as a child.’ He smiles down at the younger children, saying, ‘and here I am telling the next generation…’
How to make an Outback Spider
(From the author: *Connor & his father don’t believe in measurements. So with a pen in hand most of what follows are guesstimates! Either way, you can’t ruin it.)
Ingredients for the basic Outback Spider:
Vanilla ice cream
some cold fizzy soda
Syrup flavouring of your choice.
(*the syrup and soda can be any flavoured soft drink – but it must have bubbles)
“…be wary of brain-freeze.”
Putting the Outback Spider together:
Always, always, add the ice cream first as the base of the glass.
One scoop will do.
Mash it up a bit with a touch of soda.
Then you trickle the syrup down the inner sides of the glass.
Then add another scoop of ice cream.
Layering is the key! Remember that.
Then add the rest of the soda, sloooowly leaving plenty of room for the foamy action to rise—sometimes you’ll need to drink it fast before it spills, so be wary of brain-freeze.
Sip with a straw and eat with the spoon.
Easy as, mate.
Why is this drink called a spider?
When the ice cream and syrup react with the soda, it creates an eerie spidery art effect along the sides of the glass when it mixes. But it’s also when the carbonation hits the ice cream to form a spiderweb-like reaction to bubble to the top.
How does the ice cream spider work?
When the carbonated soda (that’s the stuff in the bubbles) hits the ice cream, you get fizzy, tasty frothy bubbles.
How this happens is the air in the soda bubbles reacts with the cold ice cream, causing the ice cream to froth and expand.
Cool, huh?
Lucy’s tips for mixing up the spider’s flavours
As the improvising queen of bush tucker, Lucy gets creative by switching up the ingredients.
There are many variations of the Outback Spider. It is such a favourite among the many, here are a few variations from the locals of Elsie Creek:
Redback Spider—The Mother’s Version
*Que (from Rolled in Dust) with the help of some friends from the Dusty Dingoes, invented the following version of the Redback Spider.
Tall glass
Vanilla ice cream (Full cream is preferred. Pst, you can start your diet tomorrow, kay.)
Frozen raspberries whipped into a syrup! Yum. (See mango syrup below for how to)
Now add a dash of vodka
And a squeeze of lime. Double yum!!
Then pour in raspberry soda, or creaming soda, or lemonade.
Just experiment and enjoy.
** The children’s version of the Redback Spider is creaming soda and ice cream, or lemonade and strawberry ice cream.
The Lady’s Tropical Spider
Mango syrup: which is fresh mango pulp mixed with sugar water (Sugar water is 2 parts sugar 1 part hot water mixed on the low stovetop until sugar dissolves. It lasts in the fridge for weeks as the perfect base for other cocktails of for other fruit syrups to make your own spider – the redback spider recipe above.)
Champagne
Vanilla ice cream
Build like a normal spider and top it off with a splash of passion fruit.
You’re welcome!
Extras to add to your original Outback Spider
Whipped cream
Hundreds and thousands
Fruit – like cherries, kiwi fruit, pomegranate
Fruit blends to try – strawberry, orange, any of the citrus fruits, really.
Grated chocolate. Oh, yes, please.
Other names for the spider:
Below are the other names for the spider using the same method of building your spider with ice cream first. It’s just the flavours that change that offer some amazing variety for you to try.
Black Cow: Cola and vanilla ice cream (also known as the cola float if you do soda first then ice cream on top!)
Brown Cow: Root beer or homemade ginger beer (that didn’t explode over the summer) and vanilla ice cream (one that this author grew up on.)
Brown Cow version II: Chocolate ice cream and cola—it’s an acquired taste for some.
Purple Cow: purple grape soda and vanilla ice cream.
White Cow, also known as Snow White’s Spider: lemonade and vanilla ice cream (God aka Samantha – Elsie Creek’s local publican – adds vodka and Kahlua into this mix calling it the Elsie Creek’s twist on the white Russian!)
The Backyard Beer Spider:
This is another one of Elsie Creek’s unearthed versions of the Spider. This time, Alex’s Lander’s version is made in the brewery shed with his dad, Neville, visiting from Bris-Vegas:
For the blokes, grab an icy cold schooner glass, a handle will do.
Add a dollop of ice cream – now you can have chocolate or vanilla. It’ll work either way.
Espresso syrup (or just a concentrated mix) trickled down the side of the glass.
Then top ‘er up with stout beer to give it a kick.
Cheers.
The difference between the spider versus the ice cream float
Alex, the truck-driving, beer-brewing master and cyber-stalker, discovered the ‘spider’ was created in various milk bars around Australia and New Zealand in the late 1800s, yet the American’s claim they made it first.
So let’s put this puppy to bed, shall we…
The Americans invented the Ice cream float. The ‘float’ is where soda is poured into a glass and then you add a scoop of ice cream or cream that floats on top.
From the land down under, the spider is the layering of goodies. It’s where the ice cream is always added first, then the soda, then more ice cream coz you can!
Which came first, the Spider or the Ice Cream Float?
Sources show the Aussie Spider was found in many milk bars from 1854, according to the Herald Sun.
But we discovered that the Spider was an Aussie bushman’s brew of brandy mixed with ginger beer. The lemonade and brandy spiders were very popular with the Australian ladies from 1888—it was also my grandmother’s favourite tipple during halftime at the football.
The documented creation of the American Ice Cream float was via soda fountains in 1910.
The Outback Spider in a story:
I grew up with the spider as a kid as a summertime treat. My grandfather used to make them in his shed with its rattly beer fridge and old radio tuned in to the cricket. As a child, I’d stand on a wooden crate to watch him make spiders on his work bench, as the dogs hovered nearby, eager to lick up the mess off the floor.
“It’s a perfectly dreamy dessert in a drink that is suitable for those sweltering outback summer days.”
No wonder it made it into my stories where the handsome hero, Connor, creates it in Rolled in DUST. It’s a perfectly dreamy dessert in a drink that is suitable for those sweltering outback summer days.
So why not make out its summer by making your own version of the outback spider, then sit in your sun chair (by the heater if it’s winter) and reach for this book, ROLLED IN DUST, it’s the perfect Escape to Happily Ever After from the comforts of your home.
**All still images relating to this post’s topic are via CANVA.com
Do check it out for all your graphic and social media needs.
| #Escape2HEA ~ because everyone deserves an Escape from the drama in their day!
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