eG Foodblog: phaelon56

[phaelon56]

The other thing I did at lunch was roast the first half of a batch of espresso blend for use this weekend. Most beans, when intended for use in espresso coffee, will require about a 24 - 48 hour resting time after roasting. This is best done in a container with the lid cracked slightly open. It can be consumed sooner but really hits its sweet spot in about two days and stays really good for about a week after that.

I have loads of green beans right now and have not roasted since the summer. I was going to use Jim Schulman's WTC recipe (Way Too Complicated) but forgot to bring it home with me. Jim is legendary over in alt.coffee and Coffeegeek forums. He's a regular coffee guru and a real gentleman.

I decided to wing it and do a "semi-decaf" blend. Decaf beans tend to deliver a bit less flavor and less crema than regular beans when used for espresso. When preparing a blend of regular beans for espresso, most blenders use a "base bean" - something relatively neutral in terms of flavor notes and relatively mild. Many Brazilian beans meet this requirement - it's common to use about 30 - 40% base bean and then a blend of others to achieve different flavor notes. Decaf changes things - its more subdued flavor profile dictates a different matching of beans and a mellower base bean is not as approproiate.

Here's what I'm doing:

1 part Sumatra WP decaf (water process)

1 part African Highland Blend WP decaf

1 part Uganda Nanga Farms Robusta*

2 parts Indian Monsooned Malabar Coelho's Gold

1 part Yemen Moka Haimi

This blend may be a bit too much - five bean types is pushing it but I'll see if it works. I'm testing to see how far I can push up the ratio of decaf before I lose the cream and big flavor notes that I'm seeking. There should be a good balance of fruit and chocolate notes in here.

* Robusta is famous for being the crap commodity coffee that makes its way into canned supermarket coffee all over the world. It tends to grow more abundantly and more easily in greater volume at lower altitudes but by most serious coffee drinkers standards often has undesirable characteristics . It does add a certain type of bitterness that some Italian blenders find desirable as a balance but more important, it produces abundant crema. My hope is to offset the bitterness by including a larger proportion of of the Monosooned Malabar and have the Robusta counteract the reduced crema output caused by use of decaf.

Nanga Farms is one of the few well known high quality robustas available readily here in the US and is close to the same price as Arabica beans.

The beans at weighing time:

The Alpenroast ready to go to work before the lid is closed:

It's a drum roaster, a bit smaller than a bread machine, and it sells for about $280. I got mine used for $175 and contrary to reports about many earlier units that were finicky and unreliable, mine has worked great. The manufacturers claim that this is a "set it and forget it" unit like bread machines but to get good results, one must start listening to the sound and pace of the cracking beans starting at about 13 minutes and also make note of how the smoke smells. I usually shoot for a roast best described as Full City + - darker than a medium roast but not to the French Roast level.

Some people use temperature probes and spreadsheet software, carefully documenting their roasts so they can achieve repeatable results with particular beans types and blends. I'm just not that geeky (maybe I am but I'm just too lazy!). I just listen, smell and stop when I think it's done. Seems to work okay for me. Typical roasting time is about 15 - 17 minutes. The beans are close to cooled off but not quite when the roaster spits them into the collection bin. I spread them out on cookie sheets and stir to finish the cooling process.

Fluid bed (hot air) roasters of the consumer variety start at about $100 but many folks use old popcorn poppers. Unregulated air roasting takes beans to the final roast level very quickly - about 4 to 6 minutes. This tends to yield a brighter finish to the roast - good for some people but not to the liking of many, especially for espresso blends. Voltage regulators (known as Variacs) can control this process and allow consumer hot air roasters to roast more slowly by varying temperatures at different points in the roasting cycle, thus achieving results more akin to a drum roasters. Commercial fluid bed roasters such as Sivetz are an entirely different beast and not really relevant to this discussion.

There's a thread in the Coffee & Tea forum with some info that eGulleteer MGLloyd posted about "dog bowl roasting". It's a great low tech and inexpensive way to try home roasting - requires nothing more than a large stainless steel dog food bowl and a cheap heat gun. I'll see if I can dig up a link to that info.

[alacarte]

Great blog, Owen. I've enjoyed all your coffee shots!

[phaelon56]

Well I am having a great time doing it. It's actually given me ideas for some other threads I'll post in the future and the food's been (mostly) great.

Here's a very extensive Coffeegeek discussion on

Heat Gun / Dog Bowl coffee roasting

[herbacidal]

I just PMed Owen, offering to put my head on the block. I was so inspired by his repeated comments about eating better because he was blogging ... isn't peer pressure a wonderful thing?

The only thing of real interest I have to offer is that I am travelling to BC next week for a weekend at Tigh-na-Mara with my sisters, a 40th birthday gift from them. I've just found out that the resort has Internet access, so I could report on dining at the Cedar Room. Oh, and I plan on visiting the spa as well so I might be able to report on their spa lunch too.

I have no problem with Jensen, then Mayhaw.

Course, I also have no problem with Mayhaw, then Jensen.

Where are you normally, Jensen?

Your home area may be more interesting.

[Jensen]

I have no problem with Jensen, then Mayhaw.

Course, I also have no problem with Mayhaw, then Jensen.

Where are you normally, Jensen?

Your home area may be more interesting. 

Not likely ... I live in Sacramento!

Owen has tagged me and I plan on tagging Mayhaw Man for next week. (I haven't told him that yet so shhhhh...it's a secret)

Edited March 26, 2004 by Jensen (log)

[phaelon56]

Finished up the roasting last night while my hometown team was getting spanked by Alabama. I've added a small fan that sits on the window sill (not pictured) to draw out the smoke. When the Alpenroast is put into the cooling cycle a huge gush of smoke emerges for a moment - it would be intolerable in an aprtment unless you had a very good vent hood over your stove and did the roasting there. EGulleteer Melkor gave me a very cool home-made roasting drum to use on my new gas grill - I'll play with that once the grill is assembled and its warm enough outside to begin outdoor roasting.

The smoke:

The roasted beans, spread out to cool. Notice the color variation? Yemeni beans tend to roast that way and also, the Robusta often take longer to roast than other types do. I'll blend differently next time but I only had to pick out a few under-roasted beans in this batch.

Today's breakfast - real Irish oatmeal with maple syrup. I find regular oatmeal to be a bit too bland and lacking in the texture that I enjoy. The steel-cut has a nutty flavor and a bit of tooth. It's so easy - one cup oatmeal tossed into four cups boiling water with a dash of salt. Immediately remove from heat and then leave it overnight with the lid on. In the morning just simmer for ten minutes and it's ready.

[phaelon56]

After a week of reasonably interesting and varied food.... I'm ready to shock everyone. Not only am I going to have Chinese at the second meeting of a cooking club that I'm attending tonight (yes I've evangelized for eGullet and none of them are interested!).... I went to a Chinese buffet for lunch!

One of my co-workers often invites me to have lunch with him on Friday and it's a good break from an eating at the desk routine. Last night I had dinner with a new friend at Eva's, a Polish restaurant in nearby Solvay (food was great as usual - just potato pancakes and perogie but no pics or report to file). Last night's dining partner insisted that the new Chinese buffet on this end of town was good. It was not up to the standards of a really good Chinese restaurant but as buffet places go, it did prove to be far above average.

Super King Buffet assortment:

Here, in no particular order, are the plates I demolished:

The casual observer might think that I overate but through a combination of deep concentration and special esoteric digestive techniques, I actually ate everything except a portion of the weird pancake sort of concoction with brown sauce. Remarkably.... I did not feel stuffed when finished. In the interest of aesthetic appeal (so important for Chinese buffet pictures), I removed the radioactivity warning label from that orange glow-in-the-dark dessert before I ate it. In case you're wondering.... those are chicken wings on the late with my dessert but I ate them first.

Among the intriguing items that I don't normally see on buffets....

• a decent cold squid salad
  
• very tasty steamed and seasoned mussels
  
• seaweed salad
  
• kim chee
  
• stuffed and baked mussels
  
• sauteed string beans
  
• weird little spherical white fruit that I can't identify but tasted familiar
  
• stuffed mushroom caps
  
• dessert that looked like a strip of peanut brittle but was less sweet - tasted of honey and little bits of green plant matter throughout
  

[JPW]

Next up.....

Phaelon: the dietblog

[Schielke]

I think the white fruit was a peeled lychee

[phaelon56]

Next up.....

Phaelon: the dietblog

You beat me to it

I think it would lack pictorial interest. I should probably just wait and post a pic of the svelte new self once that process is complete.

If those were lychees... I really like 'em - if they're not.... I like 'em anyway.

[bloviatrix]

Can you please explain your username? Danke.

[phaelon56]

My user name: a less interesting story than one might hope for but here goes.

When I first became Internet active and established a Yahoo mail account, I was a bit frustrated to discover that every conceivable variation of "owen" and "oneill" had already been used by other people (many hundreds all used by one 12 year old boy in PA - that's the Internet for ya!).

I wanted something easy and distinctive and chose what I believed at the time to be the Gaelic spelling of my name (this proved later to be incorrect - Phaelon is actually a character in ancient Egyptian mythology/cosmology). Even "Phaelon" proved to be already taken so I appended the year of my birth and finally had a user name. Since then, as more and more discussion forums and other sites required a user name and password for access, I got so sick of looking for different user names that were not already in use, that I began using Phaelon56 by default. Once can assume (for better or worse!), that if you see a Phaelon56 user name anywhere, anytime, on the Web - it's probably me.

And the story behind Bloviatrix is?

[Schielke]

Is "Internet Active" like "sexually active"?

[phaelon56]

Is "Internet Active" like "sexually active"?

For some folks I think the two are indistinguishable from one another

I like to stay active in... uhhhh... all parts of my life but virtual sex is just not my thing. Food porn is an entirely different story

[StInGeR]

I have no problem with Jensen, then Mayhaw.

Course, I also have no problem with Mayhaw, then Jensen.

Where are you normally, Jensen?

Your home area may be more interesting.  

Not likely ... I live in Sacramento!

Owen has tagged me and I plan on tagging Mayhaw Man for next week. (I haven't told him that yet so shhhhh...it's a secret)

Damn and here I was going to try and get tagged in the upcoming weeks since my wife and I will be taking a "vacation" to NY and NJ for 3 weeks from Australia. We'll be there from the 30thMar - 17thApr, so if anyway can't do their foodblog, PM me.

Cheers

Tom

[phaelon56]

I cannot speak on his behalf but I suspect Mayhaw Man might be willing to push his slot back and let you step up to the plate Tom. I think he has been "volunteered" by some folks here but hasn't even consented yet (he is probably too caught up in strategizing plans for this years okra crop.

I, for one, would love to hear the feedback of someone visiting the US and commenting on their culinary experiences.

[herbacidal]

Well, there isn't a problem with Stinger following Mayhaw is there?

That would be fine with me.

It would also be as organized as we've ever had these blogs, with the next 3 already defined.

[phaelon56]

This is it - my final food report on the blog... sigh. It's been great fun and I've eaten far better than usual. Thanks to all who've both lurked and replied and been patient enough to sit through my ramblings.

I recently joined together with a handful of other people locally, all either new to the area or recently relocated here, to form a "cooking club". Our intent is to mix a bit of socializing with food prep, discussion and most important - eating!.

I'll work on recruiting a few of these folks into the ranks of eGullet but in the meantime the cooking and eating continues. This month's theme was Chinese. Next will be French, I'll be the host and we're sure to do a repeat of the bouillabaise from this week's blog, among other things.

Dinner consisted of:

Fried tofu. This is the firm variety done with an interesting prep method. Slice the block in half horizontally to yield two thinner sheets. Place on a towel on the counter or in a cookie sheet to catch the excess liquid. Place a cutting board or similar liquid resistant piece on top and then stack lots of books on top of that (we know you all have a big, heavy stack of cookbooks - admit it!). Leave it for at least an hour but as long as you wish. Change the towel or wring it out periodically. The resultant texture is much firmer than any tofu I've had previously and it absorbs almost no oil in the frying process due to the dense surface.

This was served with rice and three dipping sauces. Sorry I can't recall the ingredients but one was sweeter and thicker with minced scallions and cilantro or flat leafed parsley, one had rice vinegar and Maggi and the other was also vinegar based but more peppery.

Next course was sauteed bean sprouts with fish sauce, rice vinegar and a few other things thrown on - these were excellent.

Sauteed string beans on the side - there were some yellow beans mixed in with the green. I don't usually care for yellow beans but these were delicious. I think there might have been sesame seeds in here but I was too busy eating and talking to get the details (shocking, I know, how out of character )

The main event:

Two stews - both with green pepper, onion, garlic and assorted other items in a very pungent broth. One was made with lamb and the other, to accomodate the vegetarians in the group, had sliced bamboo shoots added for extra body. All told, a great meal.

I regret that I failed to snap a picture of the dessert. It's an item not specific to China but variations of it exist throughout Southeast Asia. Our host referred to it as "ABC". Our host said that she makes it only on rare occasions as one must open multiple cans of ingredients and without a fair number of people to consume it, there would be much waste.

Take sweetened red beans and chunks of coconut milk infused agar (similar to a gelatine or pectin, I think. It gives the coconut milk a jellified texture) - put them in a glass. Add crushed ice. Stir in some pieces of a fruit that looks and tastes (to me) like lychees - can't recall the name but it's very similar to lychees - lychees can also be used. I think there may be some of the coconut agar mixed in with the crushed ice as well. Stir in some canned sweet corn. Yes - corn!

The ABC is Agar - Beans - Corn. It's a vegan friendly dessert and really tasty. A single ice cube was added to each glass. I found it best to stir it repeatedly and let it sit for awhile while the ingredients melded. There are loads of flavor contrasts in this dish. Very good.

That's it for me - I'm looking forward to Jensen's spa food report and we might even get lucky enough to have Aussie Stringer the following week to do a "Visiting the US foodblog) . In the Garden State of NJ no less.

[bleudauvergne]

Thanks, Owen. It was nice to meet you.

[Jensen]

Owen, how is your cooking club organised?

A friend set one up two years ago and we've really enjoyed being part of it. Another couple we know is interested in setting up another group but I'm not sure the same organisational structure would work with these particular people.

The already-existing one is comprised of four couples and we meet four times a year. The host is responsible for setting the menu, distributing recipes, and the entree. Generally, each other couple is responsible for two dishes; they also bring wine.

This format has worked well for us; two of the couples are "foodies" and two aren't. So the two that aren't have had a chance to learn from the other meals and to evolve their own skills.

The other group that is interested in forming another club don't cook much at all. The women of the group want to do it so that they can learn to cook.

With that in mind, I think a different format would be required. Can you share the structure of your club?

Thanks!

[docsconz]

Great job, Owen. Thanks for sharing.

[phaelon56]

It was nice to meet you all and a special treat was discovering that "bleudauvergne" and I grew up in the same neighborhood (although she is young and charming and I..... old and crotchety )

Our cooking club came together by chance. The local newspaper has a web site that includes forums. Upon returning to Syrcuse this past summer, I foolishly thought that it could be a nice local adjunct to my eGullet activities. I posted reviews of some local restaurants I was visiting and in the process, made an online acquaintance with a few of the other posters who responded to my threads. Unfortunately, the local forum is one step (barely) above a chat room - lots of inane one line off topic posts and little contructive dialogue. One of the acquaintances I made suggested a cooking club - we took the conversation off line by way of shared emails.

I set up a Yahoo club as a central point for organizing, making calendar postigns and as a place to share the recipes that were prepared. We used the 'Poll" feture to decide what cuisine to pursue next but just as a lark - it's such a small group that decisions are not a big deal. Our plan thus far has been very loose. We are spacing the meetings out to once every five weeks or so but that may change, especially with people's busy summer schedules.

Our structure has been much like the one you describe. The host provides the main course and usually a side and/or dessert. Other people bring a side or two, sometimes wine or their other beverage of choice (we have a few beer drinkers in the group) and all show up about 90 minutes before the planned start of the meal. If possible, one dish is included that lends itself to group preparation, e.g. when we did Central American food, all joined in to stuff the pupusas (empenadas).

It's working well thus far. We're a bit short on people - started with five adults and two kids (boys about 9 and 11) and then I added one adult by bringing a guest last night. I think ten adults would be a good size and perhaps six meetings a year? It can be whatever people wish it to be but it has been fun. There seem to be varying levels of cooking experience and expertise but we all share a strong interest in ethnic foods and experiencing the cuisines of other cultures.

I'm also hoping to thow an eGullet gathering at my place this summer. We might have a surprise mystery guest eGulleteer visiting the area from France, I'll try to coax GordonCooks and DocSconz into driving over from Rochester and Glens Falls and might even get an NYC based eGuleteer or two to show up.

[docsconz]

I'm also hoping to thow an eGullet gathering at my place this summer. We might have a surprise mystery guest eGulleteer visiting the area from France, I'll try to coax GordonCooks and DocSconz into driving over from Rochester and Glens Falls and might even get an NYC based eGuleteer or two to show up.

It would be fun!

[phaelon56]

Yes... I think so. By the way - it will be a kid friendly and dog friendly event. Durian is not allowed unless you keep it in the back corner of the yard. One of our cooking club members is from Australia - he confirmed the the "No Durian" signs are common on most public buildings in Oz - the smell is so overwhelming that they don't want people bringing it to their desks to eat.

[herbacidal]

Owen,

Are you turning Chinese on me?

No one outside of Chinese I know ever eats bean sprouts without significant amounts of meat or other vegetables mixed in.

And fooey on the transplanted Australian.