What does infusion mean?
This is a really good query. When skilled bartenders or chefs use the term "infusion," they are usually referring to the addition of flavors to alcohol.
When speaking with a professional who is making a "infusion," it appears to be an extremely intricate and time-consuming procedure that takes a significant deal of trial and error, all in order to keep the final recipes a secret so that no one may imitate and sell their "house" products.
This is true at many bars and eateries, but with the majority of infusions, it couldn't be more false. People manufacture and consume infusions on a daily basis without even realizing it.
A decent practical definition of an infusion is: to steep items in a liquid until the tastes have been removed and absorbed into the liquid or other solid substances.
All liquids can extract flavor in a variety of ways, but heat or acidity are frequently utilized to extract flavor from especially fragrant components.
The most common liquids used for infusions include alcohol, oils, creams, and water.
The most well-liked infusions take place every day in homes across the globe. Coffees, teas, culinary extracts, and cocktails are a few of these. They are extremely prevalent. Even infusion is the French name for a few types of tea.
Pickles, marinades, sauces, broths, and brines are common home ingredients used in cooking. Even ferments utilize an infusion of some kind to flavor them, albeit this is an entirely other method that we may discuss in a later post. Please let us know if you are interested!
There is currently no known starting point for when mankind began to employ infusions, but we do know that the mid-eastern and Asian cultures have been infusing teas for many thousands of years, and the ancient Sumerians were producing alcohol 4000 years ago, which very possibly may have included infusion for taste.
Around the Middle Ages, in the regions of Italy and France, the gastronomical culture started to mull wines and refine the cooking styles and flavors of meals, usually for kings, their courts, and the upper-class aristocracy. This is when the majority of modern western infusions with both alcohol and cuisine first emerged.
Making infusions is simple, but because it takes some time for the tastes to come together just right, many people never get around to trying it out because they are too busy or have other priorities. Technology of today is resolving this issue.
For over a century, we've been witnessing a food and beverage renaissance, with wave after wave of advancements introducing new flavors, broadening our palates, and improving ingredients, techniques, and tools for both the kitchen and bar around the world.
One of the more intriguing advances has been the development of ever-quicker infusions using various cooking techniques based on science. These are now known as quick infusions, and they are not only a time-saving game changer, but they also frequently add fun and creativity to the bar and kitchen.
What is the procedure for a quick infusion?
Infusions given quickly are what they sound like. It takes the infusion process mentioned above, which can often take months of waiting for flavor profiles to develop, and drastically shortens the time. In fact, some infusions that once required weeks or months of steeping can now be finished in just a few hours.
There are three basic ways to infuse taste in the modern bar and kitchen: using a vacuum, gently slow heating, and applying pressure with a whipped cream dispenser.
We'll skip the first two ways in this post to focus on the whipped cream dispenser, but do let us know if you'd like additional information on the vacuum or sous vide methods of infusion, and we'll write an article about it in the future.
Around 2010, Dave Arnold, the Director of Culinary Technology at the French Culinary Institute, experimented with alcohol and delicious additives inside the pressured siphon.
Arnold was inspired by a YouTube video made by Archie Ball in 2010. The original film, which includes marinating chicken strips with teriyaki sauce inside a plastic container under CO2 pressure, may still be accessed here.
The fundamental concept is that liquid can be injected into a solid at extremely high pressure. It worked well for Ball when marinating solids, but he had problems because the plastic bottles were so little. Because of the bigger hole and the gas valves and pressure seals, the whipped cream dispenser makes the operation considerably easier.
Dave Arnold developed this concept by soaking the solids in liquid that, while under pressure, would reach deep inside the cells of the component. When the pressure was released, the liquid would spurt back out. This sudden discharge of liquid quickly reintroduced a large portion of the flavor profile to the liquid mixture.
Thus, if you combined vodka with lemon rinds that had been zested and put the mixture in a pressurized dispenser, the vodka would push into the zest at a molecular level. Then, you would release the gas through a valve, and the vodka would squeeze back out, carrying the flavor of lemon with it. Arnold also noticed that the flavors created changed with time and stress.
This was an excellent addition to bars and kitchens that intended to either flavor a liquid or profoundly infuse a flavor into a solid through penetrating marinating, as was to be expected. The results of experimentation range from fruit salads infused with alcohol to tequila with habanero taste.
The potential for creativity is almost limitless. To get started, visit our recipes area for fantastic ideas and dishes.
Different flavor profiles compared to typical infusions are a startling side effect of the quick infusion procedure using N2O( Buy cream chargers to get N2O). For instance, chocolate extract employs alcohol-infused nibs to impart the rich chocolate flavors, but this bitterness also transfers and is too strong for most drinks. Rapid infusion prevents the bitter odors from having time to transfer, and the natural sweetness of the N2O enhances the drinking experience!
