Blast Chilling Isn’t the Weather Forecast, it’s the Latest Kitchen Marvel From Irinox

Hey Kitchen Aid, are you listening?  Over 20 years ago, I sent you a résumé for some marketing job.  In my cover letter, I was very specific in detailing a missed opportunity within the residential appliance market.  You see, parent company Hobart had recently purchased commercial refrigeration maker Traulsen who had a thing called a blast chiller in their lineup.  (A blast chiller is an appliance that does what you’d expect, it very quickly cools food to reduce the potential for microbial growth.)  I urged you to bring this innovation into the home with the tagline, “Germ Warfare for the Home.”  After an interesting conversation with some Marketing VP, I was not hired and you still don’t market a blast chiller to the residential market.

Enter Irinox’s Freddy.  Who’s sorry now?

Italian company Irinox, who similarly started out in commercial refrigeration, is bringing their residential blast chiller to the US market.  Called Freddy (a riff on the Italian word for “cold” – freddo), it goes well beyond simple blast chilling … and it’s Italian-level sexy.

First, it’s a blast chiller that drops foods to 27 degrees … usually enough for food safety.  Think about pots of soups or sauces or perhaps a large roast or turkey that takes a long time to cool in a refrigerator. Sometimes with large pots, you may fear the hot soup warming other things in the fridge.

But if you need more than a blast, how about a shock … shock freezing that is.  What happens with this setting is that the unit drops to -30 degrees so it can speedily suck the heat out of food to bring them down to -3 degrees.  Why would you want that?  One thing you can do is freeze fresh greens. By freezing so quickly, the ice crystals don’t form that cause uncooked frozen lettuce to turn into goo when thawed. Ditto berries and fragile cheeses like mozzarella.

Still not convinced?  There’s gentle freezing that drops food to 27 before slowly taking it to -3 degrees.  This is for freezing breads, fish, and even raw eggs … now that’s a nifty trick.

Finally, if you’re a philistine without a wine fridge, Freddy can chill wine by approximately 1.8 degrees per minute. That’s a whole lot more controlled than plonking a bottle in the freezer, getting distracted and only remembering during dessert.  When Freddy’s chilled the wine, he beeps to alert you.

What goes down, must come up.

Freddy brings temperatures back up too.  By providing a gentle thaw, the moisture found in foods remains in the food.  How many times have you thawed something only to be greeted by a puddle that results in dry cooked food?

It’s also a low-temperature oven for use when proofing doughs, holding foods at a set temperature and reheating meals.  When you combine Freddy’s ability to chill, thaw and reheat, you can dump dinner in Freddy in the morning, set a program and Freddy will have dinner ready when you get home.  If you’re late, Freddy holds the food at the desired temperature without further cooking and certainly not burning.

Saved by ZERO

We’ve all seen that infomercial spokeswoman suck the air out of food to preserve food and avoid freezer burn for years.  Now it’s time to up the game with ZERO, a product name that describes how much air is left after it’s vacuumed out.

It does what you’d expect by sucking the air out of food-filled bags and more.  There are two vacuum settings depending on what you’re sucking the life out of.  The lower setting is for semi-soft things like cooked veggies, fruit and liquids (soups and jams).  The extreme vacuum setting handles raw veggies, meats, hard cheeses but also for stuffing whole meals in for sous-vide cooking. Extreme can also suck the air out of a wine bottle to keep the freshness in (since it sucks the bubbles out of champagne, you’ll have to finish the bottle … boo-hoo).   Another really cool thing is its ability to age meat.  You see, by rapidly vacuum-sealing and unsealing, the pressure cycles break down the bonds in the meat tissues which naturally tenderizes.

Wave Goodbye to the Coffee Station

It’s no secret I’m no fan of coffee.  I hate the taste and smell of it.  There’s only one guest I’ll allow to brew a pot in my home … and I’ve known her for over 20 years … and she only visits every year or two.  (Note to Fearing’s restaurant, “Double Dark Chocolate Cake with Cherry Compote and Maker’s Mark Ice Cream” is not a dessert I expect to get a mouthful of coffee in, and yet Sunday night, I did.)

Enter Wave.  A purified water station.  Y’all can have your “tall half-skinny half-1 percent extra hot split quad shot, latte,” I’ll take a tall, cold drink of water that doesn’t taste or smell like anything at all. And that means doing something to Dallas tap water.  For me that’s been reverse osmosis.  After all, my parents, realizing Chicago water smelled, installed the five-gallon bottles in our home when I was six.

Irinox’s Wave produces still and fizzy water at room temperature or at 40, 43, or 46 degrees after removing 99.9 percent of ickiness from city pipes.  And best of all?  It looks just like a pretentious coffee station without the smell or resulting jitters.

Veni, Vidi, Vinoteca

We may not agree on water versus coffee, but I’m sure there are very few CandysDirt.com readers who don’t partake in a tipple or two … especially with the season for messy family gatherings upon us.  I’ll also assume we’ve all seen more than one wine refrigerator during life’s travels … but I just like this one for a splash of whimsy. Sure you can get a plain, built-in one, but why?

This model holds from 36 to 44 bottles … on one leg no less … and swivels … like a boozy lazy Susan.  Perhaps it can be programmed to automatically turn and give you that irresistible puppy dog face?

Of course each Irinox appliance is available in different finishes … black glass, stainless steel and a bunch of metallics.  Had I not blown up my kitchen so recently, I’d be sniffing around Irinox’s portfolio of kitchenry.

If you want to be the first and only person on your block to have any of these babies in your show kitchen, catch them at Capital Distributing.

 

Remember:  High-rises, HOAs and renovation are my beat. But I also appreciate modern and historical architecture balanced against the YIMBY movement.  If you’re interested in hosting a Candysdirt.com Staff Meeting event, I’m your guy. In 2016, my writing was recognized with Bronze and Silver awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.  Have a story to tell or a marriage proposal to make?  Shoot me an email [email protected].