The resulting flash freezing enables you to quickly turn sauces, purees, crèmes, vinaigrettes and other foods into very different solid or semi-frozen creations. Cool, creamy centers and crunchy surfaces can be created in just seconds with the PolyScience Anti-Griddle featuring a -34.4°C plate that allows rapid unidirectional freezing.
The Anti-Griddle flash freezing technique, originally inspired by Chef Grant Achatz, allows you to easily prepare appealing dual-texture creations and explore an entirely new culinary realm. The possibilities are truly endless.
Simple-to-Master Techniques
The Anti-Griddle’s flat, ultra-cold work surface lends itself to three basic techniques: (1) freezing just the bottom surface of the item, leaving the top cool or at room temperature; (2) flipping the item over and freezing both the top and bottom, creating crunchy surfaces with a creamy center; and (3) freezing everything solid. Some chefs even use the Anti-Griddle to create layered dishes consisting of different foods, flavors, and textures. You can also use the Anti-Griddle to create freeform shapes, such as initials, by piping thick liquids onto its surface much as you would decorate a cake. Just how solid the food becomes depends on its freezing point, thickness, and how long you leave it on the freezing surface. For example, you can squeeze freshly made crème anglaise onto the Anti-Griddle, lay a stick in the thick cream and then turn it with a spatula to create a frozen crème anglaise lollipop with a still-creamy center.
Practical Tips
Prior to ‘firing up’ the Anti-Griddle, you might want to give the griddle surface a light coating of non-stick spray. Also, for best results, use thicker liquids and stronger flavors. Thicker liquids give you more control over the final shape and texture (frozen solid or creamy inside); stronger flavors compensate for the numbing effect of cold on the taste buds. Here are some examples of dishes created using the Anti-Griddle:
- Crème brulee lollipops
- Sour cream balls with salmon and frozen fruit foam rolled in cheese
- Half frozen chocolate pudding with a thin layer of avocado, spicy candied walnuts and strawberries confited in a strawberry-red wine gastrique
- Frozen English pea lollipops
- Bay scallops with Concord grape
- Frozen basil peppermint olive oil
- Carbonated sorbet
- Lozenge of Concord grape puree
- Sweetened frozen disk of chestnut puree with a divot to hold a pool of maple syrup
- Applewood ice cream
- Frozen foamed sabayon floating in a sea of espresso
- Mango and sesame oil lozenge
- Frozen apricot foam star with a shot of frozen espresso
- Layers of frozen espresso, apricot, and cream semi-freddo
- Semi-frozen honey lozenge
- Frozen Mexican hot chocolate foam, dusted with cinnamon and cocoa, served with a warm spicy chocolate sauce
- Organic yogurt and strawberry canapés
- Spray flavors on the anti-griddle and scrape to make instant granita
- Frozen lemon curd
- Mara de des Bois with frozen yogurt
- Semi-frozen vinaigrettes
- Whipped cauliflower with orange glace and ginger salt
- Watermelon-tomato popsicle