iSi Whip

I use gelita sheet gelatin, mostly because that's what I learned with and am comfortable with, so I can eyeball it pretty well. I may have imagined that I read somewhere that non fish gelatin works better for freezer consommé, but I rarely use that technique.
When I first started fooling with xani initially I was very excited to juice vegetables and herbs and get these really vibrantly colored juices that taste strongly of the veg, then use the xani to make them saucy without heating like you would for gelatin, not losing the brilliant color and raw taste. The main problem with xani, for me, is the way you activate it. The shear needed to thicken it blows a bunch of air into the liquid, dulling the color and messing up the whole mouthfeel I was going for. Maybe I just never got good at it, but it seems like you have to keep adding stuff (coloring agents, things to bring out the flavor that you masked by changing the texture) to something that in its original form tasted and looked good. Possibly that is why I only dabble in the science food.

 

Andre, would degassing in a chamber vac address that? Or will the xani have trapped the air by then?

 

When you shear in the Xanthan using your Vitamix(usually) is when all the O2 is introduced.

 

It might, but it probably would mess up the xani's hold. If you let a mixture thickened with xani sit it loses it's texture and you have to vitaprep (it's a verb) it again to get it to set back up. It does emulsify like a bastard, if you need something to stay emulsified and don't want mustard flavor. Again snotty texture is a potential side effect. All in all, not my favorite.

 

Today I made that microwave browned-butter sponge cake using a whip. It came out pretty good, especially for a 10-minute cake. The texture was a little more rubbery than if baked, but paired with some salted caramel gelato and drizzled with chocolate syrup, it was very tasty. And now the siphon is in the fridge and I can just make a cup of cake whenever I want. The last time I just drizzled some maple syrup on it.

k.

 

never heard of this usse before....though I have come across uWave cake in a cup before...

 

After reading a story from the NYTimes about infusing celery stalks with the ingredients for a bloody mary, I thought I would try something similar. I found some ginger-jasmine soda and added some Hendricks gin to the whip along with some celery stalks, charged and let sit in the fridge for an hour. I should have let it sit for an hour longer, but that was some tasty celery.

k.

 

Have you tried onion ring batter yet?

 

No, but I have seen some some comments that fry batters turn out amazing with a siphon. That online course I am taking has a tempura-style batter section, and come to think of it, I need to try it before beans leave the farmers market. Maybe this weekend. The wife loves tempura green beans.

k.

 

The other science food thing I can totally get behind is Trisol. That ******** is awesome. You can put it in a beer or tempura batter, fry something, let it sit till it cools off, microwave it, and it is still crisp. It's probably a carcinogen, and is definitely cheating, not to be used for a la minute service, but for big banquets is a life saver.

 

Interesting.

Trisol

 

Makes me wonder if you can grind a fiber supplement...

 

Try it at your next banquet with hundreds of people. That is really the only way I can think of to test this thing out

Btw, I am right now in the process of making a foamed sweet corn soup with my siphon. I basically used this recipe but substituted 4 ears of corn instead. Last week I was eating lunch at FIKA in Minneapolis and had this awesome corn soup that was so light and refreshing I wanted to toy with something similar. Depending upon the consistency of the corn foam, I might try a half foam half soup base and mix it to make a super light corn soup.

Making it created a fu*kload of dishes though. Stock pot, vitamix, food mill, fine sieve, saute pan, and a few mixing bowls. Add to that cleaning out the siphon, and it better be damn tasty.

k.

 

I thankfully don't have to do any of that crap anymore, but I may test it out. I'll let you know

 

You're talking a lot of trash Drinky....I still haven't seen any photos!

 

You're right. I'll have to take more photos. I didn't do the corn foam soup tonight since the wife got home late, but it is chilling in the fridge and will be on for tomorrow. Though in my defense, photos of infused celery sticks still just look like regular celery sticks

k.

 

Actually, just went out to the mailbox and I got in my Modernist Pantry shipment: high precision scale, anti-static measuring dishes, sucrose esters, fructose powder, perfected xanthan gum, perfected guar gum, lambda carrageenan, and a 160 bloom gelatin sheet. I forgot to order the gellan F though.

k.

 

Nice looking haul! You're starting to pique my interest.

 

And now I got my assorted beakers in too. A lot of the siphon recipes demand more precision than my clunky measuring cups were able to provide.

k.

 

So I made the corn foam 'soup' for lunch with mixed results. Don't get me wrong, it was foam and tasted like corn, but since the corn is so sweet this time of year, it was essentially very close to corn whipped cream as the recipe called for adding heavy cream.

The texture was very firm as you can see in the ramekin photo. Since I didn't really want to eat a bowl of whipped cream, I put a little cone of foam in a bowl and just poured the soup base around it. That was better, but again, since the corn is so sweet, it tasted more like a dessert soup, than a savory corn dish. The last thing I did was added a bit of foam to a cup and sprinkled reserved corn kernels on top. This was probably the best way to consume it as the kernels provided a nice texture to work with the foam/cream. I bet the kids will like it that way tonight.

All said and done, I could see using the foam as a garnish for maybe a chilled corn chowder that maybe had some spice to it. I'd also probably try it with less cream than the recipe called for, to reduce the whipped cream effect. Other than that, I could imagine some vegetable dessert applications. I have made sweet corn ice cream before, and some type of carrot foam/cream on a carrot cake might be interesting.

Next up is playing with some alcohol. I'll probably tried some burnt wood chip infusion and also maybe some grappa infused grapes.

k.

Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing: the vegetable stock I used was rather dark in color, so it changed the color of the soup base to something like a pea soup. A lighter colored stock would have retained more of the yellow corn look.