Cooking with coffee: Ingredient adds flavor to an array of entrees,
desserts, and drinks
By KATHIE SMITH
BLADE FOOD EDITOR
Coffee is more than the beverage in your morning cup. It's turning up
in prizewinning recipes, cool beverages, and even as a rub on entrees
or an ingredient in burgers.
Recipes use coffee in many forms: instant granules, instant coffee
powder, cups of strong French Roast coffee, flavored coffees, and
even ground coffee beans.
For baking, "it's difficult to get flavor impact from brewed coffee,"
says Andi Bidwell, senior food editor at General Mills. In the
company's Pillsbury and Betty Crocker test kitchens, "we dissolve
instant coffee granules in a liquid. If you don't dissolve it, you
get speckles. We also use instant coffee crystals."
She recommends 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of coffee to liquid. "We have
[dissolved] 1 tablespoon [coffee granules] to 2 tablespoons water by
heating the water in a custard cup in the microwave for 10 seconds
and then stirring in the dry ingredient," she says.
Dissolving 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder in 1/4 cup boiling water
brought flavor to Chocolate Coffee Toffee Oatmeal Cookies, which was
the grand prize winner of the 2004 Search for the Ultimate Oatmeal
Cookie contest by Quaker Oats.
However, Beverly Starr of Arkansas used just one teaspoon of instant
coffee to get flavor by mixing it directly into the ingredients in
Almond-Toffee-Mocha Squares, one of the 100 finalists in the
Pillsbury Bake-Off this year.
Coffee and espresso are sometimes used in recipes with
chocolate. "Espresso is just a darker roast, a richer blend," says
Ms. Bidwell. "The marriage of coffee and chocolate is very old."
Espresso "deepens the chocolate flavor," says Joanne Loftus of Herb
N' Spice Co., 2909 West Central Ave. She stocks 2-ounce jars of the
product for cooks who need it as an ingredient.
Toledoan Lori Nistle has become a fan of using a coffee rub on a
grilled steak. "I had heard Chef Grady Spears on TV say he used a
coffee rub on steaks," Mrs. Nistle says. "I did this for Father's
Day. Everybody loved it - even the kids. I used decaf coffee because
of the kids. I have a cone filter in the coffeemaker. I grind the
coffee to medium. I used 3/4 cup coffee to 1/4 cup coarse black
pepper and mixed in coarse sea salt to taste." She says the steak has
a smoky flavor and that she usually buys a house blend of coffee.
Her idea will be among the entrees served at the Sapphire Ball in
October. Chef David DuFresne of the Pinnacle will prepare tenderloin
filet charred with a black pepper and coffee rub served with a maple
root vegetable combination. He will use a decaffeinated coffee for
the rub.
(I also found the recipe Coffee-Rubbed Quail in Born to Grill by
Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison, Harvard Common Press, $15.95.)
Using coffee in recipes is not new to Chef DuFresne. "I use espresso
in tiramisu and I make coffee creme brulee," he says. He uses brewed
liquid coffees for these pudding-like desserts.
Whether they are Starbucks aficionados, Maxwell House devotees,
Folger's is their favorite, or they need a Millstream moment, coffee
drinkers seem to prefer darker coffee with richer flavors.
For Vanilla Iced Mochaccino, two coffee cups of strong French Roast
coffee is mixed with fat-free milk, cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla
extract. French Roast coffee is a bolder tasting coffee made with
beans that are roasted darker and ground finer to bring out more rich
coffee taste.
Don't confuse French Roast with French Press coffee.
Flavor varies
Whether drinking coffee or cooking with a coffee, many people look
for richness, flavor, boldness, and overall aroma.
French Press is a type of coffeemaker with a glass pot; in my
experience, it can yield a stronger cup of coffee. Ground coffee is
placed into the French Press pot. Boiling water is poured into the
pot, and is quickly stirred. The pot is then covered with the plunger
lid, allowing the brew to infuse for three to four minutes. Then the
plunger is depressed gently for 30 seconds, which pushes grounds
down, and the coffee is poured. Coffee left in the press after
brewing may become bitter, according to the Colombian Coffee
Federation, which advises pouring the coffee into a carafe.
"A lot of students buy [French Press coffeemakers] at this time of
year because they can make it in their dorm room and they can make it
in small amounts," says Sharon Dela-Hamaide, owner of Kitchen Tools &
Skills, 26597 North Dixie Hwy., Perrysburg. "You can use any kind of
coffee. Most students like a stronger cup of coffee. But some people
do use the decaf."
How to get the best cup of coffee can depend on the coffee, the
water, and the coffeemaker. Gold-colored metal mesh filters are used
in place of paper filters in high-end coffeemakers such as Cappresso
and Braun. "A lot of people are using this in place of paper for an
ecology reason," Mrs. Dela-Hamaide says.
Filtered water eliminates any chemical taste. "We sell a lot of water
filters for replacement in coffeemakers," she says. "Many people ask
for smaller coffee pots." (Coffee pods or single-serving coffee
makers are also popular.)
Some coffeemakers, such as Cappresso, have internal filters. Filtered
water added to these machines ends up being double-filtered.
"We do grind coffee very fine to put in recipes," says Mrs. Dela-
Hamaide, who will sell as little as a quarter of a pound of
coffee. "There are all kinds of cleaning brushes, grinder brushes,
measures." She says she also carries grinders for combining coffee
with chocolate or cinnamon, as well as battery-operated frothers.
The growing variety of coffeemakers, the mainstreaming of multiple
coffee blends and roasts, and the expanding assortment of food and
beverage recipes has helped coffee product options to skyrocket.
Coffee is as hot a product as it has ever been.
Kathie Smith is The Blade's food editor.
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