Why Use Liquid Nitrogen To Make Ice Cream?
If time is of the essence or if you’re competing in a Top Chef quick-fire challenge, the use of liquid nitrogen completely eliminates the need to chill the ingredients or equipment, and there’s no need to wait 20 to 30 minutes while your ice cream maker noisily churns away. You don’t need an ice cream maker at all, although you will need a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. But the bottom line is that it’s fun, it’s educational and it is literally and figuratively the coolest thing you can do in your lab… or kitchen. What Is Liquid Nitrogen? Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is made up of the same nitrogen found in the air we breathe, only colder. Much colder. To turn this gas into a liquid, it must be chilled to minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit (-320° F). By comparison, a home deep freezer is typically set to a relatively balmy zero degrees Fahrenheit (0° F). This means that LN2 cannot be stored in your average domestic freezer without actually boiling away. Liquid nitrogen is used eith
