Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Using an Espresso Machine for Consommes


Shalmanese

Recommended Posts

So I was watching a show focusing on 2 chefs from Canada, Domonique and Cindy Duby who used an espresso machine to make a Pineapple & Muscovado Consomme and it occurs to me that such a device would actually work pretty well for producing all sorts of quick and unconventional consommes.

The main appeal seems to be that the relatively quick extraction should prevent many of the volatile top notes from floating off and the coffee filter should stop any particulate matter from dropping through, giving a fast, intense and clean flavour profile.

As to what to extract, I don't know. Something with a lot of volatile oils like lemon zest or lemongrass would certainly be a good candidate. What about those fried shallots you can buy from an asian grocer? Would they work? Beets? Keller makes a beet powder so you could run something similar through. Or you could try for a traditional Beef Consomme by frying some beef mince until completely cooked and dried out, grinding it into a powder and then running it through the machine. I don't know how fat would affect the process though.

I have no idea if any of this will work but it seems like a potential new fun tool to play around with. Thoughts?

PS: I am a guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems, in theory, it would work great. Fast/ hot water passing through said ingredients. My only concern with meat-based consumes would be the lack of rich flavor and mouth-feel one gets from a consume made with the traditional "raft" method. Doing something that requires a slower method so quickly is bound to effect the final results.

That being said, something that can't take a long slow method (fruit/ veggies, etc.) might benefit from such a thing. I'd like to see some results if you ever play with the idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This seems like a cool idea, but I'm not entirely sure what you gain by doing it. Granted, I haven't seen results, but aren't you effectively driving off water to make the powder only to reintroduce it via the espresso machine? Would the flavors be purer than simply making a quick beet (or whatever broth) and straining through cheese cloth?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For this to work at all you'd need a pressurized filter basket - the kind you find on entry level machines and pod setups. It'd be really difficult to create enough of a puck with say chunks of pineapple for the extraction time to be more than a couple of seconds. Still - I'm not sure what you'd gain from this plan aside from a pineapple scented espresso machine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This idea was also brought to my attention by someone reading this thread. Flavors are not always best extracted with quick bursts of high heat. Although that may work with teas and herbs, most stocks and such start with cold water and long-cooking. I know that's not exactly apples to apples, but it's worth considering.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does that mean I shouldn't stuff my triple espresso basket full of ground beef to make stock?

That is unlikely to work, because a lot of what you are trying to extract in a meat stock (gelatin from collagen, for example) takes time. You would undoubtedly get something from putting meat in your portafilter, but it would not be very much like stock. Probably water with a slight meat flavor.

Espresso is extracted at typically 200F (I prefere 203F for most espresso blends) and 8.2 bar pressure. This combination is ideal for extracting coffee, and may work with some other things. How well it will work depends on the pressure/temperature and solubility.

A critical factor with espresso is grinding the coffee fine enough that it can handle 8.2 bar pressure over a 25 second extraction time. That is the puck issue referred to above. It is unclear which other foods have a time/pressure/grind profile that would match coffee.

If somebody finds a food substance other than coffee that works well in an espresso machine it would be very interesting.

Extracting soy milk, or nut milks might be a candidate for example.

Nathan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've tried it with almonds to make almond milk before.......clogged my machine in the process, but the liquid that did make it through was a nice thick foamy almond milk. It takes some experimentation, and I'm sure that there are some bonefied applications out there. I would love to try throwing something like the ginger salts from "Ideas in Food" in there to see what comes out.w

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...