CoffeeCoffee meal selection
Discount coffee
Don"t just drink it. Coffee"s exotic, smoky flavors can magnify all kinds of meals.
From fine, sparkling granitas that clarify the palate to luxurious dark chocolate truffles that melt sensuously in the mouth, coffee-infused sweets speak of gratifying, elaborate pleasure. In days passed by, coffee-drinking was identified with the doubtful morals and rebellious gossip of the London hostelries where it was habituated, and a sense of the deliciously wicked still drifts from this dark little bean. With its rich, but slightly bitter, enveloping, smoky twang, this is a very grown-up ingredient.
The coffee bean is basically a cherry stone, the pip of a rosy small berry that blossoms in steamy, tropical climates. After picking, the flesh of the fruit is either dried or soaked, then removed, leaving little green beans to be cleaned and dried. Then comes roasting and, with it, the flavour. Brief exposure to heat caramelises the sugars in the beans, and triggers their aromatic compounds, transforming the bland green pips into brown beans of sharp flavor. Lighter roasts are more graceful but also more acidic, while darker ones are robust, toasty and rugged. It"s these that work best in cooked dishes where the coffee must hold its own against other controlling flavors
In cooking, coffee should be treated as a spice. However, the rules are similar to those you would apply when making coffee for drinking. Instant can satisfy (freeze-dried is best), and is practical for fashioning an intensely flavoured paste to add to icings, cake batters or cookies. But instant is made from budget robusta beans rather than the superior arabica, and the manufacturing process discards all the subtle aromatic components that you get with freshly ground beans. Ground coffee is better, especially if you"re making something, such as a sauce, in which the coffee flavor, in all its complexity, should command.
For the best flavour, grind the beans just before you want to use them. Whereas wine contains in the region of 150 different flavor elements, coffee has around 900. As soon as beans are roasted, the oils that carry these flavorful aromatic compounds begin to oxidize. Once they"re ground, this happens a lot faster. You can taste a deterioration half an hour or less after grinding. After opening a pack of beans or ground coffee, keep it in an airtight container in a cold, dry place, for no more than a week.
Choosing the right coffee for your next dinner party can determine if it"s a smash or a dud. So plan carefully and splurge on the finer beans, to save yourself the embarrassment of a so-so meal at dinner time.