slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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There is no way you can make decent espresso with a steam toy machine. The water is too hot and the pressure is too low.
Yeah, what you need is one of those $600 La Pavoni's. 1920's technology.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...G/egulletcom-20
People say that the lever-style machines are actually capable of making the best shots, since the barista is in total control. But the learning curve is really steep.
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There is no way you can make decent espresso with a steam toy machine. The water is too hot and the pressure is too low.
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Why don't you give us a little taste of things to come by giving us an overview of your Thanksgiving? Weren't you the one who said you wanted to... well, shove Thanksgiving up your in-laws' a**?
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The upcoming I-Roast from Hearthware looks pretty awesome. I have loved my Hearthware Precision over the years, and am seriously thinking of picking up an I-Roast when they become available. These specs sound especially interesting:
- User can set up roasting curves, or use preset roasting curves: At each roasting stage, temperature is accurately controlled. This is a function that only the most sophisticated machines that may cost thousands of dollars have. This is the very first time it has been used in a home roaster.
- Accurate roasting time and temperature adjustment: Roasting time can be changed by 1 second and roasting temperature can be adjusted by 5°F or 2°C increments.
- Check the roasting temperature during the roasting cycle: Built-in function for users to check the roasting temperature: no need for thermometers any more. It gives the user a clear idea of the inside temperature.
- Increase/decrease roasting time during roasting: It gives the user the flexibility of controlling the final roasting results.
- Memory function: stores the previous roasting curve.
- Patented wind tunnel and thermoflector design for even roasting
- LCD display shows time, temperature, stages, and other functional/processing/error information.
- A custom designed stainless steel smoke vent support is also available as an attachement. With this vent support, user can easily attache a standard 4" (100mm) size vent pipe to vent the unwanted smoke out.
This for <200 bucks.
- User can set up roasting curves, or use preset roasting curves: At each roasting stage, temperature is accurately controlled. This is a function that only the most sophisticated machines that may cost thousands of dollars have. This is the very first time it has been used in a home roaster.
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Upon seeing this thread, the first thing that came bubbling up from the depths of memory was this little song to the tune of the Grand March from Gounod's Faust:
My Uncle roasted a kangaroo,
Gave me the gristly end to chew.
Was that a very nice thing to do?
To give me the gristly end of a kangaroo to chew.
I guess what you're saying is that it isn't all that gristly?
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Yea. Like I said, it is hard to say whether the Albarello was the "best" wine, but it certainly made a big impression. It was a little strange and funky, but I was into that.
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I definitely prefer gin over vodka. Vodka I drink only iced from the freezer or occasionally as a neutral base for certain cocktails.
Beyond that, though, I like high-end bourbon, rum and single malt scotch about equally. I am also a huge fan of grappa. I don't take any of these on ice except occasionally Booker's bourbon, which I have found to have the strength of flavor (and alcohol content) to withstand chilling.
I probably make mixed drinks based on either gin or bourbon/rye about equally.
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Here are the wines we had, along with the dishes they were served with:
Assorted Crudités
Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Rustico, Viticoltori Nino Franco, NV
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Kumamoto Oyster On The Half-Shell With Cucumber Granita
Muscadet de Sevre et Maine sur Lies, Cuvee Vielles Vignes, Domaine Clos des Briords, 2002
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Cauliflower Soup With Seared Diver Scallop And Curry Oil
Saumur Blanc “La Papareille,” Domaine Saint-Vincent, 2002
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Mixed Herb Salad With Shrimp Ceviche
Saumur Blanc “La Papareille,” Domaine Saint-Vincent, 2002
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Toasted Corn And Stilton Soufflé
Sautéed Brussels Sprouts With Guanciale and Chive/Oregano Vinaigrette
Bourgogne Rouge, Domaine Alain Hudelot-Noellat, 2000
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Lemon-Thyme Sorbet
Moscato d'Asti “Vigneto Biancospino,” Azienda Agricola Dante Rivetti, Piemonte, 2002
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Turkey Two Ways With Cornbread Dressing, Foie Gras And Black Truffle Carpaccio
Coteaux du Languedoc Pic Saint-Loup “Le Rollier,” Domaine Mas Foulaquier, 2001
Sonoma Valley Red Wine “Albarello,” H. Coturri & Sons, 2001
All the wines worked very well, I thought. The most distinctive was definitely the last one, the Albarello. I'm not sure I'd say it was the best wine but it definitely made an impression, which is just what I was going for. Strange, big, deep, powerful over-ripe/late-harvest kinds of flavors... almost like red wine with balsamico tradizionale added.
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It seems to be a split decision as to what people liked the best:
Kathleen loved the raw oysters with cucumber granita.
A few liked the pureed cauliflower soup with seared scallop and curry oil the best.
Others liked the turkey two ways with cornbread dressing, foie gras and black truffle carpaccio the best.
Me...? Hard to say. When you're the cook, I think you lose a little perspective. I was just happy to see every course get onto the table, and I felt that each one was equally successful in it own way. The only think I'd change is that the toasted corn/stilton souffles didn't have as much stilton flavor as I might have liked (bigger chunks next time?) and had a texture more like airy, puffy cornbread than eggy souffle. They were good, but not exactly what I was going for.
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In other words: "No, we don't carry it. And no, we're not going to tell you why."
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Ingles and Piggly Wiggly usually carry it, right?
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I encourage you to try Sweet Marias for roasting supplies and green beans. They have reasonable prices and are a good resource.
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I hate to tell you this, dude, but a few days ago I replaced all the coffee in your home with Folgers crystals and you didn't even notice.
Curses!
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I'm not sure how much one needs to know:
1. Just about everyone in the world agrees that decaffeinated coffee, regardless of process used, does not taste the same (or as good) as coffee that has not been processed this way.
2. The Swiss Water people claim that by using "saturated" soaking water, their process removes only the caffeine (a tasteless and odorless substance) and none of the flavor agents.
3. These two statements are at odds.
4. One doesn't have to know all that much about chemistry and coffee to understand that it is highly unlikely that the Swiss Water system manages to remove 97% of the caffeine from the coffee beans without dissolving some of the flavor agents into the soaking liquid.
5. Therefore, it is highly likely that Swiss Water's statement in #2 is not entirely correct.
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Well... I don't have any trouble believing that using "saturated" soaking water mitigates the absorbtion of flavor agents into the water to some degree. But I do have a hard time believing that it eliminates it entirely.
Think about it: soaking coffee beans in hot water makes... well, coffee (albeit green coffee). Try soaking some coffee beans in hot coffee, then drying them out and brewing with them. I can't see any possible way this wouldn't negatively impact the flavor.
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It doesn't have to be saturated, does it? It just has to have enough of the stuff in it that the osmotic pressure is greater than the whatever-the-hell gradient of the something-or-other of the same compounds in the beans, right?
Ah... right. (Me: "duuuuh.")
But. I still don't see how the "saturated" soaking liquid could have so much of the flavor stuff in it that none of the flavor agents would be dissolved into the soaking liquid and still be effective at dissolving 97% of the caffeine.
Maybe I don't quite get it, though. If one had a solid substance that contained a lot of sugar and a lot of salt, would it be possible to soak that substance in a sugar solution such that 97% of the salt was dissolved into the soaking medium and none of the sugar?
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Fundamentally, the only difference between the various methods of high-end caffeine removal is the mechanism by which the caffeine is removed. This from "Home Coffee Roasting" by Kenneth Davids:
Three principal processes are used today in the world of fancy or specialty coffees: the traditional or European process, the water-only or Swiss-Water process and the CO2-water or Sparkling-Water process. ALl are consistently successful at removing all but a trace (2 to 3 percent) of the resident caffeine. ...In the water-only [aka "Swiss-Water"] process the caffeins is removed by means of activated charcoal filters. In the traditional or European process the caffeine is removed by means of a solvent, usually ethyl acetate. The solvent selectively unites with the caffeine, floats to the surfacew of the hot water, and both caffeine and solvent are skimmed off the surface, leaving only the flavor agents behind. ...
The water-only approach is attractive to consumers because it uses no chemicals. The traditional or European process has fallen out of favor because of the sinister notion that a solvent is involved in the procedure. Reassurances that (1) the solvent never touches the coffee itself; (2) the most widely used solvent, ethyl acetate, has not been implicated in health of environmental issues; and (3) the solvent is so volatile that any trace that persists through the process is undoubtedly burned off during roasting, together constitute too complex a response for most coffee drinkers. ...
Traditional or European-process decaffeinated coffees continue to appear in stores because they're a bit cheaper than the water-only kind, and because some coffee professionals find that they better retain the characteristics of the original coffees. ...
The Sparkling-Water process ... soaks the caffeine out of the beans with compressed carbon dioxide, a ubiquitous and altogether harmless substance.
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The site makes the point that the "flavor saturated water" uses osmosis to prevent the flavor from coming out of the beans; only the caffeine comes out, according to that site. Could this be correct?
As stated above, I don't see how it could possibly prevent the dissolution of flavor agents into the soaking water entirely or even mostly. In order for that to be the case, the soaking water would have to be literally saturated with all of the flavor compounds, which is to say "a solution that is unable to absorb or dissolve any more of a solute at a given temperature and pressure." I hardly see how this could be the case, and if it were I cannot but imagine that the use of a saturated liquid as the soaking medium would inhibit the dissolution of the caffeine into the soaking liquid.
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I was only joking about the butter. But seriously, do you know what happens when coffee beans are decaffeinated? The green beans are soaked in water (or a solvent) until the caffeine and the flavor agents have been dissolved into the liquid. Then the beans are removed from the liquid and the caffeine is removed from the liquid, theoretically leaving behind all the flavor agents in the liquid. Finally the beans are recombined with the liquid where they supposedly reabsorb the flavor agents (minus caffeine), after which process they are dried and ready for roasting, etc. This does not strike me as a recipe for great-tasting coffee.
My understanding is there are different decaffination processes. The "Swiss Process" is not supposed to do this.
Jason, that is the Swiss process... otherwise known as the "Swiss Water Process" to indicate that it uses water rather than a chemical solvent to dissolve the caffeine and flavor agents. This page from the swisswater.com site you referenced illustrates the exact process I describe above.
Edited to add: the swisswater.com people's use of "used" soaking water may mitigate the dissolution of flavor agents into the soaking water I don't see is any way it could prevent it entirely or even mostly. For sure, the more careful the decaffeinization process, the better tasting the coffee. But the fact is that they're monkeying with the beans and there is no way decaf can ever taste as good as regular made from the same beans.
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I was only joking about the butter. But seriously, do you know what happens when coffee beans are decaffeinated? The green beans are soaked in water (or a solvent) until the caffeine and the flavor agents have been dissolved into the liquid. Then the beans are removed from the liquid and the caffeine is removed from the liquid, theoretically leaving behind all the flavor agents in the liquid. Finally the beans are recombined with the liquid where they supposedly reabsorb the flavor agents (minus caffeine), after which process they are dried and ready for roasting, etc. This does not strike me as a recipe for great-tasting coffee.
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Is there such a thing as truly excellent lowfat butter?
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I'm with Holly.
No such thing.
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I made a Pumpkin Flan for dessert that came out quite well. I made it non-fat and relatively low calorie by using egg substitute, Splenda, evaporated skim milk and fat free half and half, but you could probably make it with real eggs, sugar and half and half and it would be delicious, if not deadly! I'll post the recipe in the archives soon.
Wait... you made a lowfat, low-calorie dessert for Thanksgiving?!
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I would like to add that the perception that foie is for rich folks only adds fuel to the fire. Foie has, in recent years, appeared on many restaurant menus that cater to affordable experiences outside the typical sphere of culinary influence that its normally associated with (i.e., haute cuisine). You know that foie gras has arrived in the mainstream arena when you start seeing foie appearing in places like Florent, Gramercy Tavern and Annisa.
That's a great point, Soba. To make an example, I was able to buy a "bloc de foie gras de canard" large enough to garnish ten portions of turkey last night. It cost only around 25 bucks, and I have some left over. Part of the increasing popularity of foie gras in America is that foie, along with related duck products, is no longer a rich man's food and is affordable in one form or another to just about everyone.
Coffee Plateau
in Coffee & Tea
Posted
And a long handle...