Hot answers tagged foam
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Disclaimer: I am not an expert on foams. I've made a couple before, successfully, but never anything like a lobster bisque foam. So I would advise any casual readers to do their own fact-checking and try this on a small scale - at least until somebody can verify it.
Now, onto the questions:
I have Lecithin and Mono/diglyceride from a set. It says ...
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When you boil water in a cup in a microwave, it will often boil without forming bubbles, because unlike a kettle with a rough heating element or inner surface, a clean ceramic cup has few nucleation points. Nucleation points allow pockets of gas to form, which become bubbles as the water boils.
When you add the teabag to the hot water, you are essentially ...
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According to a quick search it appears that your notion about it being protein-based is correct. Most of the recipes I've seen say to skim it; the above-linked site says that adding a little oil will keep the foam down.
I personally wouldn't do anything with it as an ingredient unless I had a truly massive amount of it to experiment with--I don't know ...
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A vita mix should work pretty well; maybe you could carefully drag a spatula in the top of the vortex (nowhere near the blade!) to introduce more air. A whisk will be pretty slow going. And then there is a whole other category of foams made in a whipped cream canister. Here is a link to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9lJMGImGKE
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I suspect that if you are using egg whites, you won't need to add the lecithin. The egg whites are more than capable of creating a protein-based foam on their own. Using CO2 will give you residual carbonation. I would just use the NO2 (unless you want the foam to be somewhat sparkling). Oh, in fact here is a recipe confirming that just the egg whites are ...
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I suspect your first problem is using the iSi whipper. It does create foams, particularly whipped cream, but both Khymos and Texturas advise using an immersion blender or electric eggbeaters in a broad vessel (so there is room for the bubbles to pile up without interfering with your making more). Besides, xanthan is shear-thinning, meaning that it is ...
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Agar is basically just a gelatin. Lecithin is a surfactant and emulsifier, which is what you ideally need for your foam. The agar probably isn't sufficient to create the necessary tensions between the oil and liquid and when you introduce air into the mixture it isn't being held in suspension, which is why your foam isn't 'holding up'.
I'd strongly ...
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In the referenced mousse recipes (there is more than one in that dessert), the vast majority of the foaminess will come from the whipped cream.
You need to ensure that your cream is beaten properly to maximize foaminess, that is air volume:
Chill your working equipment, including the bowl, whisk, and of course the cream itself
If whipping by hand, use a ...
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It's not exactly what people mean by culinary foam, but you can make maple whipped cream. (It seems kinda like the original recipe you found was trying to do this, except it forgot that you can't really make whipped milk.) There are a lot of recipes you can find for this online. They probably won't be as concentrated maple flavor as a more pure maple foam, ...
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The mixture does indeed set in the fridge. It remains airier than the average tiramisu I've eaten (but I don't know what commercial tiramisu contains, probably not a foam based on raw yolks), but it is firm enough to hold its shape when served. If a piece is forgotten outside overnight, it becomes softer again and runs slightly, but properly stored, it is ...
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I don't think there is any thing wrong with what you've made. Tiramisu is a relatively recent dessert (forget about the 'Tuscan trifle' which did not even include mascarpone) created at Harry's Bar in Venice. As such there are many variations: some drier, some boozier, some creamier and some wetter and your recipe may just produce a wetter variety.
Take in ...
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I think you could have got away with the 55°C if you had let the yolks cool down before adding the cheese. I usually heat the yolks+sugar in a bain-marie, rather than directly; I never really measured the temperature, but I doubt it would be much higher than that.
I think the further addition of cream probably did more harm than good... next time put only ...
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Your recipe doesn't specify 55°C, and I'd be surprised if 5–8 minutes over barely simmering water only gets that hot. Indeed, checking for sources:
McGee, in On Food and Cooking, says:
When the temperature reaches 120°F/50°C, high enough to unfold some of the yolk proteins, the mix thickens, traps air more efficiently, and begins to expand. As the ...
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Just an idea... I've had problems making foam because of hard/basic tap water (a lot of chalk in the water) - making frape though, not garlic foam:) Foam will more easily form in soft water as you can easily test with a piece of soap. If you have hard tap water you could try using boiled water (some of the chalk in the water will react and leave a residue on ...
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A few weeks ago, I tried this for the first time with a friend. We were making kiwi foam and it seemed to be a disaster even after adding >2% of lecithin. There was a little bit of foam and it was thicker than the liquid we started out with, but it wouldn't stick. We finally gave up and said "it tastes good, so we'll serve it as is and call it something ...
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The foam is probably made up of various proteins and carbohydrates. If you have a refractometer, you can collect some of the foam and let the bubbles fall down, and then put it on the measuring window of the refractometer, just like you would use it for the must for a wine or wort for a beer.
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A little late answer but one time I experimented with using the foam from cooked chickpeas. I mixed it with a little sugar, put it on a pan and popped it in the oven. It hardened up, browned and came out somewhat similar to a meringue with a nice sweet taste, but I waited a bit too long, so the foam wasn't quite as fluffy as beaten egg whites. I'm not sure ...
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I find that occasionally there will be chaff in beans after boiling them. As a result, after draining I rinse the beans before using them, which in turn rinses away the foam. If you scoop away the foam I suppose that is one way to try to experiment with it; but if you're planning on draining without rinsing I would advise against it as you may end up with ...
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