On a hot day, why drink water? Let ice cold water melt in your mouth!

June 29, 2016 9:28 PM

Ice cubes recipe on food.com. Now you can make them at home.

For additional insight (and personal experiences) with this classic recipe, be sure and check out recipe reviews. And don't forget, "this recipe also serves as a nice cooler for drinks of your choice." Enjoy ice cubes today!

posted by Mike Mongo (29 comments total)

Technically not a double, since this is a different food.com ice cube recipe.
posted by zamboni at 9:34 PM on June 29, 2016 [5 favorites]

I liked the reviews that mentioned free range ice collected naturally in the winter, har har. It actually was a thing, though - I have a book on 19th century farm buildings, and a big section of it talks about ice houses. They're actually really neat! You could collect ice in the winter and keep it well into the summer by storing it carefully. Building designs centered around insulating the ice from the outside and draining off any meltwater to help stretch out how long your ice would keep for. Some buildings even had a separate room for dairy, cooled by the ice nearby.

Sorry, I'm trying to share my enthusiasm for ice houses without typing out "woo!" after every sentence. "Sometimes they were insulated with sawdust, or even buried partly underground, woo!"
posted by teponaztli at 9:44 PM on June 29, 2016 [28 favorites]

Make ice in your artisanal cast iron pan!
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:01 PM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Most people's ice tastes and smells terrible because it absorbs odors from their fridge.

And even the ice made with a plumbed in ice maker is usually awful because no one changes the carbon filter often enough, and even if you do the tubes gunk up with some organism that flavors the water. Ice, in fact, is typically one of the worst made things that comes out of an average kitchen.
posted by jamjam at 10:22 PM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

The solution is to drink enough cocktails and other iced finery that you go through your ice too quickly for it to pick up weird flavors. Everyone wins!
posted by rtha at 10:26 PM on June 29, 2016 [16 favorites]

If regular ice just isn't fancy enough for you, try the $60 artisanal mold and chisel for making perfectly clear ice cubes.
posted by SansPoint at 10:27 PM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Going Deep with David Rees - “How to Make an Ice Cube”

Includes meditations on the nature of impermanence. 12 steps to make ice including ironing.
posted by morganw at 11:35 PM on June 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

Does he have a gluten-free version?
posted by lmfsilva at 11:44 PM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

I tried this recipe but I didn't have water so I substituted bread crumbs. It was awful! I don't know what the submitter was thinking. Zero stars.
posted by No-sword at 12:11 AM on June 30, 2016 [38 favorites]

Sounds cool but kinda time consuming. Maybe they can pivot to a bar or soylent?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:21 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

To get clear ice, boil water
posted by chavenet at 12:29 AM on June 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Now is there an Instructables on how to replace a toilet paper roll?
posted by Mchelly at 3:55 AM on June 30, 2016

3+ hours? Pffft. Is there a microwave version?
posted by randomkeystrike at 5:46 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you're gonna do it, you have to go GOOD ICE.

No, not ice tray ice! Spread out, ya knuckleheads! See?
You’ve got to start with the good ice. Whether you call it pebble ice, pellet ice or crushed ice, the ice with any icy cold beverage is key. My local gas station sells the good ice by the bag, or I know Sonic sells it too.

Now go forth and chill correctly. Pax crunchum omnibus.
posted by petebest at 5:47 AM on June 30, 2016

If you wish to make ice cubes from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
posted by Foosnark at 5:49 AM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

I can't find the part where you need a rocket.
posted by TedW at 5:54 AM on June 30, 2016

this is a different food.com ice cube recipe.
posted by zamboni

Really? No one else is going to thank zamboni for smoothing out any objection to these posts?
posted by Etrigan at 6:45 AM on June 30, 2016 [18 favorites]

Now is there an Instructables on how to replace a toilet paper roll?

For years my mom would complain that I never replaced the toilet paper roll. Then one Christmas when I was a teenager I unwrapped a gift from my mom which contained a six pack of toilet paper and hand-drawn instructions describing how to change a toilet paper roll. I had no idea my mom could draw.

The next time my mom walked into the bathroom she found a brand new roll of toilet paper with the little holder thingy spiked through it perpendicular to the cardboard tube. I showed her.
posted by bondcliff at 6:51 AM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

Ice, in fact, is typically one of the worst made things that comes out of an average kitchen.

My ice is fine. No complaints. There are enough things in the world to get bent out of shape over. Ice isn't one of them, unless it's the lack thereof.
posted by blucevalo at 7:09 AM on June 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

In common with the officers and two hundred and forty corporate members of the International Packaged Ice Association (I.P.I.A.), Stuart is hostile toward the most common alternative—homemade ice. I.P.I.A. members regard the use of freezer trays as a strange and dirty habit, akin to licking a handrail in a subway car. Homemade cubes are unacceptably white, and they carry mysterious flavors. “They taste of air,” one professional iceman said to me. Another, Paul Hendler, who runs an ice company in Mamaroneck, New York, said, “My wife threatens me with the trays. She calls me up, saying, ‘You’re bringing home a bag of ice tonight or the trays are going in the freezer.’ She really knows how to hurt a guy.” —The Emperor of Ice, by Ian Parker

I haven't owned an ice tray since I read this profile in 2001.
posted by ejs at 8:46 AM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

"View all very low carbs recipes." No kidding.
posted by epanalepsis at 10:03 AM on June 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

The video linked in the bottom of the first link is actually a full series of cooking basics:

Including how to make toast and lettuce salad. They're pretty excellent.

https://vimeo.com/132947936
posted by edbles at 10:16 AM on June 30, 2016

That David Rees video is excellent, thanks morganw!

"You know about tree rings, right?"
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 10:23 AM on June 30, 2016

Some years back we collected vegan recipes from supporters of a candidate in the US presidential primary, who wanted to publish them as a fund-raising book. The ice cube recipe reminds me of one: "Wash a potato; slice thinly; enjoy".
posted by anadem at 11:55 AM on June 30, 2016

Goes great with Late Night Bacon.
posted by xedrik at 12:06 PM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

In my house, the New Yorker ends up in the bathroom; don't judge. Some years ago, they ran one of those longform articles they specialize in - an absurd number of pages about an seemingly dull topic made interesting by very good writing - about the manufacturing of commercial ice. I can't remember why, but the New Yorker asserts that crescent-shaped ice is the most popular. We got a new fridge with my favorite accessory - an ice maker and an ice dispenser on the door. My then-12 y.o. or so son and I were entertaining ourselves by dispensing whole and crushed ice. Son noted the ice was crescent-shaped, like that article mentioned. Mom Seriously, I didn't know you read the New Yorker? Son What else would I be doing in the bathroom for that long? Silence. Mom: raises eyebrow Much laughter ensued. For several reasons, a favorite parent-kid moment.
posted by theora55 at 1:44 PM on June 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

That late night bacon recipe has to be a joke. 8 slices yield 4 servings? As if.
posted by ejs at 1:51 PM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

That New Yorker article about commercial ice makes me want to film a documentary about it, or a Best In Show-esque fake documentary.
posted by gucci mane at 2:09 PM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

ejs, I assume that's a typo for "four bites."
posted by No-sword at 9:16 PM on June 30, 2016