Perfect cup o' Joe

Recently the wife and I purchased a stove top espresso maker imported from - you guessed it - Italy. These little guys sit on the stove top and develop pressure from the bottom once they reach boiling temperture and push the water through your espresso grounds in a cup just under the main portion of the pitcher. The quality of the stove top makes a huge difference in the taste of the coffee. From what I've been told the stainless is the only way to go. Bodum makes a real nice maker, right around $100 mark and if you get it on sale even better. We haven't had even one bad cup out of this. It's small and you have lots of choices when the coffee is done brewing. You can drink it straight, put milk in, or water it down and call it a regular cup ("Americano").

http://www.jr.com/bodum-6-cup-stove-top ... D_1061716/

Happy New Year and may every cup be the best.
 
I e mailed Pat my latest project and some pics of the lab . Not the black labrador , but the food lab . Ill put some pics in the gallery . Then someone can remind me how to embed them in a post .
Marc
 
New Year's Day I got out the old #32 grinder (have to motorize that puppy), double ground a pork shoulder, mixed in cure (Morton Tenderquick), salt, sugar, spices (allspice, majoram and black pepper) and loads of garlic, stuffed it in hog casings and smoked it in my SMI 20 lb smoker (have a new Bradley Original coming, the SMI is just too tempramental). This was a little 5 lb batch, got 5 beautiful rings of "Grandpa Jumbo's Polish," a recipe by a guy in New York (search for "wittdogd" on YouTube for his sausage making videos - they are great).

I have smoked clams, oysters, mussels, pork chops and cheese quite a while ago on my Little Chief at Birch Bay. The main problem with smoking fish is - you have to have fish! We ate our Neah Bay salmon for dinner instead of smoking it. Have smoked salmon that either was given to me or (ugh) that we bought at the grocery store, yes.

Charcuterie - there is a GREAT book out there that Marc pointed me towards - it is called (surprise) Charcuterie - The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing by Ruhlman and Polcyn. Run don't walk to get this book if you are interested in charcuterie. I can tell you from trying Marc's (own first steps are curing in the fridge right now) that Mario's dad has nothing on Marc.

(P.S. Roger - you have a PM from me to pick up on wine grapes).


rogerbum":2yqnvbqc said:
Do you smoke fish or meats? I can teach you that (if you teach me the charcuterie).
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Sweet - we have a Mukka Express capuccino maker, same principle, guess we need one of these too! Have you tried roasting your own coffee? If not, check out this site - it is amazing. Read up on using a hot air popcorn popper as a coffee roaster, works great!

bshillam":31as5v5e said:
Recently the wife and I purchased a stove top espresso maker imported from - you guessed it - Italy.
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Pat,
Have to admit I haven't tried it. Give it a go both ways and see what happens. As far as I can see all it does is change the pressure setting so you get steam in one case and hot water in the other.
If I can find ours I will try. It's currently somewhere hiding in the whole room full of "stuff" that we unloaded from the boat.
(Loved your pic of the "falls")

Merv
 
Pics are in gallery of the latest project . Pork Tenderloins ,cured with Rosemary and Juniperberry . With Burgundy and Marsala wine . They will hang around for a while .
The lab
Marc[/url]
 
In the spirit of Coffee I will report my mornings roastings . #1 roast is a blend of Organic Sumatra , Ethiopia Kembata Grade 4 and Java Kajumas Curah Tatal . Or another way to look at it "Mocha Java" .18 Minutes at WOT in the Gene Roaster , for a full city+ roast.All Coffee from Sweet Maria's
This is designed as a "road Coffee" for my trip to New Orleans to be brewed in my french press and whirley blade grinder that travel with me.
Roast # 2 will be for my wife and will be Sweet Maria's Classic Italian Expresso Blend . To be extracted in the home Expobar Office Control machina de espresso.

Maybe we need a C-harcuterie forum..............or one entitled P-ork Dogs..............or M-eat Brats
Hmmm need coffee , its early...........
Marc
 
Pat Anderson":iuiho8k3 said:
Honest, this IS all related to "a Perfect Cup o' Joe"!!!!
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Are the previous photos yours, or Marc's at Wefing's?

I did read about your prep of these culinary masterpieces a page or so ago, right?

The photos are in the "Cruise Ship #4" album, which, I think, is Wefings/Marc's...

Full disclosure...?

Joe.
 
Yes, those pix are from Marc's food lab. I thought they deserved to be front and center! My first attempts at dry cured meat is curing in ziplock bags the fridge right now, a little pork loin, which will simply get hung, and chunks of porks shoulder, which will get stuffed in a casing and hung (Coppa).


Sea Wolf":3olha4yr said:
Are the previous photos yours, or Marc's at Wefing's?

I did read about your prep of these culinary masterpieces a page or so ago, right?

The photos are in the "Cruise Ship #4" album, which, I think, is Wefings/Marc's...

Full disclosure...?

Joe.
Click to expand...
 
Pat Anderson":1c8zhgo0 said:
My first attempts at dry cured meat is curing in ziplock bags the fridge right now,
Click to expand...

Considering all your snow, do you really need the fridge?

Any dangerous food eating varmits or bugs in your garage?

Joe. :lol:
 
My garage is patrolled by my cat . We have a deal . She gets fed well twice a day plus all fish scraps and keeps the varmints at bay . My garage [lab]opens after the first cool spell of the year here , which is normally in November . This year has been a challenge as we froze in Nov. and had record humid highs [upper 70s] in Dec . It is still nice and warm now , which is good for boating and general well being ,but sucks for meat drying . Which is why I will need to construct a year round climate controlled charcuterie palace . My Bradley Smoker also lives in the lab and gets pretty regular use . If charcuterie is a hobby then coffee roasting is a religion . Thats how it is around my house ........
Marc
 
Beef sausage in drying stage in SMI smoker...

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This has mustard seeds, whole peppercorns and a BUTTLOAD of fresh garlic in it...

Connection to C-Brats is, well, I will bring some of this (or the next batch) to the SBS/CBC party at the hotel!
 
Back to the original subject; how many Brats hang around this place, especially on Fantasy Friday?

How many would admit it?

Just saw an expanded review on "Travel Channel." Funny thing, they never mentioned the quality of the coffee....

Don
 
I really like my cup o’ joe, and straight shots of espresso with a splash of half & half or milk is best. This baby makes 12 shots in nothing flat, as good as your favorite Barista. They’re not expensive, sized anywhere from 2 on up to 12 cups, yea don’t need coffee filters either.
Be for warned, once you go down this path there’s no returning to regular coffee....
Have a 6 cup maker for the house, keep the 12 cup-er on the boat. Bialetti is the best, check Amazon for free shopping.


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