Ice cream emergency

May 26, 2019 9:05 AM

Was supposed to make ice cream today with a friend. I’m in charge of bringing the machine and she has already made the custard. I didn’t freeze the ice cream maker bowl. Manufacturer says it should take 16-24 hours to freeze.

If I can get my hands on dry ice (secondary question, where in Harlem is there easy dry ice?) is there a way to freeze this bowl without breaking it?

posted by bilabial to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

No recommendations about dry ice, but you could try packing it with ice and salt before bunging it in the freezer. That would reduce the temperature a lot faster. Probably would still take at least 6 hours, though.
posted by slkinsey at 9:15 AM on May 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Heat will transfer between the freezer bowl and ice-cold water much faster than it will in cold air. Submerge the freezer bowl in a big bowl or small cooler full of ice water to bring the temp down to 32F. Occasionally stir the water and refresh melted ice. After an hour or so, put it in the freezer to get it colder.

The manual is unclear about what material the freezer bowl is made of, so it's hard to make a guess about how it would respond to the thermal shock of being introduced to dry ice. But... dry ice is usually sold in bricks, which won't be particularly useful. You'd want to break up the dry ice brick in to smaller pieces to maximize the contact area between the bowl and the dry ice; this would neither be safe nor easy.
posted by peeedro at 9:25 AM on May 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Many supermarkets sell dry ice, especially those with a seafood section. Also check these out. You should have your friend put the custard in the freezer to give it a head start.
Or add the dry ice to the custard directly.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:28 AM on May 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I mean, I have that same exact ice cream maker, and I'm going to be honest with you, it's probably not going to work. The thing really has to be frozen good and solid to work. In fact, the manufacturer's instructions are incredibly "optimistic" about home freezing conditions, such that it really takes more like 48 to 72 hours for the bowl to freeze solid enough to use. There are even videos on YouTube that prove as much. I really doubt that there's any method that's going to allow you to get this bowl cold enough to make ice cream today.
posted by katyggls at 11:35 AM on May 26, 2019 [8 favorites]

I also highly doubt you're going to get that bowl cold enough to make ice cream with it today. But all hope is not lost! You don't NEED an ice cream maker to make ice cream, just some gallon plastic baggies, ice, and salt. Here's a tutorial on how to do it.
posted by Weeping_angel at 11:46 AM on May 26, 2019 [4 favorites]

Dry ice is more likely to damage the bowl.

Seconding making ice cream with powdered dry ice. Bonus: it’s super quick and kind of has a carbonated pop-rocks-ish texture.
posted by supercres at 12:10 PM on May 26, 2019

For dry ice, "wholesale icecream" and "ice cream truck" are useful keywords, but Sunday afternoon may be a stretch, and cooling the thing evenly is tough. Submersion in a bucket of very salty water (or cheap vodka) and bags of water ice floating in the liquid, with agitation, might work better.

(If you happen to know anyone who works with low temperature lab stuff, liquid nitrogen ice cream is a sure fire party-pleaser and requires no prep. If you don't happen to have that friend, there's no time to make it happen.)
posted by eotvos at 12:16 PM on May 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Not all dry ice is food grade. If not, it could contain contaminants or residual compressor pump oil. Check for this if you're considering the suggestions of making ice cream by adding it directly to your ingredients.
posted by peeedro at 12:33 PM on May 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

My ice cream maker bowl is similar and I can confirm that even 24 hours is not really enough for it to be sufficiently chilled. If you have space, I recommend letting it live in the freezer. Bonus: everything else in there will stay colder as well.
posted by Flannery Culp at 12:49 PM on May 26, 2019

Response by poster: I left the machine at the friends house. She will have ice cream tomorrow. Or from the sound of it, maybe Tuesday.
posted by bilabial at 4:09 PM on May 26, 2019 [2 favorites]

Awww. Stick the bowl in the freezer, stir every 15 mins until it get ice-creamy enough. You can probably do this with a normal bowl too. No the ice cream won't get super hard, but it's totally edible and yummy.
posted by xammerboy at 8:48 PM on May 26, 2019

To make stuff colder, faster: You can turn down the temp in the freezer to make it as cold as possible. You can wrap the bowl in a wet dishtowel.

In this case, I would use the ziplock bag method in the freezer.
posted by theora55 at 12:54 PM on May 28, 2019