On Food and Cooking

minute or so, the bubble walls begin to be
stabilized by the de stabilization of the fat
globules. As the globules are knocked all
around and into each other by the whipping,
parts of their protective membranes are
stripped away by the shearing action of the
whisk, and by the force imbalance in the air
bubble walls. The patches of naked fat, which
by their nature avoid contact with water, settle
in one of two regions in the cream: either
facing the air pocket in the bubble walls, or
stuck to a patch of naked fat on another
globule. The fat globules thus form walls
around the air bubbles, and connections
between neighboring walls: and so a
continuous network develops. This network of
solid fat spheres not only holds the air bubbles
in place, but also prevents the intervening
pockets of fluid from moving very far. And so
the foam as a whole takes on a definite,
persistent structure.
If the beating continues past the point at