Making highly stable foams

[noambenami]

Would anyone care to help with some advice on creating highly stable foams, preferably without the use of an iSi? Or is using such a device a prerequisite? My preference would be for things that could be created using a hand blender. Perhaps a master recipe or two that could be flavored with different bases?

Many thanks.

[KatieLoeb]

As far as I know, you can create a decent foam with a hand blender and lecithin granules added to whatever you're foaming.

That's the easy way. Adding gelatin as well as the lecithin and using the ISI canister gives far more viagra-like results.

[noambenami]

Thank you - I've had zero luck so far with soy lecithin.

[KatieLoeb]

I'll check and see what brand/type of lecithin they're using at work tomorrow and write it down for you.

I won't be in until late, so be patient, but I'll try and get better instructions from one of the chefs as well.

[Vadouvan]

May I ask what you are trying to foam ?

And yes, using an ISI is a prerequisite as well as using a foam stabiliser.

Edited July 3, 2006 by Vadouvan (log)

[Tonyy13]

If you are just looking for a "latte" type foam, we used to actually foam our milk with a capp machine (much to the servers' chagrin "FOAM TO THE LINE NOW!!"). We used to add about 2 sheets of gelatin to 1 qt. skim milk, and found that this made the best and most stable foam. Also have used an ISI to make pretty incredible shrimp foam, stabalized also with gelatin. At the end of the night, we would shoot it all into a container for use the next day, and by morning, once chilled, it would have this sexy shrimp mousse texture that was awesome! Think the lightest and most intense shrimp flavor you have ever tasted! Always wanted to try it with foie, to see if you could get the same effect, but never did. Good luck!

[noambenami]

Thank you Tonyy. The foam texture I'm looking for is indeed more of a latte type of thing. Your shrimp mousse technique sounds wonderful.

Now, I know that an iSi is not required for very airy foams because I've worked with chefs who have made foams using nothing but a hand blender. I've just not been able to replicate that feat.

I'll play a little bit with gelatin, as well.

Cheers,

Noam

[UnConundrum]

Think the lightest and most intense shrimp flavor you have ever tasted!

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Could you post a recipe?

[fiftydollars]

I just got a liss foamer a couple of weeks ago and I have been a foaming fool. So far I have made mango, apple, blue cheese, demi-glace (no additional gelatin needed), avocado, strawberry, rasperry, and blackberry.

Some are made with cream (avocaco, blue cheese), but I have really been working on getting better at the gelatin foams. Sometimes there is not quite enough gelatin and sometimes it seems like a little too much. When there is not enough, the foam doesn't really hold shape. However, I find that if you freeze it, it (strawberry, mango) makes a really cool sorbet/granitas substence that I really like. I over-gelled the apple and it turned out kind of like a weird apple-sauce product.

Adding just enough produces a foam that is stable enough to hold shape for a few minutes, but is tender and absorbs into your mouth almost immediately.

The avocado foam made with the whipped cream is really interesting. I like it a lot.

As far as making whipped cream in this dispenser... I don't think I like that too much. I feel like I can sort of taste the nitrous in the cream and it produces a slight metallic or oxidized flavor. I've tried flavoring the whipped cream (chocolate, maple syrup, caramel, etc) and although it's pretty tasty, I can still taste the nitrous a bit. I never really noticed this before, but now I can't seem to focus on anything else when I taste it.

I don't seem to have a problem with an off flavor with the gelatin-set foams.

Edited July 3, 2006 by fiftydollars (log)

[MobyP]

What is an ISI?

I've tried several times with lecithin and had very marginal results. If someone could write about liquid temperatures, uses of gelatin, bamix's etc I'd appreciate it.

For example, I added some asparagus puree with a little chicken demi-glace to a milk cream mix, added lecithin, heated and used the bamix. Although it got somewhat foamy, it wasn't really as much as I would like.

[fiftydollars]

What is an ISI?

I've tried several times with lecithin and had very marginal results. If someone could write about liquid temperatures, uses of gelatin, bamix's etc I'd appreciate it.

For example, I added some asparagus puree with a little chicken demi-glace to a milk cream mix, added lecithin, heated and used the bamix. Although it got somewhat foamy, it wasn't really as much as I would like.

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iSi is a company that makes a type of whipped cream syphon (aka whipped cream dispenser, foamer, cream whipper) favored by many chefs. It's basically one of these: Liss Cream Whipper

...except it's made by iSi. Anyway, it's preferable to use one that can handle both hot and cold items. Some have plastic heads or gaskets and whatnot that cannot withstand heat all that well (really more like warm or bain marie temp.).

Now I have no formal training on the use of these foamers and only recent experience using them. But I basically I just make a puree or juice that is either predominantly whipping cream or is to be set with an appropriate amount of gelatin and I dispense this mixture from the foamer after an adequate amount of cooling in the refrigerator.

I bought the foamer after watching Rick "Bad to the Foam" Tramonto make a blue-cheese foam on a rerun of Sarah Moulton's show. I made the blue-cheese foam basically how he made his ( and I didn't really like it too much, but that's another topic). He just warmed some cream, added the cheese, and strained the mixture into the foamer. He then dispensed the well-chilled mixture onto a spoon and served it with a drizzle of port wine reduction.

I made an avocado mixture pretty much the same way by just pureeing some avocado in a food processor with enough cream to fill the Liss' canister (of course I seasoned the mixture first). The chilled mixture dispensed into a tasty bright green product. It was a very nice addition to a tomato soup, but unfortunately did not hold up well in a cheeseburger.

The fruit foams I have pretty much modeled after the recipe for mango "espuma" included in the Liss foamer. Their recipe basically calls for mango puree, orange juice, sugar, and gelatin. You simply puree some mango in a blender with some sweetened orange juice and add this mixture to a smaller amount of orange juice into which you have properly dissolved gelatin by way of some appropriate method.

I don't like using orange juice as the recipe calls for because it is really quite noticeable. I tried using apple juice to make mango foam, but that was even worse. I then used the apple juice to make a foam and it turned out to be pretty good. However, it has a somewhat-less-than-appealing color... at least when compared to the strawberry, which had a very appealing color and great flavor.

Although the Liss recipe calls for sheets of gelatin I have so far only used powdered gelatin (Knox). I have not yet used gelatin sheets to make the foams because I do not have a convenient source at this time. I have added anywhere from 1/4 to a whole envelope of gelatin for 2 cups of liquid. I can't seem to quite get the right texture for these foams, but I have not had very bad results either. The more firmly set foams behave almost exactly like whipped cream and they are quite stable. With a whole envelope of gelatin the mango foam stood at attention for about an hour, but it was a little stiff and it did not readily dissolve on the tongue.

I have not added lecithin to anything, but I'm not sure it would help with mixtures that do not have a fat. From what I recall of an episode of good eats a phospholipid, like lecithin, helps fats and non-fats get along with each other. Do they also affect texture when there is no fat?

Edited July 8, 2006 by fiftydollars (log)

[jbehmoaras]

If you are looking for a recipe that helps create a stable foam assuming the liquid has fat, use the recipe on willpowder as reference. It doesnt require an ISI but it does use lecithin. Here's a link to their "Tea Air" recipe http://www.willpowder.net/teaAir.html

Im sure that could help you get closer to what your looking for although I have not tried it myself (but hope to soon assuming I can get my hands on some lecithin)