I am trying to finish soups faster. I have very heavy iron kettle and it takes years to become cold. I use a water container with ice with it but the hot water still takes a lot time to become cold. I have already put ice cubes into the soup and some cold water but it is still hot! How can I freeze my soup fast without destroying the content of my fridge or freezer? It is now almost two hours waiting it to become colder but with this heavy iron kettle and a lot of hot water, it is taking years.
Could I put the soup into small plastic bags and the plastic bags into the cold water and then the cold plastic bags into the fridge (I have no special plastic bags, perhaps they will break)? I need to somehow make the soup smaller to increase the area, to get it cold faster. By increasing the area, I am sure I can get it cold faster. Ideas to do that?
Best Answer
I have "ice packs" which are encased in plastic (some hard, some soft), that I keep frozen. It won't quite bring your soup down as far as you want, but dropping a few of these into your soup will help cool it off. Just remember to clean them before returning them to the freezer.
The other thing I do it put the stopper in my sink and add cold water and ice. The whole pot goes in the sink--surrounded by cold water and ice it will cool much faster than in the fridge (or freezer). Add some salt to the ice-water and it will get even colder. Stir it up a bit every once in a while both inside and outside (use separate spoons!) to keep the temperature distribution even.
Alternatively, you could use one of these :)