iSi Gourmet Whip 1 Quart Stainless Steel Cream Whipper - Professional Culinary Tool for Warm & Cold Food Applications - Includes 3 Decorating Tips - Dishwasher Safe - Perfect for Desserts, Coffee Toppings & Cocktail Foams

iSI makes a number of whippers, for both the home and professional user. The GourmetWhip is the professional version, which means that it is all stainless steel, dishwasher safe and easily cleaned, which is not true of their EasyWhip home version cream whipper.The 1 quart (1 liter) version is the largest one sold -- they also have half size (500 ml or 1 pints) and a quarter-size (250ml or one cup). The size is somewhat misleading, because you only fill the device half full -- the rest of the space is to hold the compressed gas.Either nitrous oxide (N2O) or carbon dioxide (CO2) can be used. The nitrous oxide cartridges are listed as cream chargers, where as the carbon dioxide ones are called soda chargers. The whippers come with an assortment of tips for making various shapes.There are myriads of uses for these whippers, and I have five of them in various sizes, including the ThermoWhip which has a double-wall insulation and is used to hold hot foods. In addition to whipping cream or making carbonated drinks, the two most obvious uses, chefs like Ferran Adria use them to make espumas or foams of various types. Max's Restaurant in Santa Fe makes an amuse bouche consisting of a thin slice of watermelon that has been compressed in a chamber vacuum, and topped with a goat cheese foam.I would recommend two useful accessories to go along with the GourmetWhip. The first is their cookbook iSi 9012 The Trick with the Whip- Creations Cookbook. The second is the iSi Funnel and Sieve, which fits directly over the iSi shipper, and greatly eases filling it. They also make a selection of sharp tips, which can be used to fill small pastries, bonbons, etc.One of the most intriguing uses of the GourmetWhip was introduced recently by Dave Arnold of the French Culinary Institute. It uses a technique called nitrogen cavitation to infuse flavors into liquids. Let's suppose you would like to make some vanilla-flavored bourbon. Simply slice two vanilla beans lengthwise, and then cut them into small 1 inch pieces. Drop them into the GourmetWhip and add 500 ml of bourbon, and charge with four cream chargers (or use the half size GourmetWhip and cut the ingredients in half). Put the GourmetWhip in the refrigerator for at least two hours, or better yet, overnight. Then, holding the whip upright (NOT upside down), press the trigger to release all of the pressure as quickly as possible. Voila -- instant vanilla extract! What is happening is that when the whipper is charged, nitrogen enters the cellular walls of the vanilla bean. Then, when the pressure is released suddenly, the nitrogen escapes rather violently and blows the cell walls apart, so that the flavor compounds are released into the bourbon, rather than taking months of soaking to accomplish the same thing.