nitrogen, liquid (LN or LN2), is liquified nitrogen gas, an extremely cold fluid. Despite the dangers inherent in handling a liquid with a boiling point of −196° C, liquid nitrogen has practical and impressive cocktail applications. Like other cryogenic liquids, LN is typically stored in a Dewar, a vacuum flask (named after its inventor, Scottish chemist and physicist James Dewar) vented to prevent explosions. Improper handling may lead to asphyxiation, grievous bodily harm, and death. Liquid nitrogen must never be consumed directly; as it gasifies, the super-cold liquid expands rapidly to almost seven hundred times its volume. Almost instantly, as little as a tablespoon (15 ml) may expand to over 10 liters of nitrogen gas in a drinker’s stomach, a potentially lethal indulgence that has led to case reports of organ ruptures, frostbite, subcutaneous emphysema, and pneumoperitoneum (air or gas within the abdominal cavity). Curiously, despite the potential for severe, disfiguring frostbite from sustained contact with liquid nitrogen and from handling or ingesting items that have been frozen with the liquid gas, it may be poured fleetingly and quite safely over one’s hand or other body part because of the Leidenfrost effect: super-cold nitrogen forms a protective layer of vapor over one’s relatively hot flesh so that the liquid skitters and dances away much as droplets of water sizzle and scamper across a searing hot skillet. In the bar, a splash and swirl of liquid nitrogen rapidly chills glassware and covers the bowl of a coupe with an alluring mantle of delicate white frost. At the same time, vapor clouds billowing from glasses as they chill are a theatrical vision. Cooling glasses à la minute also frees valuable cooler space in a bar, since glassware does not need to be kept cold. Liquid nitrogen may also be used to create exquisite garnishes such as individual juice vesicles from citrus segments that are frozen, smashed, and thawed. Herbs “cryogenic-muddled” by freezing with LN and then muddling, retain their bright, vibrant colors in a cocktail without enzymatic browning associated with muddling alone.
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By: Matthew Rowley