A couple of days ago, my chum Rick Curl, who lives about a 2-hour drive away in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, just popped into my office for a quick visit. Knowing Rick was coming, I’d brought my Countdown Timer into the office to show him the current state of play.

After an appropriate number of “Oohs” and “Aahs,” Rick mentioned that he also had brought a little something for “show and tell,” at which point he ambled down to his truck to retrieve a bag of “stuff,” a regular cooler, and a very mysterious item.

The mysterious item turned out to be a high-efficiency cryogenic storage system full of liquid nitrogen. I cannot believe that this wasn’t my first guess as soon as Rick carried it through the door. I must be losing my touch.

So, why does Rick now own his own high-efficiency cryogenic container? To be honest, I’ve found it’s best not to ask why any of my friends do what they do, because the ensuing tales ate typically so cryptic and convoluted that they would put my dear old mother’s epic sagas to shame.

From the cooler, as seen in this video, Rick extracted a cup of sugar (well, a plastic bag containing what he assured me was a cup-sized quantity of sugar), a pint of half-and-half, a pint of heavy whipping cream, and a bottle of vanilla extract.

 

From the bag, he produced a large plastic container with a screw-top lid, a stainless-steel mixing bowl, a stainless-steel spoon, some regular paper bowls, some plastic spoons, and a pair of heavy-duty insulated gloves.

First, we added all of the ingredients into the plastic container and gave it a good shaking to dissolve the sugar, then we poured a portion of this mixture into the stainless-steel bowl. Next, as seen in this video, I donned the gloves and started stirring furiously while Rick added the liquid nitrogen.

 

The idea is that the mixture freezes so fast that ice crystals don’t have time to form. The result was the smoothest, creamiest ice cream I’ve ever tasted. I’m still licking my lips as I think about it tickling my taste buds.

I tell you; you never know what’s going to happen next in the Pleasure Dome (my office). How about you? Have you ever sampled the delights of ice cream created using liquid nitrogen?