"I use clear ice to impress my friends and my enemies."
- I think Julius Caesar said that.
How to Make and Cut Clear Ice...
Basically, and this was a shock to me, all you really need to know about making clear ice is that water freezes from the top down. That is it! It has nothing to do with impurities in your water, so boiling or using distilled water is not the answer. Let me explain... The water at the top will freeze first. As more of the water freezes, air bubbles form and get forced down, lower and lower towards the bottom. It is those air bubbles that cause the yucky and ugly clouds in your ice. Let me repeat, it is the air bubbles! And those air bubbles also become weak spots that crack; causing your ice to melt and dilute your drink.
So, how will this new-found knowledge help us make clear ice? Simple; we will just remove the ice from the freezer before the last few inches at the bottom fully freeze, thus eliminating the clouds and cracks. The bottom will consist of just a bit of thin ice, along with water and air, which we will dump down the sink. What we are left with is just a pure, clear, beautiful, solid, but also very slippery block of ice! There is however just a little bit more you need to know.
The more you know...
This is how I do it…
Fill a small, clean Igloo Mini Playmate cooler three-fourths of the way up with water, and carefully place it in the freezer with the top left open. The first time I did this, I almost spilled the entire cooler of water in the freezer! The reason I use this particular cooler is because it just happens to be the perfect size for the amount of ice I need, and for the amount of storage space available in my freezer. It is also insulated on the sides and bottom, which is a must! And in case you are wondering, I use the Igloo 12424 Mini Playmate Cooler, 4 quart, 6-Can Capacity model, available at amazon.com. If you have the extra room in your freezer, by all means, feel free to use a bigger cooler.
At the standard 0-degree (F) freezer setting, and after some trial and error, I found that the optimum time to freeze my ice is right around 29 to 30 hours. Anything less, then the ice won't be thick enough because not enough of it has fully frozen. Anything more, then the ice freezes too much, and it becomes cloudy. I’ve seen comments from other people saying they only need around 18 hours to properly freeze their ice. So, you will just have to experiment through trial and error to find the right amount of time needed to properly freeze your ice.
Back to the task at hand… You waited patiently for over a day, and it is now time to pull the ice out of the freezer. After you pull the cooler out, you will want to set it upside down, with the cover still opened, in a large, clean plastic container. Let it sit there for 20 to 30 minutes, then lift the cooler up with both hands. The ice should drop right out, but sometimes it may require persuading.
I find that shaking it or tapping the bottom and sides with a mallet helps free it up, otherwise, just wait another 10 minutes, and try again. Another thing you can try is to turn the cooler on its side, but vertically. I found doing this causes water to drip out, loosening the ice up. Then I carefully flip it back upside down and “boom”, out comes the ice!
Once the ice block is out, the top few inches (which was the bottom, and the part that we do not want) should be comprised mostly of thin shards of ice, water, and air. Tap it with something heavy to break off all the jagged edges. But please be careful, the edges of the ice will be very sharp and can cut you just like broken glass!
After that, you can pick up the large chunk of ice in both hands, (be careful, it is extremely slippery), and set it on a cutting board. I like to keep a couple of clean dish towels sitting around the cutting board acting like a barrier for catching the excess water, holding the ice, and keeping the ice in one place.
Dump out the container of water and ice shards and set it aside. Let that and the playmate dry, then store away until you need them again. Now you can start cutting the ice. I use a large bread knife, and a heavy meat tenderizer as a hammer. A wooden mallet would also work well.
Cut the ice block in half by starting to saw through the middle of it. You only need to cut about a one-eighth of an inch down. Then you can tap the top of your knife with the tenderizer or mallet, and the block should break in half. This is where the towels come in handy – they keep the ice from shooting across the counter! Then continue to cut and break the remaining pieces of ice in half, and then cut those pieces to whatever size you want. You can make large cubes, long cubes, small cubes, you can shave them smooth or leave them rough, even shape them into diamonds if you want.
When finished, place them in a large zip-lock freezer bag (but be careful, they are very slippery!) Finally, store them in your freezer. They may end up sticking together in the bag, but two or three gentle taps with something heavy will separate them when you need them. Now, whenever you want to make a cocktail, take out your ice, and let it rest while you make your drink. This is called tempering; it helps prevent the ice from cracking when you pour room temperature liquid over it. You can also shape it, cut it, or chisel it to the size you need by using a knife, ice pick, or cracking it with the back of a barspoon.
Congratulations! Being able to serve your guests drinks with large, clear, hand-cut ice is considered by many (or at least by me, yeah, probably just me) to be the holy grail of fine cocktail making! And when you combine that with a well-made cocktail using fresh ingredients in a beautiful glass, then my friend, you have reached nirvana! With that, I think we are done here. Now let us make some drinks, shall we?
