Chicago brick en · NOUN
Etymology
Uncertain, but perhaps from being a variety of ice cream popular in and associated with Chicago in which multiple flavors were compressed into one brick; the result also resembles a color of building brick which was common in Chicago at the time.
Meanings
-
(uncountable) An ice cream variety, popular in Chicago and the American Midwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, consisting of a layer of orange sherbet or ice cream, a layer of vanilla ice cream, and a layer of caramel (or sometimes coffee, chocolate, or maple) ice cream.
John Cunningham, Chicago, Ill., […] told of the experience he had had with a Neapolitan combination known as Chicago brick, to which his public had been educated and for which a large demand had been created. Owing to the fact that the combination contained a layer of ice it was necessary to discontinue manufacture during the war. After the resumption of peace conditions a driver reported requests for Chicago brick and a batch was made up. […]
1919, Ice Cream Trade Journal, volume 15, page 33When ice cream is molded into bricks, several flavors may be placed in layers to form one brick. Spumone, an Italian ice cream which is considered a great delicacy, is made of two different flavors of ice cream and of whipped cream. The first layer of ice cream is chocolate-flavored. The next is vanilla. The third layer is rum-flavored whipped cream which contains chopped nuts and fruits. Chicago brick and Neapolitan are also well-known layer ice creams. Chicago brick consists of a layer of caramel ice cream, a layer of orange ice cream, and a layer of vanilla ice cream. […]
1953, John Morris Jones, The World Book Encyclopedia, page 3622Your segment on Chicago brick reminded me of an ice cream treat I remember from the 1950s called “Chicago Brick.” It was orange sherbet with vanilla and caramel. […] — Mary Oellrich, Ravenswood Gardens Chicago brick ice cream was the same idea [as Neapolitan] — but the layers were orange sherbet, vanilla and caramel ice cream. In some historic ads, the caramel was replaced with chocolate, coffee, or maple ice cream. But while orange sherbet, vanilla and caramel ice cream certainly share the color palette of actual Chicago clay bricks, we could find no evidence that the name has anything to do with that. […] We found ads for Chicago brick ice cream sold as far away as Oklahoma and Nebraska in the 1910s and 1920s. […] historian Tim Samuelson […] said that as far as the “brick” part of the name, that was once a common reference to the shape of a block of ice cream no matter the flavor. […] The flavor called Chicago brick started appearing in ice cream parlors in the mid-1880s, and could be found in grocery stores starting in the late 1940s. A few local manufacturers produced Chicago brick flavor, including Borden’s, Walgreens and Dean’s. But as for why it has “Chicago” in the name, Samuelson came up dry, and so did we.
2020 July 9, Erica Gunderson(?), Ask Geoffrey [Baer]: The Scoop on Chicago’s Brick Ice Cream, WTTWShortly after, there was the time I'd ventured out and found an ice cream parlor selling their decadent wares. […] Chicago Brick was my delight of choice. The Ice Cream Man had rambled warily about it being his last batch; all available resources were being called to the frontlines, including the large sheets of ice used to separate the slabs of frozen cream. As I step away, Neapolitan layers of orange sherbet, vanilla and caramel ice cream dribble down my palm and sizzle away on sundrenched asphalt. […] The soldier I pounded pavement after, bless his heart, didn't look a thing like Baird. He turned at the brush of my hand at his shoulder, light as a feather of hope. This was dashed on the street, along with my Chicago Brick.
2018, A. Renež Olesiewicz, The Wonderer: A Darby, Baird & Co. Novel, page 142
-
(uncountable) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Chicago, brick.
The common brick tested comprised unused new Chicago brick, and used St. Louis brick. Fifty per cent of the new bricks were split, […]
1909, Southwest Contractor and Manufacturer, volume 3 page 13