Quote (winterschapel @ Jun 5 2013 03:49pm)
dry ice + high % alcohol or acetone (but more dangerous, dont ingest that) should get you to close to -80C, cold enough to freeze on contact for smaller liquid amounts, or rapidly chill larger ones.
agars are simple and you can make some nice desserts with it or add it to make the texture/consistency more or less "creamy." spheres are highly overrated imo.
yeah, spheres are basically a gimmick, especially larger alginate spheres. i can see some use for smaller ones, though. makes for great pockets of flavor in a dish, and they can be used docoratively to good effect as well. theres a bit of a craze about them right now as the general public is just finding out about them. give it a few years and itll die down.