Bagna Cauda Foam

sebastian_palmigiani_21610

i did the CS bagna cauda foam recipe. it was a failure. nothing came out of the syphon. my guess was that the egg was overcooked.

i decided to try again but with a more traditional recipe. the basic ingredients of a traditional bagna cauda recipe include 1) EVOO, 2) garlic, 3) anchovies. you will see various garlic to anchovy ratios. you will also see regional modifications of this basic recipe with the addition of butter, milk, and salt. the southern part of italy does not usually include milk or butter while the northern parts do.

bagna cauda originated in piedmont, Italy which is in the alps. i read that originally it was made with walnut oil as walnuts were regional. through bartering with other parts of italy, olives were introduced and the switch was made to olive oil. some recipes include crushed walnuts as a way of remembering the "old ways".

after making various adjustments, what follows is version 4.

i decided to keep the recipe simple, just EVOO, garlic, anchovies, and salt.

here are the ingredients.

EVOO 200g

garlic 35 g

anchovies 35g

salt 2g

i blanched the garlic in boiling water, then rinsed in cold water, and repeated two more times to help remove the garlic harshness. you will see some recipes do this step with milk such as the recipes by mario batali and heston blumenthal.

i removed the green part of the garlic to further mellow the garlic flavor.

i vacuum sealed the oil, anchovy, garlic, and salt.

sous vide 131F for three hours. after 1.5 hours i agitated the bag.

i strained the product.

i then measured 5% of glycerin flakes based on the strained oil which was less than the starting amount of EVOO.

added the flakes to the heated oil until the flakes melted into the oil.

put the oil in a .5 L syphon with one N2O charge. here is the result.

keep at room temperature as refrigeration will solidify the foam. the foam was very stable even 1 after hour but if you put it over very hot foot it will melt.

the bagna cauda foarm had an authentic flavor. the anchovy and garlic flavor were mild. i will need to experiment changing the ratio between the two. next time i will also use a milder EVOO with a lower acidity level. and i'm curious to taste a bagna cauda made with walnut or hazelnut oil.

ciao.

sebastian_palmigiani_21610

i did another round of testing. i was not satisfied with the flavor profile of the last version. the olive oil flavor was more pronounced. i wanted the flavor of garlic and anchovies to come through more.

for the next version i used the following:

EVOO 200g

garlic 60g

anchovies 60g

salt 2.5g

i did everything as before except: 1) i used a lighter EVOO. 2) put all the ingredients in a food processor and blizted. 3) then put the product in pot over medium high heat for 10 minutes. took off the heat and the let it rest for about an hour infusion. strained the product as before and put in a siphon with one charge.

what surprised me about this process is that i did not realize how much oil the anchovies and garlic would soak up. i started with 200g of oil. after straining and putting pressure on the product over the strainer, i ended with 130g of oil. i based the % of glycerin on this final weight.

result: the olive flavor was milder and the anchovy and garlic flavor came through more. i had one friend who regularly does a traditional bagna cauda and asked for his opinion of the foam. upon smelling the foam, he could smell the anchovies and garlic. upon tasting, he could taste all three major components of garlic, anchovies, and olive oil.

i think i'm going in the right direction :-)