Foam (Cooking)

In cooking, a foam is a gelled or stabilized liquid in which air has been suspended, a category that includes long-standing preparations such as whipped cream, meringue and mousse, which use air or gas to lighten texture and change how a dish is experienced. In molecular gastronomy, the technique has been extended by combining natural flavors with stabilizers such as agar or lecithin and aerating the mixture with an immersion blender or a whipped cream dispenser charged with nitrous oxide, producing foams from ingredients such as espresso, mushroom, beet and coconut. Because a foam introduces flavor without substantially changing a dish's physical composition, it lets a cook add a new element without weighing the plate down.