I sometimes go to restaurants that serve Fried Ice Cream. Frying can involve very hot oil or a very hot pan. How does that not melt ice cream? Is it actually fried?
In: Chemistry
The ice cream doesn’t stay in the oil long enough to completely melt. Only the outer layer (usually covered with a batter or some other coating) has time to reach high temperature.
Other people have mentioned the answers (hard frozen ice cream and quick fry) but this brings up a goal I had a long time ago which was to make hot ice cream. Via some interesting hydrocolloids I was able to make an ice cream base that solidified when heated and “melted” as it cooled but it tasted lousy, like ice cream but chewier because it was basically a gel. It may have lended itself better to other flavors than the standard vanilla base I used. Googling it I saw other people that made similar preparations with the same principles but I don’t know if any of those tasted any good
I know the secret. The ice cream is kept in a special freezer in a deep freeze. The outside is funnel cake dough that cooks quickly. It’s only in the frier for a minute tops and the ice cream doesn’t melt but becomes the regular temp for ice cream.
It does, but the oil solidifies and incases it so quickly that it only half melts and you end up with a great treat with a cruchy outside, melted inside, and heart disease on the side.
You don’t just fry the ice cream. The ice cream is covered in a layer of crunchy bits like oats and crushed corn flakes and such. You start by making ice cream balls, covering them in the crunchies and freezing them to very firm. Then you dip them QUICKLY in the hot oil, which browns the crunchy layer but doesn’t have time to melt the ice cream. Then you add toppings (whipped cream, fruit, chocolate syrup, maraschino cherries, etc) and there you have it.
Breading and speed.
I’ve made it. It’s interesting with the hot/cold contrast. But it’s not good enough to make regularly.
There’s a batter around the ice cream ball. I think restaurants get better results when they use the cheaper ice cream BC it has more water so it’s melts slower than full cream.
2 or 3 layers of egg/bread crumbs/cinnamon/sugar and frozen between layers. Then frozen solid, dipped in hot oil. Gets crispy and stays fairly in tact and gets soft after it’s taken out of the oil.
Probably not what’s happening here, but look up the [Leidenfrost Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect).
It’s another example of very hot / cold interactions. Basically, if you put a liquid on a VERY hot surface, the part of the liquid touching the surface will quickly evaporate, but the gas this creates actually keeps the rest of the liquid from touching the surface! This makes the liquid basically float above the surface, and it’ll take way longer to evaporate than expected.
I do not think this is happening with fried ice cream, because the ice cream is probably not evaporating, and the other explanations make way more sense.
The ice cream is very cold when it goes into the oil.
Also, you’re not actually frying the ice cream, you’re frying the outer coating, so the ice cream isn’t in the oil for very long.
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