Foams & Sabayons

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Foams(2 ways)/Sabayon

There was a certain chef on Top Chef notorious for his use of foams. Foams do have their place, however. Cappuccino just wouldn’t be the same without the foam. Or a latte.

A foam can add a light textural element to an otherwise heavy dish, so don’t sneer at them. The idea is simple. Use a milk frother to whip up a froth and use the froth, not the liquid.

You could also use a cream whipper, but that costs more and requires you to keep N2O cartridges around). Of course, you’ll want to do this as near as possible to service time or your foam will deflate and you’ll be left with dumb runny liquid on your plate.

Basic Dairy-based foam↑

What You’ll Need
Ingredients in parentheses are optional/open to interpretation.

• 3 cups milk
• 2 oz. sugar
• (3 oz. ground nuts)
• 6 g. corn starch
• (flavoring, to taste)
• salt, to taste

How to Do It

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Chill overnight. Strain.

To make your foam, for each 4 oz. of the milk/nut mixture, combine with 4 oz. heavy cream and 2 oz. milk.

Strain again and chill.

Froth with the milk frother and spoon foam where you want it. The cornstarch buys you a little time before the foam deflates, but not much.

Basic Gelatin-Based Fruit Foam

What You’ll Need
You definitely need a cream whipping gun for this.

• 2 cups fruit juice (not papaya, kiwi or pineapple. The enzymes will keep the gelatin from setting)
• 4 sheets bloomed gelatin or .7 oz. powdered gelatin bloomed in 1/2 cup of fruit juice.
• sugar, to taste

How to Do It

Heat juice to dissolve gelatin and sugar. Do not boil. Strain.

Chill over an ice bath and then in the refrigerator.

When cold, pour into cream gun. Pull trigger to dispense foam (how often do you get to do that in a recipe).

Store in the refrigerator.

Variations

Try using wine or champagne. Or ginger ale. If using liquid with bubbles, only heat 1/4 of the liquid to dissolve the gelatin and sugar. Stir in the rest when cool. This will help to preserve the lovely bubbles.

Sabayon/Zabaglione↑

A sabayon (or, in Italian, zabaglione) is a stable egg foam built over heat. It can be a bit tricky to make, but it too, can offer a light and flavorful counterpoint to a heavier dish. A traditional sabayon is made by madly whisking yolks, sugar and marsala wine in a double boiler until the yolks cook and stabilize the foam. Never stop whisking when making sabayon/zabaglione or you will end up with scrambled eggs.  You might even curse. Not that I know from personal experience….

Almost any flavorful wine/liquor/liqueur/liquid can be used in place of the marsala. I am partial to lemon juice, myself.

What You’ll Need

• 6 large egg yolks
• (1/3 cup Marsala)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• pinch of salt
• (1/4 cup whipping cream)

How to Do It

You will need a large stainless steel bowl over a pot with about 1 inch of water in it. Have another stainless steel bowl with the cream in it ready and waiting in an ice bath. Get ready, because this goes quickly.

Combine all ingredients except the whipping cream in the double boiler. An induction burner is the ideal cooking surface for these delicate and temperamental foams. I highly recommend getting one if you know you’ll use it frequently.

Turn heat to medium. Whisk madly and continuously while water is coming to a boil.

Once boiling, turn heat down and continue whisking vigorously until mixture is thickened–you will see whisk tracks in the sabayon.

Take off heat, whisk a few more seconds and test by pulling whisk up. Sabayon should billow down and lie atop the surface of the rest for two or three seconds before sinking back in.  If it’s not there, put back on the heat and continue whisking.

Mixture should feel hot, not just warm, if you test it with the back of your finger.

Once mixture is thick enough, remove from heat–still whisking, right?–move cream bowl out of ice bath and sink sabayon bowl down in. Whisk a few times to help cool it down.

While sabayon is chilling, whisk cream to medium peaks.

Check temperature of sabayon. It should be at least room temperature. When cooled, fold cream into sabayon.

Serving Suggestions

1. Serve over berries.
2. Serve with cake.
3. Serve with bread pudding.
4. Leave warm, leave out the cream, pour over berries, then brown under the broiler or with a torch. Yum.

To Make a Sabayon Tart

Take a cue from Thomas Keller:  using 3 eggs and 3 yolks. a heavy pinch of salt and lemon juice for the liquid, make the sabayon, then whisk in 4.5 oz. slightly softened butter, a bit at a time. Leave out the cream.

Pour into a baked tart shell, brulee the top with a torch and chill–lemon tart to die for.