Recently I have had sometime off of work(unemployed) and have been spending some of it in my research lab (my kitchen), experimenting (drinking heavily) and prepping (drinking heavily) for the recent molecular gastronomy event that my bud Matt holds every month or so. Being that my house was a meeting point for both of us before the event, Matt dropped off a giant tank of liquid nitrogen the night before which was to be refilled prior to the event. Luckily, there was almost a quarter tank of the nitro left so I was able to play around that whole evening trying to make odd concoctions and freezing them solid. What an evening it would turn out to be.
I first started working on the cocktails I was doing for the event. Simple margaritas and daiquiris with water added to them to compensate for lack of ice dilution. I would pour the cocktails into a liquid nitrogen bath mixing with a wire whisk to obtain almost an ice cream consistency. They turned out well, but after a few (dozen) samples my lab partner (lovely girlfriend) and I started to suffer encephalon angina (brain freeze) and decided to retire back to drinking cocktails instead of eating them. The only problem that we were faced with now was that I forgot to refill the ice tray and had no way of mixing a regular drink. This is when I struck idea gold and decided to try switching the method of liquid nitrogen wash to liquid nitrogen as a weighed ingredient to the cocktail.
We decided on Gimlets. Well, my lab partner thought it was a gimlet when actually she was drinking a sweet Gin Rickey. Anyways, I grabbed a large 28oz tin and began constructing our not so typical cocktail and customized it for my taste. A hefty 3 ounces of Sapphire, ½ ounce fresh lime juice, and ½ ounce simple syrup built on solid cubes in a double old fashion and stirred for some good time is my usual method to suit my taste and is perfect in my opinion. I replicated this but replaced 2 ounces of water for the ice cubes. With everything in my tin I started to slowly pour 2 cups of liquid nitrogen into the tin, stirring the mixture with a bar spoon the whole time to prevent freezing. At this time I became the classic mad scientist from an old black and white film. Moving quickly all around, grinning while rubbing my hands together, staring at the potion with smoke billowing from its mixing vessel, and finally announcing completion with a loud maniacal laugh.
I split the concoction amongst two old fashion glasses to share with my lab partner for proper feedback. Instantly the cocktails made the glassware fog up and super cold to the touch. The first observation was definitely that these drinks were cold. Really cold! Colder than any other cocktail, (still in the liquid form), that I have ever had. The cocktail itself was on point for my suiting, but my lab buddy thought that it needed a little tweaking. So we tweaked and tweaked until there seemed to be a fog of liquid nitrogen smoke in my lab. When the smoke cleared we were left with what may seem to be the perfect cocktail in terms of proper measured amounts, proper dilution, proper temperature, and proper technique. What we were also left with was a giant buzz from researching and a tank of liquid nitrogen. Pretty good combo.
My lab partner and I high on spirits, ecstatic about our findings, and done wanting to be mad scientist decided it would be the right time to freeze a lime solid and shatter it. Enjoying our last cocktails of the night we watched the lime sitting in the liquid nitrogen bath. The nitro furiously bubbled around the lime and we just watched while the last bit of the liquid vaporized away. I let my lab partner do the dirty work and with one hard throw to the ground the lime shattered and pieces sprawled all through out the kitchen floor. We high fived and went to sleep. I dreamt of a cocktail lounge with no ice, scientists behind the bar in lab coats with weird mixing vessels and crazy grins. With that same crazy grin on their faces all of the lounge patron’s eyes were locked on the crew of mixologists and what they were stirring up.
I’ve been thinking about this since you told me about it last week. I can’t wait to apply it! During your sabbatical I would love it if we can put together a Mad Mike the Scientist night at APOTHECARY. Give me a call.