Ice Bowl

[Ms. B]

I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer. I'm thinking of using an ice bowl to serve salad from. The one where there's edible flowers frozen into the bow. I've seen this used for shrimp and fruit but I haven't seen it used for salad. Anyone have anything they can share on this? Also was wondering how long this lasts on display. Was thinking of putting dry ice underneath it to extend the length of time it would last. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The catering job is Sunday so..........HELP!!! And, thanks in advance.

[Juliet]

hmmm, I have never done an ice bowl with a salad inside, so just off the top of my head I would ask - what type of salad are you thinking of?

If it is a pasta or cream-based type of salad, it might possibly work. I wouldn't do it with any sort of leafy green salad, as the accumulated water at the bottom would make it wilted or, worse, slimy.

Depending on the thickness of the bowl, I have had ice bowls last 2 hours on the buffet, depending on the thickness of the bowl and the temperature in the room.

Keep in mind that a fair amount of water will be leaked in to whatever is in the bowl. It might be more trouble than it is worth. But I am interested as well to see if anyone has done this before.

[Ms. B]

Thanks Juliet. I hadn't thought about the water on the inside. Silly me! Suppose I were to set the bowl on top of dry ice. Do you think that would work?

[LessTalkMoreRoc]

If the bowl is thick enough and strong enough you can drill a hole in the center of the bowl so any extra water will go down the drain. Just make sure you have some sort of well under your bowl to catch your water.

Also you can line your bowl with some leaf lettuce to prevent your salad from even coming in contact with the ice and preventing the salad from getting soggy or watery

[tastygourmet]

I am pretty sure that the ice in contact with greens would mean wilted limp greens

[ED BUCHANAN]

If you make an ice bowl try and sculpt the opening to the same size of a clear plastic or glass bowl . You can drop in the greens in the bowl. The dry ice will not help. Old rule of thumb was a 300Lb. ice block was good for 7 hours at room temp.Naturally you lose detail but overall original concept or design should still be visable.