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Custom ice trays


John the Barman

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Does anybody have a good place to order custom ice trays for large-format ice?  2in by 2in cubed or 1in by 1in by 4in?  Things like that.

Container Store sells compartmental boxes. It works well for making big ice, although it's clearly not designed for such a purpose and hence can be somewhat frustrating removing the ice from hard plastic.

"Wives and such are constantly filling up any refrigerator they have a

claim on, even its ice compartment, with irrelevant rubbish like

food."" - Kingsley Amis

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Tovolo makes silicone ice trays in a 1-inch cube size:

http://tovolo.com/prod/ice/icetrays.htm

I got mine through Amazon.

Mike

"The mixing of whiskey, bitters, and sugar represents a turning point, as decisive for American drinking habits as the discovery of three-point perspective was for Renaissance painting." -- William Grimes

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here's what I am thinking, surgical stainless steel square tubing. Cut to length, corked, stood up in you freezer and run under a little warm water to unmold.

They aren't cheap and this wouldn't be so good for massive quantities of ice but a little work with a hack saw and a file, and you've got the perfect ice.

1.5" x 1.5" x 12" $20.76 + shipping

http://www.mcmaster.com/#2937k311/=hiv0j

3 x 3 x 12" US$70.33 + shipping

http://www.mcmaster.com/#2937k191/=hj1b6

http://www.mcmaster.com/#9545k22/=hj4mf

9545k22 is a stopper, again a little work to make it square, but I think it could handle being pulled apart while frozen. they don't seem to make one big enough for the three inch ones. but there is something out there.

If you're not too handy with tools never underestimate the power of undergraduate art students. They have access to great tools and their prices are negotiable.

for rocks at home i have a 2" cube silicon bakeware thing that makes 4 cubes at a time and I love it. could make 16 a day if I was focused, which would be enough for where I work. Just an idea.

Dave

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There's a thread like this over at the Chanticleer Society, and down at the bottom of Page 2 the suggestion was made to get the Rubbermaid 1/2 cup storage cups, which make perfect 1-cube-per-rocks-glass ice. I got some at my local Ace hardware, and sure enough, they're perfect, and the "cubes" release easily.

3258967180_1060c7c793.jpg

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Does anybody have a good place to order custom ice trays for large-format ice?  2in by 2in cubed or 1in by 1in by 4in?  Things like that.

http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/Produ...451_10001_27651

These are authentic 2" round ice moulds from Japan. They are perfect recreations of the type of ice moulds being used by Prof. Jerry Thomas and others in the prefect pre-prohibition cocktail. I received my order yesterday, and I'm using them tonight in Ward 8's. Whisky Sours and the Classic Whisky Cocktail (all from Dave Wondrich's Imbibe).

During lunch with the Arab leader Ibn Saud, when he heard that the king’s religion forbade smoking and alcohol, Winston Churchill said: "I must point out that my rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite the smoking of cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them." Ibn Saud relented and the lunch went on with both alcohol & cigars.

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They are perfect recreations of the type of ice moulds being used by Prof. Jerry Thomas and others in the prefect pre-prohibition cocktail.

What's your basis for this? I've always been given to believe that the primary source of ice in the pre-prohibition period was a large block of ice that was carved or chipped to order. Certainly this would have been the case before mechanical refrigeration became widespread, no?

Andy Arrington

Journeyman Drinksmith

Twitter--@LoneStarBarman

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I've heard there is a Hoshizaki ice machine that puts out 2 in cube ice, but it's only avalible in Japan. Does anyone know how to get something like that into the country? Can it be brought in through customs? Will it violate rules concerning bar permiting?(I'm in Los Angeles) How much does it cost? I don't know how to translate any of the information on their website.

http://www.hoshizaki.co.jp/

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Hey John, go to the Google Homepage and click Language Tools. They give you a place to enter the URL for the page you want to translate from Japanese (or any of a long list of languages). It recreates the page but with the text in your language, and often some very entertaining mistranslations. Still, you usually understand enough to get the info you need.

I just tried on your linked page and it works fine.

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Does anybody have a good place to order custom ice trays for large-format ice?  2in by 2in cubed or 1in by 1in by 4in?  Things like that.

http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/Produ...451_10001_27651

These are authentic 2" round ice moulds from Japan. They are perfect recreations of the type of ice moulds being used by Prof. Jerry Thomas and others in the prefect pre-prohibition cocktail. I received my order yesterday, and I'm using them tonight in Ward 8's. Whisky Sours and the Classic Whisky Cocktail (all from Dave Wondrich's Imbibe).

Good point Andy, I should have further elaborated on my post. This large round ball ice would have been carved from block ice back in the day. The Japanese seem to be the only ones that have preserved this tradition of using large ball ice in cocktails, and have developed these moulds accordingly. Wondrich writes of this in Imbibe, and I'm too busy drinking my Sazerac (alright, lazy ) to get up and search for the page number right now.

Cheers,

Craig

During lunch with the Arab leader Ibn Saud, when he heard that the king’s religion forbade smoking and alcohol, Winston Churchill said: "I must point out that my rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite the smoking of cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them." Ibn Saud relented and the lunch went on with both alcohol & cigars.

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http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/Produ...451_10001_27651

These are authentic 2" round ice moulds from Japan.

Just a heads-up:

If you happen to live near a Daiso store, they carry a wide selection of ice ball molds (and ice molds in general), generally in the range of $1.50 USD. Look in the container section- they're sort of hidden in plain sight.

Edited by feedingfashionistas (log)

All the latest on culinary survival in the big city:

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