Foam Recipe

Foam has many applications in cookery. It was first discovered (or rather invented) by Spanish Chef Ferran Adria, who is Head Chef at El Bulli, which was voted the best restaurant in the world, ahead of the Fat Duck in Maidstone.

Ok, in this example, which is dead easy to follow, I'm going to explain how to use it to create the perfect culinary foam. When I first had it, I couldn't find a decent tutorial on the net - so I had to piece together various snippets of information. This post is intended to help those that are in a similar position to myself 2 weeks ago.

To start you require juice or stock. This can be home-made or shop bought, but needs to be sieved to ensure that there are no bits. It needs to be as smooth as Leslie Phillips. For the purposes of this example I am going to use Tesco Orange and Banana Juice.

Dissolve a packet (or sheet) gelatin into some warm water. Leave it to dissolve, which should take 3-5 minutes. While this is doing, measure out in a jug the required amount of juice taking into consideration the amount of gelatin used to ensure it can set.

When the gelatin is dissolved, tip it into the juice and stir to ensure that it is mixed evenly into the mixture and leave it to set in the fridge. This should take between 30 and 60 minutes. When it is set and is in a jellied form, take it out of the fridge and get a whisk.

Whisk it to break down the firm jelly into a 'goo' (I really struggled for a word there, sorry!). Place in the dispenser and fill it up with 3 NO2 chargers. You will need to shake the mixture between charges.

It's now ready to serve. You get a perfect foam, whipped, light, fluffy and most importantly flavoursome. Serve immediately!  NOTE: If you're a vegetarian, a gelling agent such as agar can replace gelatin and will do the job perfectly well.