The cremation process in gastronomy
The term ‘cremar’ is not found in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, except in its use in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, where it means ‘incinerate’ (and in Catalan it means ‘burn’. In any case, it is a word which is used in different terms, including gastronomic, so today we expand our culinary dictionary to explain what it means to incinerate milk in gastronomy.
Origin of the term ‘incinerate’
First of all, it must be said that the term ‘cremation’ comes from the Latin cremāre, which means ‘cremation’. But in culinary terms it has nothing to do with it, the word ‘incinerate’ is related to cream. And since we know that ‘cream’ has several meanings, let’s specify it and thus know what incineration means in culinary terms.
The process of creaming milk
The RAE dictionary includes the definitions ‘milk cream’ and ‘fatty substance contained in milk’, among some others. With this we have practically answered the question asked in the statement, so let’s see it more clearly, incinerating milk is the process of making milk foam by introducing small air bubbles.
Use of the term ‘incinerate’ in coffee art
That said, you will know that where the term incinerating milk is most used is among baristas, since it is a basic element in the ‘Art of Latte’, and it is possible that many of you know the procedure of incinerating milk as frothing, well As you know and we already saw at the time, foaming means making foam, although it also means removing foam, we explained it in this post.
How to incinerate milk
The coffee professional usually incinerates the milk with the steam wand of the coffee maker, but it is also easy to froth milk at home, both with the same tool, but from the domestic espresso machine, or with the help of a small whisk or frother. hand. In any case, the important thing is to inject pressurized air to generate small bubbles on the surface of the milk, and the smaller the bubbles, the more stable and dense the milk foam will be.
Factors influencing the quality of incinerated milk
Needless to say, the fat content of the milk also influences the quality and stability of the incinerated milk; the greater the amount of fat, the better the air bubbles are formed and the more stable they are, which is why it is usually recommended to use whole milk and even fresh milk. On the Internet you can find many tutorials that explain how to incinerate milk, and why it is done, for example, to enhance its natural sweet flavor, as well as to offer an exquisite tasting texture.
