Cooking with Dry Ice

Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. Dry ice goes from a solid to a gas skipping the liquid phase through a process called sublimation. Dry ice is mostly used for cooling things. It is beneficial because it is colder than regular ice and doesn’t leave any residue. The temperature of dry ice ranges between -78.5 degrees Fahrenheit and -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit as opposed to regular ice which is at a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius. Dry ice is also used for cooking, however when you think about dry ice and food, you think of frozen foods and ice cream. Most of the vending carts in Central Park have ice cream and keeping that ice cream cold is dry ice. The venders when getting the ice cream wear gloves so they can avoid burns. Dry ice’s low temperature causes frostbite. Dry ice is used ubiquitously throughout the culinary world. It is primarily used when cooking fish. Applying the dry ice to fish cooks it in a way that gives it a different taste from just searing it. Although dry ice can be quite useful towards cooking, it is quite dangerous. Not only is it dangerous for the person consuming the food but for the chef as well. If you cook with dry ice often you will be exposed to toxic levels of carbon dioxide causing internal damage to your organs. Dry ice is dangerous but it doesn’t mean you can’t use it for culinary purposes. If you take the right precautions, than I think’s it’s fine to cook with.