phaelon56

Points well taken about the mantra of ... good fresh beans... good fresh beans... good fresh beans... It can't be overemphasized enough but even when I already knew of the importance and was buyinr "reasonably fresh" beans, it still came as an epiphany to me when I roasted my own and first tasted the results. With that point established, it's also worth mentioning that developing skills is a worthy pursuit. Mark Prince, aka Head Coffeegeek (founder of coffeegeek.com), wrote awhile back of a session he had at his house with Sammy Piccolo, a former North American Barista Champion (if I recall correctly) and legendary barman of Caffe D'Artigiano in Vancouver). There was a shot pulling and milk steaming session on mid level consumer machines (I believe it was in fact a Silvia or somethign in that price range). Sammy was able to get his technique quickly tuned enough on that machine that he produced noticeably better results than the serious amateurs who were using the same gear. My point, I suppose... is that despite the limitations of a given machine, there is nearly always room for improved results with patience and willingness to experiment. On the really cool news front: my favorite local microroaster recently lost their primary roaster (he left to start a business of his own). They've been less than pleased with the guy who replaced him and after a bit of gentle nudging, have agreed to let me become their new roaster (way cool!). It's a part time gig but may also included a trip to Seattle to ESI to get a crash course in repair and maintenance for La Marzocco espresso machines, It's all part time supplemental weekend stuff but in light of my current employer's cash flow crisis (and pay cuts) and my passsion for all things coffee.... this might be the ideal thing to propel me into a new career.

When I was a waiter.... our favorite was the woman who came in regularly and always did the ordering for both herself and her male companion(he was not technically mute but seemed to hahve no voice of his own or it had been whipped out of him She order soup for herself followed by the definitive "and he'll have the kwee-shay!" I hrdly think she can be blamed as out menu was full of bastardized Frenglish phrases such as "Onion Soup Gratinee". Naturally.... as one might expect in such a hoity establishment, the "melted Gruyere cheese" that topped the onion soup was from the same Kraft Swiss cheese brick as the ingredient in our Ham & Swiss sandwich.

I liked Golden Unicorn but discovered that it's important to wait for awhile and choose very selectively. We spent about an hour there one Saturday or Sunday and despite passing up several carts entirely and choosing lightly from others, we saw some of the most interesting lookigndishes rol by when we were already sated (there were only two of us and that in itself was part of the problem).

Note of caution on the coffee at Fleur de Sel: if you order coffee it is served in individual French presses - that's good. When we we there they plunged it in the kitchen before it was brought out - that's bad. They were clueless about how long to let the coffee steep before plunging and it looked about like weak iced tea. I sent it back and they did a bit better the second go around but not by much. In contrast, the coffee at Gramercy Tavern in the front room, just a block or two from there, was some of the best I've ever had in a restaurant.

.... and your point is....? I'll try most things once but I've seen Bourdain eat a few that even I wouldnt dream of going near. That said... his description of the Masa experience is enough to make me want to pony up the cash and do it - I typically spend far less money in a month on food and dining than he's talking about for one meal but I'm still ready to do it.

That review really makes me want to go but I'll have major problems explaining this to my best friend's family.

These grilling pics really are whetting my appetite for grilled food yet we have snow predicted for this weekend Last night: Baby spinach leaves tossed with a weird balsamic vinegarette that was comprised of my dressing from the previous two days. Added slices of blood orange and toasted macadamia nuts. I love the color contrast of the blood orange, but as a complement to spinach or romaine, I think regular navel oranges work better. Fresh fried catfish fillets in Japanese bread crumbs - added a generous amount of cayenne pepper to the egg/milk dip, based on a recipe from Southern living, but it was not nearly enough. The fish was good but needed more spiciness. Angel hair with toasted pine nuts, sauteed garlic and chopped fresh basil. Overcooked broccoli - my fault - turned off the wrong burner and left the broccoli cooking. My guest liked it anyway - go figure - she really did. It was way limp and overdone for my taste. It still tasted good 'cause I added adobo and a teaspoon of bacon fat to the water that it was cooked in (obviously I have no vegetarian leanings)

Beto - I should have added that I use a nominal amount of sugar - less than a half teaspoon spread across a 58 mm portafilyter basket and tamped in. Worked for me but I've never tried it with larger amounts of sugar. Also - I used turbinado sugar - not sure if this makes any difference. I do agree that just adding the sugar to the demitasse and puling the shot directly into it seems to work really well.

Partially in response to this thread, I made jerk chicken night before last. havoing a bottle of store-bought jerk sauce already waiting to be used, I marinated some deboned chicken thighs fopr 24 hours and then broiled (we're expecting snow this weekend - I'm still not ready to get out the grill). It was okay but the flavor simply was not well infused enough into the meat. I'l have my electric smoker back up and running in another week or so if it warms up outside and will try this with the smoker.

I worked in a place that served chicken salad in a half coconut shell with the coconut meat still in it. When the plates came back to the kitchen they ran the coconut shell through the dishwasher (coconut meat and all) and then chilled it before using it to serve chicken salad to yet another unsuspecting customer. My first day on the job I served one of these to former NYC mayor John Lindsay and he's now deceased but there's no connection between the events.... or is there?

It sounds almost as if some Japanese industry marketing team came up with a new scheme to create revenue and modeled it after computer networking "certifications'. Here in the US (not sure about other countries), there was once a time when being a CNE (Certified novell Engineer) carried some cachet and meant that the individual reaaly had a know;edge base mastery of a particular networkibg field and also the hands on experience to back it up. As the market became flooded with "paper CNE's (people who crammed for the test and had no tangible or worthwhile experience), the same cycel repeated itself with Micorsoft MCSE's and eventually even filtered into Cisco certification (admittedly, becoming a CCIE is still a mark of accomplishment). The laughable part is this: the most progressive, technologically advanced firms with state of the art networks could care less if an applicant for a job has all the certifications. It's a nice bonus but it always, always, always boils down to what you know and what you can do. Mastery of a field is acquired over many years through a combination of experience and study. I see the rice "meister" program as being more realistic, especially if it raises the bar for training among the rice retailing community, but I can only laugh when I see the word "meister" and think back to all the Saturday Night Live "meister" skits.

An option worth considering if you're using an espresso machine is to put the sugar on top of the grounds and tamp with the coffee. Most of it tends to dissovle and come out in the stream of espresso.

Mostly pure sugar would be an improvement from most of the fundraising candy that gets foisted off on us these days (I have co-workers with school-aged kids and I do buy from all to support their efforts) - everything these days seems to be filled with processed corn syrup sweetners.

Yes, it is rude - very much so. I had a roommate years ago who'd come in and dribnk the only one or two beers I had in the fridge. Never apologized and when confronted just advised that "you're always welcome to one of my beers when I have some in the fridge". Yeah - right.... as if he'd be cool with my taking the last one. I soon discovered that the berer issue was one of his least objectionable traits and I found lodging elsewhere.

Victor's still has great food IMHO. It's pretty darn good for an old-line staple type of restaurant and not cheap but a good value for an upscale place (I refer to the one in Midtown NYC). I finally made Jamaican again after a long layoff. Used the bean cooking method that Rachel Perlow has been touting on the Dried Bean Thread (thanks Rachel!) for my pigeon peas and it was good. I used chicken thighs that I skinned and deboned (saved and froze bones for stock). My Busha Browne's jerk sauce was missing in action so I used some unkown brand purchase at the grocery store - it was okay but not great. Dinner was: Tostones (platanos) Jerk Chicken broiled Rice n' peas (not my best batch but as good as the local take-out place) Sauteed cabbage 'n shredded carrots Not bad. I think I'll try using my electric smoker for the jerk chicken in a few weeks when it's warm enough ti use it.

Back when I just bought two pound bags of arabica French Roast at the local wholesale club and froze it, pulling out a bit at a time as needed. I thought that coffee had to have a bit of oil on the surface in order to have a good rich flavor. Not the case. Careful bean selection and roasting can indeed produce phenomenal results from beans that have no evidence of surface ooil. I've also on occasion picked up a half pound or so from a roaster when visiting friends and found it to be flat tasting despite an abundance of oil. MGLloyd makes a good point - it was probably roasted very dark and also sat for more than a few days. I'm now finding that beans rpasted t the point where they hahve just a hint of oil on the surface here and there are usualy to my liking - lots of oil and it either has a slight burnt taste from overroasting or is just plain flat and stale.

Yes... the food really is looking sooooo good. It's actually the retired whippets that I envy.... not only a dog's life but retirement in sunny California with a doting, food oriented owner. Sounds good to me.

Tommy? You're MARRIED? Surely you've seen his many post references to "Mrs. Tommy" ? I have always assumed that she was, indeed, his wife

Weednesday night: Baby spinach leaves with red grapefruit chunks and toasted macadamia nut chunks - tossed with a key lime juice, EVOO, rice vinegar, maple syrup and thyme dressing Tostones (platanos - aka fried plantains) Broiled boneless jerk chicken with Jamaican style rice 'n peas and shredded cooked cabbage w/carrots on the side. Threw a bit of Maille red cider vinegar into the cabbage when it was sauteeing - nice addition. Edy's mango sorbet for dessert I drank Ame white beverage but my dining partner had a bottle of Honey Brown beer. It's the first time I've made this meal in a few years and I was not heavy handed enough on the seasonings. I also could not locate my bottle of Busha Brown's jerk sauce and use some other brand that Wegman's had - it was not as good - much less peppery.

Oh thos tacos... mmmmm. I'm thinkinig of trying to make some Dominican style roast pork soon and you've given me some great ideas. At times I think it would be great to have someone else here to cook for on a more regular basis and then there are days like today where I get up and relish the privacy and solitude of having my own space. Hopefully I have not become incorrigibly bachelorized but some signs are appearing here and there. Just curious - do you grow any fresh herbs and how long is your growing season?

I'd rather have well made moka coffee than crappy espresso, As for hot air popcorn poppers... they'll do exactly what the entry level coffee roasters will do. Some of the coffee roaster may add a timer (useless because you neeed to stand there and monitor the roast anyway to get best results). The origianl West Bend Poppery is the desired model and the Poppery II is also good. Do a Google or do a search in the forums over at Coffeegeek. There are a few types that are NOT recommended because they don't provide the roatary air flow that is needed to prevent the beans from catching fire. Some entry level roaster provide a bit of chaff control - a screen or mesh colelctor that provides a place for the bean husks to accumulate. Popcorn popper roasting can be messy for this reason. Both entry evel hot air ropasters and popcorn poppers are limited to about 1/4 lb or less of beans per batch. The biggest draw back of that style of hot air roaster, as I see it, it the short roast time. Start to finish, the roast takes 4 to 6 minutes. It does roast the coffee but such a fast roasting time gives a bright finish to the beans. I find coffee roasted this way to be a bit acidic and with too many bright flavor notes for my taste. It's okay on certain varietals but not so good for espresso blends, which comprise 90% of my consumption. If you have the luxury of roasting outdoors.... chaff dispersal is not an issue and you should consider starting with the heat gun / dog bowl method that MGLloyd has mentioned elsewhere in this forum. The short version is that one buys a big stainless steel dog food bowl and an electric heat stripping gun (e.g. a Wagner ot its ilk). Throw a half pound or a bit less of beans in and then roast by pointing the heat gun at it. You'll need an oven mitt to hold the bowl and it helps to have a few colanders with which to toss the beans back and forth for final cooling and chaff dispersion. This method not only allows one to create a longer roast time (15 to 17 minutes - ideal for a mellower and smoother flavor profile) but gives a great measure of control as one can easily moniotr roast level by the color fo the beans (I have to listen carefully for a certain type of craccking sound with my Alpenroast).

Do yourself and Mr. B a big favor -- ignore the "freezing coffee is a watse of time" naysayers and start portioning up the news shipment of fresh beans the moment you open that 1 kilo bag. If you have a vac seal machien it's good but ziplocs are fine. Put a three day allottment in each bag and seal them tightly with all air expelled. Once this is done, throw them all together into one large ziploc. Freeze. Every few days take out one small bag and allow it to thaw to room temp for a few hours before opening the bag. Never open a bag of frozen coffee and return it to the freezer or grind when frozen - both are no-no's. I used the above freezing method for a year or two until I started home roasting and also got a good local microroaster who sold fresh every day in small amounts. It really, really works - I have done an actual A/B comparison that proved it. It was an accident - I had a vacuum sealed 1/2 bag of Torrefazione Italia Perugia that I left in the cupboard by accident and discovered six months later. I also had a bag from the same shipment that had been in the freezer the entire time. I thawed out the frozen one, opened both bags and made some shots. The beans that were stored at room temp were flat tasting with a near total absence of crema. The frozen and thawed beans had an abundant crema and a rich, fresh taste. You'll get decent to very good results if your Braun grinder is used carefully but be assured that the results will be better and more consistent if you upgrade to a good quality burr grinder. $175 to $200 is about the minimum entry level but they sometimes show up on Ebay for less.

Excellent points being made all around. I'm in complete agreement that home roasting or finding a source of truly fresh quality whole beans (which can be replenished every 5 - 7 days) is the single most significant upgrade one can make, regardless of what style of coffee is being prepared. If you're making espresso at home for small numbers of people and milk based drinks aren't a priority, the Silvia is a great machine and IMHO a better investment than the FF. The Silvia has a full size grouphead and commercial sized 58 mm coated brass portafilter. The FF has, I believe, a more lightweight grouphead assembly and a 53 mm cast aluminum portafilter. Heavier assembly and lots of brass means better thermal stability and heat retention - this is good. A larger portafilter means you can use more coffee. I suspect that the double basket of a FF will hold no more than 14 grams for a double shot. The SCAA suggests 7 grams as the appropriate amount for a single shot and 14 grams for a double but most of the high end home machines have portafilter baskets that will hold 17 or 18 grams. Go into a realy serious espresso bar and check out the basket they're using - it's most likely the la Marzocco "triple" basket. This is a deeper basket that has no sloping shoulder on the inside. It holds 21 grams of grounds. Make a 1.5 oz "double ristretto" with 21 grams of coffee and you'll find out why the serious shops here in North America do this. C'mon folks.... we know how importan the concentration process is when one makes a glace de viande or any number of other culinary reductions. Espresso is the reduced essence of the coffee bean's most vital flavor components. Higher weight of beans with same brew time, corect temp and tamp etc. = more intense and more richly flavored espresso. I get really, really good shots with my standard Isomac double basket using approx 17 to 18 grams of beans. I get even better shots with the LM "triple"basket. By the way.... you need an appropriate portafilter handle assembly to hold such a basket. It will fit a 58 mm Silvia but such an assembly will not fot the 53 mm machiens like FF. Here's a really good E61 style machine for $675 inclusive. I have mixed feelings about the after-the-sale service record of the dealer in question based on reports from personal friends who had problems but they are the exclusive dealer and the machien has a good warranty (and it's received mucho praise from Silvia owners) Expobar Office Pulser Reasons to make the jump: Style? Nah.... Silvia looks as good or better. Reliability? Uh uh - Silvia is built like a tank and known to be reliable Steaming? Yes - E61 units can steam while the shots are being pulled - no waiting Ease of use? yes - really easy to get fantastic shots without "temp surfing" or "time surfing" (techniques for getting more consistent brewing temps from Silvia) Consistency? Yes - unless you're comfortable playing the surfing game with Silvia or willing to hack the machine and install a PID (electronic thermocontroller). most peopel will get greater consistency of results with an E61 machine. There you have it. Not a necessity but darn near every day I realize what a good investment I made by buying the machine I own at present.

IMHO if you happen to like Illy coffee and are comfortable with the quality vs convenience compromise that pods and lower end machine represent.... the Illy deal is a good one. Do the pods stay fresh for a long time? It's assuredly better than opening a pressurized can of Illy whole bean and taking a week or two to use it up, but will still never be a match for good freshwhole bean coffee either roasted at home or procured from a good micro-roaster. The "great crema" you see from a pod in the FF machine is likely the result of the crema filter. It has an appeal but is no match for real crema. If my primary use was going to be pods, I think $299 for the FF is a good deal - it's stylish (to many) and takes up a minimum of counter space. If I anticipated getting a good grinder and wanting make top-shelf espresso at home, moving on from pods sooner than later.... I'd look at a higher end machine. The cheapst machine I'm aware of that wil use pods or regular ground espresso and do a significantly better job than the $100 pump machines is the Gaggia Carezza at about $230. I think that for styling and the larger drip tray alone.... the FF is worth the extra $$. Please... please.... do yourself a favor and buy from a reputable existing online vendor. I've heard mixed reports about people's experiences buying espresso gear from Ebay. Follow up service after the sale is so important for these products.... chances are you'll get just as low a price or darn close to it from a "regular" vendor. There are many online vendors - the ones I'm familiar with based both on personal experience and reputation are Chris Coffee First Line Aabree (also dba EspressoPeople.com) All three are long established, reputable, offer good selections and have knowledgeable service after the sale. My personal favorite is Chris Coffee but be advised that he does not sell any lower end gear. I'm in the neutral camp on Illy - don't really dislike it as some people do but I've had Italian bar brands brought back from Italy like Lavazza that I like better and the local microroast beans and stuff I do at home totally blow it away. I see it as a good fall-back bean if I'm in an unknown locale - if a small cafe in an obscure location is using Illy it would appear that they're at least trying to bring a certain level of quality to their espresso and it may be worth a try. Despite the fact that Torrefazione Italia was purchased by Seattle's Best a few years ago, who was subsequently gobbled up by the Green Monster (Starbucks - not Genny Cream Ale!).... they still offer some excellent pre-roasted blends. I think their Perugia blend is far superior to Illy and about the same price Torrefazione Italia Perugia blend espresso pods The Silvia / Rocky combo is well established as a great set of gear for the price point but having already walked down the pricey and frustrating upgrade path myself.... Fat Guy can you hear me?.... I say just save your scratch and go straight to a machine with an E61 style grouphead and get a Rocky grinder or better. Silvia is good but is also well known as a machine that needs lots of tweaks and user intervention in order to consistently get the best results. All of the E61 machines... Salvatore, Wega, ECM, Isomac and many more .... even the cheaper Expobar (an ugly duckling but a great performer).... offer the user a level of consitsency and ease of use that simply can't be matched on cheaper machines. I'll spare you the specifics of why the E61 style grouphead makes such a difference (not to mention the HX or heat exchanger feature that these machines all share) but believe me it does. I am not a tweaker by nature - once I have gear the does the job well I just like to push the button or pull the lever. My Isoamc meets that need. I adjust the grind of my beans to meet the needs of the bean type, age and humidty levels but apart from that I never ever mess with the beats. I just add water, and do routine cleaning and maintenance. If you're going to spend $720 and may well get upgrade fever (trust me you will)... just bite the bullet and spend $1,000 to $1,300. Another huge and often overlooked issue is entertaining. If you have dinner guests or friends over on occasion and want to whip up a bunch of milk based drinks for them.... Silvia and machines in its class will make it a long and tedious process. The HX feature of the machines previously mentioned will allow a half dozen lattes or cappas to be built in five or six minutes - you just can't do that with a cheaper machine.

Yes.... use in cold (i.e. iced) drinks seems to be the popular usage but if you're very sensitive to the acidity of most coffee, using a Toddy style concentrate mixed with hot water might be the answer. When I want or need low acidity I just brew with Indonesian coffees - Monsooned Malabar and Sumtra Mandheling both make a nice flavorful cup that is low in acid.