Chilled foods in the humid, sweaty depths of summer feel like a blessing from the snack heavens. It’s the keeping them cold that’s tricky. Bury sandwiches and snacks in ice and you risk water seeping in. Coolers are functional, but a bunch of red and blue plastic bins aren’t much of a display. Leave the food unprotected, and, well, things get weird fast. Instead, you can keep enticing displays of food cool with your own nesting vessel of customized ice.
The idea (demonstrated brilliantly here on TikTok) requires two similar or identical vessels. One will hold a customized brick of ice, and the other will hold the food. Let’s say you have two disposable aluminum trays. Partially fill one tray way with water, the video recommends one-third, and freeze it. When you’re ready to use it, place the second vessel on top of the large slick of ice and fill it with your snacks. The large sheet of ice underneath chills the upper pan and your food remains cold and dry. (Keep in mind, this isn’t an infallible way to keep food safe. Always keep an eye on the time and temperature. Depending on the food, temperature, and setting, meats and dairy have one or two hours.) When the event is over, dump out the water in a cluster of parched plants.
Make nesting ice vessels for your next party:
You can do this with any twinning vessels, but it’s important that they nest and conduct energy well. Nesting containers have a smaller bottom and angled walls so the top flares out a bit. This allows the containers to stack completely inside one another. If your vessels don’t stack, the ice won’t sit flush against the base of the upper container, and you need that for the chilliest results. Metal will keep your food colder than glass, ceramic, or plastic containers because metal is a better conductor of energy.
To do this with bowls, you can make a custom-fitted “bowl” of ice. I added water to the vessel and put the second bowl on top with a weight (frozen blueberries). When I’m ready to use it I can quickly add veggie sticks to the bowl. I’ll be using this trick for summer lunch parties to keep things like wrapped sandwiches, charcuterie, shrimp cocktail, or bowls of hummus cool.
The only con is that you need ample freezer space available for multiple hours to freeze your trays and keep them there until you need them. My freezer is packed, but I managed to do this with smaller vessels. (I’m beginning to think my apartment needs a chest-style freezer.) If you need to use big trays, you can freeze them separately and nest them afterward to take up less space in the cold box.