How to Freeze Champagne

In order to freeze champagne pounded ice and rock salt are generally used. Have a pail made of galvanized sheet iron or of wood, but the iron one is preferable, for the wine cools quicker in it. Put the bottle into a pail thirteen inches deep, seven and a half inches in diameter at the bottom and nine inches at the top; this pail must be furnished with a handle. Make a mixture of three pounds of finely pounded ice with a pound and a half of rock salt, not too coarse; fill the pail to the top, mix well together and turn the bottle by the neck to give it a backward and forward movement from right to left. If the champagne be taken from the ice-box where it has been lying for several hours, then it will only take twelve to fourteen minutes to freeze, but if it has not been previously on ice, then it will require fifteen to eighteen minutes for the operation. Champagne can be frozen without turning it around by leaving it in the salted ice for half an hour before serving. Machines are sometimes used which simplify the work greatly; the same time is required, only the labor is less fatiguing. When finished serve in a metal silver-plated pail with salted ice around. These are to be placed either on the table or on a small side table.