Science In A Scoop: Making Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
He's not alone in his opinion. At the end of a recent Saturday afternoon that was sunny but not particularly warm, there was a steady line of people eager to order at Smitten, which is located in a repurposed shipping container.
Smitten charges a buck an ounce, but a small amount of the stuff is rich enough to satisfy.
"Knowing there are only a few ingredients makes me feel like I can indulge," says Claire Kensington, the founder of a food, fashion and sex website, who'd returned two days after her last serving for some more mint chip.
Of course, there's nothing new about making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. In fact, cooking with the gas has become so trendy lately that Wired felt inspired to put together this how-to guide. (As we reported last year, sometimes these culinary experiments can go dangerously wrong.)
At New York's Eleven Madison Park, guests brought back to the kitchen after dinner are treated to an apple-and-brandy cocktail topped with a frozen dome of foam fashioned with liquid nitrogen.
"It gives us the opportunity to do a little performance before the guests that's really easy and quick, and at the same time entertaining," says Angela Pinkerton, the restaurant's head pastry chef. "Liquid nitrogen is fun to watch, and everyone's curious about it. It looks cool."
It does look (and feel) cool when clouds of gas come pouring out of the metal containers where the ice cream's stirring at Smitten. Fisher started serving ice cream out of a kid's red wagon back in 2009. She spent years developing a patented machine that keeps her ingredients churning in a safe, controlled environment. (She goes into the techie details in this video.)
The stirring, along with the minus 321 F temperature of the gas, keeps ice crystals from forming and is responsible for Smitten's smooth texture, which my son likens to a cross between standard-issue ice cream and whipped cream.
"Because it is a different texture than any other ice cream," says Kensington, "it feels like a new experience, like a new treat."