Frozen Custard appears as a signature dish in 2 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Wisconsin frozen custard · Madison
Wisconsin frozen custard is a denser, richer cousin of ice cream made with extra egg yolks and slow-churned at low overrun, served in cones, cups and concretes.
Wisconsin frozen custard emerged from Coney Island beachfront stands in the 1910s, then found its Wisconsin home when Leon Schneider opened Leon's Frozen Custard in Milwaukee in 1942. Madison's frozen custard tradition runs through Culver's, the Wisconsin chain founded in nearby Sauk City in 1984, and Michael's Frozen Custard, the Madison-area chain operating on Atwood, Schroeder and Monroe. The dense low-overrun custard with high egg yolk became Wisconsin's defining dessert by the 1970s.
Where to eat in Madison:
- Mickies Dairy Bar
Wisconsin frozen custard · Milwaukee
Wisconsin frozen custard is a denser, richer cousin of ice cream made with extra egg yolks and slow-churned at low overrun, served in cones, cups.
Wisconsin frozen custard emerged from Coney Island and Atlantic City beachfront stands in the 1910s, but found its home in Milwaukee when Leon Schneider opened Leon's Frozen Custard on South 27th Street in 1942 and Elsa Kopp opened Kopp's in 1950 in Glendale. Both used continuous-churn machines that produce custard at very low overrun, making it denser than ice cream; the high egg-yolk content makes it richer. Milwaukee now has more frozen custard stands per capita than any US city.
Where to eat in Milwaukee:
- Kopp's Frozen Custard
- Leon's Frozen Custard