The Recipe[]
- In the large steel bowl, mix one quart of Half and Half with one pint of milk.
- Add the vanilla and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- At this point, you can add anything you like – get creative. It's easy to replace the vanilla with any flavor you wish. Add chocolate chips, crunch up a candy bar, toss in frozen berries, nuts, marshmallows, cookie dough… whatever sounds good to you!
- It's time for the liquid nitrogen. Put on your safety glasses and gloves… do it! Your assistant chefs should also be wearing their safety gear as well. You might want to put the bowl in your sink just in case it overflows (which it probably will) or spread out some plastic on the table. It's impossible to measure how much liquid nitrogen to add, so just pour about a quart (that's equal to about 1 liter) of liquid nitrogen into the bowl. Expect lots of cool fog and the sounds of oohs and ahhs from the audience.
- DO NOT STIR THE MIXTURE… just yet. Let the liquid nitrogen do its job of partially freezing the mixture. If you stir too soon, the concoction will bubble over and you'll have a mess (and you'll waste some of your ice cream).
- Stir the mixture with the wooden spoon. Some of the cream will be completely frozen while other parts will still be liquid. Keep stirring until you have a consistent mixture, and then add more liquid nitrogen.
- Let it freeze for a few seconds before stirring.
- Stir, stir, and stir some more until you have a consistent mixture.
- Keep adding small amounts of liquid nitrogen until you have the perfect creamy consistency.