Cold In-Fusion

Adding cold water to the coffee.

I've been thinking about cold infusions lately. Infusions that don't require heat and are not destructive (changing) to the ingredients used. Heat up the ingredients and a change occurs. What ways can we move to infuse liquids while trying to capture the vibrancy of the natural ingredients?

A technique developed by Dave Arnold at the French Culinary Institute described using an iSi Whip Charger to infuse flavors. At its most basic, the iSi is widely used to make whipped cream. Insert cream, add a little sugar, seal and charge with a nitrogen cartridge and you've got ready made whipped cream.


Double-charged and three minutes.

The whipper is a great tool and I've used it before to make foams and played a little with them to inject carbon dioxide into products - "Strawberry Soda", anyone?

All of this started the other night while I was lying in bed thinking about mole - that ubiquitous Mexican dish of spices, chiles, nuts and cocoa. How might we be able to create a drink that represented mole?


Straining the liquid infusion.

Originally, I pondered this similar question four years ago and didn't get very far. The complex and powerful flavors of the mole, not to mention the gritty paste (for a drink) that serves as the base, made it difficult to work with and I soon abandoned that idea for others (the "Breakfast In Bed" concept).

Fast forward four years and I'm back in the same situation, considering the options. This time, the potential lies in being able to take the ingredients and infuse them into a liquid to carry the flavor and combine that with coffee (or espresso). And maybe Dave's idea of cold infusion might work.


Still a bit cloudy.

But without the necessary ingredients at the ready to make a proper mole, I decided to give it a conceptual try using whatever we had on hand - namely coffee. Stumptown's Finca San Vicente coffee from Honduras has been performing brilliantly this week with notes of vanilla, cinnamon, caramel, hops and macadamia nuts and would make for an interesting test subject. What kind of notes and nuances might we be able to extract from the coffee with this method?

As a baseline, we took 24 grams of the San Vicente and ground it coarser than for french press on a Compak R80 grinder (roughly the 90 setting). Placed that in the iSi Whipper along with 14 ounces of cold water. Screw the top on tight and charge with two (2) nitrogen cartridges, making sure to wait a few moments to allow the nitrogen to absorb into the liquid and shake well between charges.


Through a paper filter.

Once charged, we waited about three (3) minutes for the infusion to take place, being sure to note the fact that if we had simply brewed the coffee it would have taken the same amount of time.

Degas the whipper by holding it upright and using a container to catch any liquid that may come through the nozzle. Slowly allow the gas to escape and then unscrew the top. You'll notice that the liquid looks like it's boiling. This is perfectly normal. After straining the liquid, we noticed that there were still quite a bit of particulates in the liquid and then passed it through a paper coffee filter. Note: it will be more efficient to stir the liquid in the whipper and then pour the entire contents through the paper filter instead of using the strainer first. Passing strained coffee liquid through a paper filter always results in too many fines clogging the filter and slowing the process immensely.


Gassed up.

We tasted the liquid and it was light, fruity with a slight tartiness. Jacked it up with a little simple syrup and the liquid became vibrant. What were just a moment ago light and elusive fruit flavors were now dominate notes of tamarind - both sweet and tarty.

But it needed something more to give it a kick. Back into the iSi, we hit it with one charge of carbon dioxide, degassed and then poured it out.

Something to keep in mind about carbonation: you want the liquid to be cold. CO2 does not hold in warm temperatures. It simply gasses out into the environment. Which is why warm Coke goes flat at alarming rates. The colder the better. We added ice cubes to the iSi to chill down the liquid and keep it as cold as possible.


Finished. Sort of.

Degas the whipper in the same manner as before and we found a lovely amber colored liquid with lovely notes of tamarind and that refreshing carbon dioxide kick. It really brought it to life.

Next week: time to give it a try with actual mole ingredients!

Cola of Baltimore

One ounce of formulated syrup base.

I'm continually reminded how much the world is dwindling on an almost daily basis.

For a couple of years now, The Spro has been serving cane sugar-sweetened grey market Coca-Cola imported from Los Estados Unidos de Mexico - until now.

Recent changes by the World Trade Organization struck down the tax on High Fructose Corn Syrup imported into Mexico. The elimination of this tax makes HFCS cheaper than cane sugar in Latin America, leading to the displacement of sugar as a sweetener in the last bastion of somewhat better-for-you food in the world. After a nice period of enjoying the crisp, clean flavor of sugar Coke, the dreaded HFCS has reached our shores... again.

Within a day, I received a call from one of my customers and from my staff asking why the labels now said "high fructose corn syrup" on them. What??? I don't know. I'm going to call my importer.

After a very heated "debate" with my importer on why the F would I pay more for HFCS Coke from him than Mid-Atlantic Coca Cola (assuming that I would even consider carrying HFCS Coke), I had them come back to pick up that weeks' delivery of 22 cases of HFCS Coke.

Which leaves me at a bit of a crossroads. Do we acquiesce and start stocking HFCS Coke (a horrible idea)? Or do we find another path?


Tastes of Baltimore, back from the 1920s.

Many years ago, during the Jays Shave Ice days, I started thinking about serving handmade Coke. The notion became a whirlwind in 2004 during my visit to the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. There, a live soda jerk, made Coke by the glass by using Coke syrup and a soda gun - a glimpse of old school and just absolutely brilliant. Problem was that Coca-Cola did not sell their flavoring to anyone else but their bottlers, and American bottlers of Coca-Cola do not produce their syrup in a box with anything other than HFCS. So, even though I could buy a bag of syrup for fifty bucks, I was still making the same crappy HFCS-sweetened Coke I could buy pre-bottled.

Going back even further to the beginnings of Jays Shave Ice was a cola formulation that we stumbled upon that, evidently, was the cola flavor of Baltimore from the 1800s. In the days before Coca-Cola became the mega-behemoth it is today, local soda fountains and their jerks used locally-sourced flavorings and ingredients to make their wares (who would have guessed???). In Baltimore, during the late 1800s and early 1900s, this was the cola flavor Baltimoreans knew and loved.

As is the course of our industrialized nation, this local flavor all but disappeared in the wake of Coca-Cola. Until now.

Culling our resources, I have been able to secure some of this Old Skool Baltimore Kola Flava and have been reworking our formulation for cup service. The idea is to bring back that soda jerk feel by handcrafting the original cola flavor of Baltimore and offering in lieu of HFCS Coke. This formulation of cola is decidedly simple. Just cane sugar, water and flavor to crate the base syrup. Then hit the syrup with a soda gun et voila! handmade cola to order!

I'm getting the formulation and the service steps down and hope to bring the cola to The Spro in the next couple of weeks for a test run.

Nicaragua: Managua Primero Dia

Morning breakfast at the Hilton Princesa.

My room in the Hilton Princesa faces east. Due east. As demonstrated by the powerfully blinding sun blasting me in the face refusing to allow me to sleep through to my 7am wake up call. I'm tired and want to sleep a bit more. I pull the covers over my head but the fluffy white comforter is relatively thin and the light pierces the veil.

I don't want to get up and close the drapes and drop a pillow on my face. It's thick and luxurious and effectively blocks out the sun. Success, but the pillow now restricts my ability to breathe. I have no choice: I must get out of bed to close the drapes.

Once closed, the room is dark. Almost tomb-like with a slight glow shimmering around the edges. Finally, I get back to sleep for just a few minutes. Problem is, I've expended so much mental energy thinking about how to abate the light, pulling the covers, using the pillow and then getting up and closing the drapes that my mind is up and running. There is no going back to sleep.


Carretera Masaya - The world outside my window.

Breakfast is in the hotel restaurant and it's the standard hotel fare found around the world. Fruits, juices, pastries, omelets and eggs to order, and a hot line of ready to eat goodies. Nestled amongst traditional breakfast fare like ham, sausage, hash browns and waffles are Nicaraguan items like beans and rice, fried plantains and something that looks like pressed and fried soy bean patties that turn out to be fried cheese.

The quality is to be expected. Dried out hash browns, overheated ham slices and rice on the dry side. Rouki tells me that the rice and beans are very traditional and I wonder if this is an accurate example of Nicaraguan cuisine. I certainly hope it isn't.

I decide to go with a mixed plate of rice and beans, a slice of ham, a slice of sausage, a hash brown, some of that soy-looking fried thing, a small croissant, two fried eggs, a coffee and a glass of sandia agua fresca (watermelon juice). I'm eating the soy-looking thing and it's dry. It may have been fried nicely but it's been sitting in the steam tray for quite some time and now it's resembling the texture of leather. Rouki later tells me that it's a traditional Nicaraguan item of fried cheese and not the fried tofu I had been thinking.

The eggs are the highlight of the meal. Eggs over easy, but they need some help in the form of hot sauce. I ask one of the staff (who by the way, have been more than helpful and friendly) about hot sauce and they disappear for a considerable while. I start to wonder if someone has forgotten when she reappears with a bowl of chopped onions, chiles and vinegar. I'm guessing they don't have bottles of Cholula or Tabasco, so they made me a hot sauce fresh. That's nice.

When it comes to coffee, there's some good stuff here in Nicaragua. Evidently, the good stuff is exported to places like the United States where people like me pay high prices for good coffee. In-country, they drink something that other people call coffee.

Actually, I can't get too down on their coffee. It's pretty bad but unlike a lot of the bad in the United States, this one actually seems like it has a good brew ratio. The flavor is unfortunate, but at least it tastes unfortunate. Unlike American coffee that can barely taste unfortunate because they use too little to really notice.

Of all the agua frescas in the world, the sandia is my favorite. I can drink an entire watermelon's worth [with enough time], but this stuff tastes like watermelon grown in the middle of winter: dead. There is no discernable flavor. Just limp watermelon-ish liquid that looks red. There's no sugar added and it really needs it. I wonder if this could be a new diet fad in the making.

After breakfast, Roberto is back with the van and we're whisked away to the Crowne Plaza where we're meeting the competitors and holding their information session. Baristas from all across Nicaragua are here. Twenty-two of them.


Cleofas leading the barista session.

You know, the more that I judge outside of America, the more I enjoy it. As Cleofas Arreola leads their session, I watch their faces. These baristas make roughly US$140 per month, which is a decent wage here in Nicaragua. But I see in them an openness and eagerness that so readily gets lost in the hyper-competitiveness of the United States Barista Championship. I'm eager to see them in action on Friday.

Lunch brings us to the local mall, the Galleria Santo Domingo, where the competition will be held. In the mall, we run into Lorenzo of La Marzocco who's in town at the end of his La Marzocco Central American Goodwill Tour. He joins us for lunch and is off back to Milan in the morning.

Our host, Julio Peralta takes us to RostiPollos, a local chain specializing in rotisserie chicken. It's a de facto feast. After a really good amuse bouche of tortilla chips and pickled onions, we order some salads. I go for the Ensalada Tricolor con pollo. It's garnished with dry chicken breast, tomato wedges and is actually not bad. Brent goes for the mixed salad and Martha with the chicken caesar.


Julio, Rouki and Brent at RostiPollos.

For our main meal, Julio orders up two Super 4 combos: whole rotisserie chicken, a big bowl of refried beans, three rolled and fried tacos (like flautas), fried cheese and a stack of corn tortillas.

The tortillas are thick and weigh a ton. One is gonna be more than enough. They're thick and dense but I'm not getting a massive corn flavor like the ones I sampled in Mexico City. The refried beans were something else. I'd never tasted any bean quite like this. Fried and mashed into a thick puree, the beans had a distinct sweetness and tasted slightly spiced. Brent noted that it tasted like butternut squash, I thought it reminiscent of spicy pumpkin pie.


Our RostiChickens.

After this mornings' taste of fried cheese tiles, the fried cheese at RostiPollos was actually pretty darn good. Salty cheese cut in cubes and deep fried. Why this isn't popular in America is beyond me. With a tall glass of Coke, I could tear this dish up. The taco/flauta was pretty good. Thick, crunchy tortilla wrapped around shredded chicken and topped with a kind of cole slaw. Tasty.

But with a name like RostiPollos, one would expect the chicken to be the specialty. Indeed, there's a wood fired rotisserie oven churning out chickens and while the leg and thigh pieces are properly cooked, I found the breast to be on the dry side of moist. You know how dried chicken breast dries out the mouth when you eat it? It wasn't that bad but there was some drying action. Better to stick with the dark meat, 'cause that was pretty good.


Martha and Cleofas eye my salad.

We're running out of time and hustle our way back to the Crowne Plaza for the afternoon Judges Workshop. Seventeen people have decided to pursue the certification. Some are owners (or soon to be owners). Others have ties to producing coffee. The session is being led by Cleofas in Spanish leaving Brent and myself fending for ourselves in the back of the room.

Throughout the day there's been small explosions in the traffic circle just outside our windows. Tensions have been running high in Managua since the weekend when elections were held to vote on the new city mayor. The Sandinista incumbent, Alexis Arguello, is fighting to hold the position from opposition candidate Eduardo Montealegre.



You don't have to worry about sniper fire if you have your laptop.

According to our sources, tensions have been rising because of the Sandinista's refusal to release election records supporting their claim of victory in the race. Clashes and riots led to the shooting of two opposition supporters on Monday and CNN today reported the finding of burnt and discarded votes in support of the opposition in the city dump.

Protesters in the traffic circle have been holding vigil and firing off improvised explosives the size of large firecrackers all day long. Sandinista supporters storm and damage a local mall, forcing the mall where the competition will be held this weekend to close "for security reasons." Those of us from out of town joke that the situation could spark into violence but there seems to be more than just a little truth to those jokes than we'd like to believe.


Alirio, Brent and Rouki lounge in the bar.

I hate to say this, but secretly I'm hoping for a flare up here in Managua. It's sick, it's twisted, it's deranged - I know this, but I can't help myself. To see a revolution again up-close and personal brings me back to the days in early 2001 when I was in Manila during the EDSA II Revolution. Back then, I had my press pass and video camera and shot some fantastic footage. Secretly I curse on Canon for building such a crappy tape mechanism that causes their cameras to crap out after a while. My Canon is sitting back home in Maryland because of that crappy mechanism. So much my guest appearance on CNN.

Nik Orosi once told me that while fighting raged around them in Croatia with fighting and blackouts, Nik and his friends partied the nights away at underground nightclubs. Instead of getting worked up and worried about the violence that could flare up at any moment, we find ourselves encamped at the Crowne Plaza bar where we occupy ourselves exploring the finer points of Flor de Cano rum, with the obligatory sides of Coke and water con gas.


Julio pondering the wonders of Nicaraguan rum.

Breakfast In Bed

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Breakfast in Bed on the February 16th Specials Menu at Woodberry Kitchen.


Since this will end up being my signature drink for the up-coming 2008 United States Barista Championship being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 2nd to 5th, it's probably a bad idea for me to post this.

But, oh well...

The idea for Breakfast in Bed has been floating around in my mind for a couple of months now. When I mentioned the idea of pairing toffee with bacon in a drink, the typical reaction was one of horror or disgust - like, how could I even think of doing something so ridiculous.

Like any "original" idea, this one is rooted in the teachings, lessons and wisdom of others. I'm not the first person to think of this crazy combination. The initial idea was sparked by Chef Jesse at Abacrombie Fine Foods in Baltimore with her dessert called "Breakfast for Dessert." An interesting combination of fruit, maple syrup, bacon and brioche.

The problem was that I really wasn't sure what form a drink inspired by that dessert should take and how I should approach it. Plus, I've been so darned busy with running The Spro that details like a competition signature drink just fell to the wayside.

Shoplifters Of The World Unite And Take Over
Things really started churning during my London trip to visit reigning World Barista Champion James Hoffmann and his faithful Irish sidekick, Stephen Morrissey (of Square Mile Coffee Fame, not of The Smiths Fame). During my short few hours at the new Square Mile Bat Cave, James shared with me the approach to his "doughnut" drink from 2006, as well as kicking around ideas on how to make the "Frozen Cappuccino Experience."

Determined that "Frozen Cappuccino" was more stunning that some silly breakfast drink, i returned to the United States and got cracking. With only a week left before the Mid-Atlantic Barista Competition, I started experimenting with freezing coffee and cream and how to deep-fry it oil. The idea was to have a molten center surrounded by a french toast fried exterior a la Wylie Dufresne's "Fried Mayonnaise."

It was sheer and utter disaster.

With only three days to competition, I decided that maybe the Fried Cappuccino Experience wasn't quite ready for prime time and started to focus on Breakfast In Bed.

Getting In Bed With Tiffany
It took two days of experiments, but making Breakfast In Bed is really quite simple and straightforward - especially if you have kitchen resources at your disposal.

Like the previous competition signature drinks I've been involved with, the most important factor for the drink is that it must be repeatable on the line. It must be a drink that can be made on a daily (or at least regular) basis. It cannot be one of these one-off extravaganzas you so often see at barista competitions that are so complex that no one wants to make them ever again.

No, this drink has to be formulated in such a way that it can be duplicated and repeated. Otherwise, it's just stupid and an exercise in masturbation.

Note: I still consider this drink "in progress" which means that I'm providing you with a rough formula for making the drink. Like most cooking, there's some wiggle room. Just pay attention to the general ratios and you can size it up or size it down. Remember, the batch sizes here are to supply the line for service and not just four drinks for four judges.

Here's the list of ingredients I used:


FRENCH TOAST INFUSION

3/4 loaf Pan de Mie - Stone Mill Bakery, Baltimore
4 large eggs - Springfield Farm
1qt Half & Half Cream - Trickling Springs Creamery
3qt plus 3 cups Whole Milk - Trickling Springs Creamery
1 Madagascar Vanilla Bean, split and seeded
Unsalted Butter - Trickling Springs Creamery
No. 1 Amber Maple Syrup - Quebec, Canada
Organic Cane Sugar

Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, mix in 3 cups whole milk and vanilla bean with seeds to make the French Toast Batter. Dip Pan de Mie slices in batter and pan fry in batches with butter until golden on both sides. Dredge cooked toast in maple syrup and cool in a large sauce pan until all the bread has been cooked. After, break French Toast into chunks.

Note: Avoid the temptation to eat your ingredients. Or perhaps use the remaining 1/4 loaf to make French Toast for your breakfast.

Add Half & Half and remaining milk to saucepan and heat on medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer. Do not boil. Once the mix begins to simmer, remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a cooling container (like a Cambro) and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, strain and squeeze bread solids from the liquid. I like to strain twice with a fine holed China Cap and then strain it twice more through a Chinois. The more you strain the infusion, the better the texture. You could do it ten times a la Thomas Keller, but I think twice is just fine.

Sweeten with organic cane sugar to taste. Like salt with savory foods, the sugar here helps to "pop" the flavor of the infusion. Otherwise, the flavor will remain "flat."


TOFFEE CHANTILLY

1 pound Organic Cane Sugar
1 pound unsalted Butter - Trickling Springs Creamery
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream - Trickling Springs Creamery

Heat sugar and butter in saucepan over medium-high heat until the two have combined and darkened to the right flavor for toffee - roughly 350F to 400F degrees. You can do this with a thermometer or by taste - just be sure to let the sugar cool before tasting. However, be careful not to burn the toffee. Once you get close, things really pick up speed and you can easily lose control of the process.

Once you've reached the right point for your toffee, add the heavy cream. There will be boiling, bubbling and sizzling. The toffee will seize into a hard glob. This is okay and perfectly natural. Lower the heat to medium and keep stirring. Once the liquid heats, the toffee will loosen and emulsify into the cream. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a Cambro and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, expect a layer of fat to have formed on your chantilly mixture. Skim the fat and strain mixture through a chinois. Pour a portion into an ISI Whipper and single charge the container - you can double-charge the whipper for a more foamy texture.


BROWN SUGAR GLAZED BACON

Applewood Smoked Bacon - Springfield Farm
Lite Brown Sugar - Domino

Spread bacon on a parchment lined (or silpat covered) baking sheet, dust with brown sugar and bake at 300F degrees until the bacon has cooked through and the sugar has carmelized into a glaze.

Cool and chop into bits. Store.



Getting Down with BREAKFAST IN BED

Now that your mise en place is ready, it's time to get cracking. Grab a 3z demitasse cup, preheat then pull a single shot of espresso into the cup.

Steam and froth a portion of your French Toast Infusion and add to espresso a la macchiato.

Top with Toffee Chantilly from the whipper and sprinkle bacon bits on top.

And serve.



During the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, I also decided to serve Breakfast in Bed with an accompanying fresh-squeeze orange juice chaser.

The drink should be pleasantly sweet with a delicate balance between the french toast and the coffee. The idea is to combine all the good things about waking up in bed - sans the pretty girl next to you. While I was proofing the drink at The Spro, I used the La Marzocco ACF demitasse cups which were the ideal size for a single shot and french toast infusion. But for the competition, I pulled out the old Crate & Barrel glassware which I used for the 2006 USBCs' Coffee and a Cigarette. The problem with the glasses is that they are a bit larger than the demitasse cups, which throws off the balance slightly and the judges reported that the coffee was being "lost" in the mix.

Personally speaking, I dispute those claims because i tasted their drinks backstage, but they're the gatekeepers.

Chances are that you will see Breakfast In Bed again at the USBC. In the meantime, check in at The Spro because it's going to hit our menu there soon.

A Guilty Indulgence

It's true, I must be a hedonist. Everywhere I go and in everything I do, I seek pleasure. I want pleasure. Give me pleasure and then a double-scoop of pleasure on top, please.

As I write this, I am nearing the bottom fourth of this mornings' greatest pleasure: an ice cold 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola.

Yes, it's the High Fructose Corn Syrup version of Coke so it's not the Ultimate Pleasure but an indulgence nonetheless that was sparked by my unique (but not unusual) storage method. The Coke was part of Spro Coffee's stock that I keep in the garage. It snowed yesterday and it was bitterly cold this morning as I loaded the crates of Coke into the back of the Sonoma for the fifteen minute commute to Towson.

When it came time to unload the bottles, there they were, in their fizzy, frozen state. That weird, brackish-looking color of frozen coke. It's a classic look and a tempting fate. I couldn't resist.

There's nothing like the feeling of the frozen Coke sizzling down your throat and into your gullet. It's cold. It's crisp. It's refreshing (until that syrupy hell makes you thirsty again ten minutes later). It's what Coke was meant to be.

So go ahead, gentle reader, freeze your Cokes. Let the ice crystals form and indulge yourself with hedonistic abandon.