In my lab - Foams, part 1

I have a food geek friend who does not read my blog because the posts in here are too long. Laziness, that's what it is. So I have decided to please him by doing more and SHORTER posts for a while. I will be spending a bit of time researching some modernist techniques, and I will hold you updated on the proceedings in SHORT and frequent posts. The first topic will be foams.

Foam has become one of the defining icons of Modernist Cuisine. Foam in all shapes and sizes. My Modernist-doubting friends hate it. As one of them told me after eating in a restaurant steeped in modernism: "There was foam on everything! Terrible!" This series of posts will make them foam at the mouth. Pun intended.

I think foams are wonderful elements in dishes. As a slight kiss of a taste in a thin "air", almost as a very light sauce or like a light puree in thicker versions. As a small element to complement something else, or as the main event on the plate. Often I consider foams as being quite equal to sauces. And, mind you, in many cuisines there are sauces on just about everything, but no-one complains about that, do they. I think it is all about what you are used to.

But what are foams? How do they work? How can I control the thickness, density and stability of them? That is what I want to find out. In the next series of (SHORT) posts, I will try to research this.

I actually have dreamt up a new dish that I do not know how I am going to make and it contains a foam. I will be working towards finding out how to solve that. There are also other elements in this dish that I will need to research later on. So there will be a number of posts coming your way reporting on this.

SHORT posts.

So read them!