On Food and Cooking

century, the French writer Pierre de Lune
described a reduced milk “marbled” by the
addition of currant juice. More
contemporary examples include roast pork
braised in milk, which reduces to moist
brown nuggets; the Kashmiri practice of
cooking milk down to resemble browned
ground meat; and eastern European
summertime cold milk soups like the
Polish chlodnik, thickened by the addition
of “sour salt,” or citric acid.
Milk Foams A foam is a portion of liquid
filled with air bubbles, a moist, light mass
that holds its shape. A meringue is a foam of
egg whites, and whipped cream is a foam of
cream. Milk foams are more fragile than egg
foams and whipped cream, and are generally
made immediately before serving, usually as a
topping for coffee drinks. They prevent a skin
from forming on the drink, and keep it hot by
insulating it and preventing evaporative
cooling.