# Question about Foams...



## techchef (Mar 7, 2006)

I hav heard of several resteraunts using "Foams", such as an orange foam. What is and how do you make a foam? Also, if is related to the milk foam you put on capachino, how do you get the target flavor?


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## higjse (Feb 8, 2006)

there are a few different tecniques... two I have used are...

1) take a flavorful liquid(for instance bleu cheese melted into a cream mixture, a lobster bisque, etc) and dissolve some gelatin sheets in it, load the mixture into a co2 powered whipped cream dispenser and you have foam

2) fold butter into a flavorful reduction( a la beurre blanc) and froth with an immersion blender serve immediately


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## jeebus (Dec 1, 2005)

It is No2 that you are supposed to you, Co2 will not create a proper foam. No2 gives much larger bubbles and a foam texture as opposed to just whipped cream.


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## eponodyne (May 30, 2006)

I've always used a French press (coffee presspot), if the sauce has any body at all it works great. Pour in just enough to cover the little mesh plunger thingy, and give it about a dozen strokes. Works fine on most cream sauces and okay on vinaigrettes, etc.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

I've created foams using Co2, as well as air (froth using an emulsion blender). I've found that the structure of the sauce itself (fat content, protein structure, etc...) is much more important to the final product than what type of gas is 'trapped' inside the sauce...


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## txacoli (Mar 31, 2005)

It helps greatly to use an emulsifier, like the gelatin mentioned above. Another good one is lecithin, which is available at health food stores. Also clear seaweed products work well. 

With a good immersion blender or juicer, almost anything will foam. At Mugaritz, Andoni Aduriz foams a heavy soy almond cream with KitchenAid immersion blenders for his foie gras dish. And last week we made a strawberry foam that stayed up for two days by accident by simply juicing organic strawberries in a household juicer.

Last night we had a really nice horchata foam at Manresa in Los Gatos: cold, crisp, clean, subtle....and nice topping to a rhubarb geléé in a martini glass.


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## jeebus (Dec 1, 2005)

With co2 it is just whipped cream in a blender you are talking more like a froth, a true foam is even lighter than whipped cream, think more like steamed milk for a cappucino.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

In a canister with Co2 I've made everything from a frothy soup or sauce, to simple crème chantilly, to airy foams that are on the palate for a single second and disappear completely. The type of gas you whip into a foam is unimportant. BTW, with a hand-held emulsion blender you can make a foam very easily (not just a froth) - you hold the blender so half the blade is above the top of the liquid, this incorporates air into the liquid and the foam will form on top of the liquid, then you scoop it off. We use all these techniques on a daily basis, they do work. 

Anyhow, back to the original question. A foam will form if theres enough 'structure' to trap air molecules. A very easy way to make a foam is to add gelatin to a liquid, and then pop it into a Co2 canister. The amount of gelatin required is dependant on the viscosity of the liquid, and the temperature at which you are serving it (hot foams require more gelatin).


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