Sunday, July 24, 2011

Lecithin Air

The other day Blake brought in an aquarium pump to make rye whiskey air. The basic concept of using an aquarium pump to create bubbles is simple. Plug the pump in, regulate the air flow of the pump to create air bubbles. The air was made using rye whiskey, simple syrup, and 1.5% lecithin. The ingredients were sheered well using a vitaprep. Now usually I have seen and used handmixers to sheer the mixture to form stable air bubbles. By using an aquarium pump fitted with a rock diffuser you can create bubbles that have a larger structure to them. Now common physics tells you that the smaller the air bubble the more stable the final mix will be. Using lecithin in your recipe will help in emmulsification as well as the stabilization of these air bubbles. The air itself had great flavor release. It tasted pretty close to taking a shot of whiskey. The bubbles were stable for about 5 minutes or so before they began to deflate. By using the aquarium pump you achieve a very unique looking bubble that not only looks visually appealing but also tastes great. Below are pictures of the aquarium pump blake used, and the rock diffuser. The videos show first the bubbles created using the rock diffuser in water and then the rock diffuser being submerged into the rye whiskey mix creating large stable air bubbles.
















6 comments:

  1. Yea, I have seen pictures online of there "beet bubbles" and "chocolate bubbles". They both look super cool. Our old chef de cuisine at Corton worked at Mugaritz for a while and brought in a pump one day. But I don't think anything came of it nothing made it to the menu.

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  2. I Would Like To Say That I Truly Admire Your Level Of Technique, And That You've Become A Reference In My Development As A Professional Chef.

    I Would Like To Thank You Both For Posting And Sharing Your Knowledge With Those That Are Still Learning The Basics.

    Regards From Mexico.

    Regards.

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  3. I'm not a chef at all, but I'm totally loving your blog. I'm a software and hardware engineer and abstract expressionist painter.

    A while ago I made a device to vaporize plant essences using an air pump and a modified desoldering iron. Lavender, for instance, tastes awesome when vaporized... it's occurring to me that it might be interesting to combine a carrier flavor liquid and a plant vapor. I haven't tried a whole lot of different plants, but presumably other aromatic herbs would work just fine.

    And, hey, I saw your other post about your tool wish list.. some of those things can be built for waaaaay cheaper than retail. :) although that antigrill... probably easiest to just buy one than to try to replicate it.

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  4. Steve I am glad you enjoy my blog. The device you made to vaporize plant matter sounds very interesting. Do you have any pictures of it that you can send to my email? Rk607214@gmail.com I would be very interested to see it. Yea the anti griddle is pretty easy to replicate. I have taken pieced of metal and submerged them in liquid nitrogen to achieve the same effect. I have also used dry ice as well. Thanks for the kind remarks and please let me know if you have any pics or further explanations of how u made your device.

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