Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brady on November 5, 2008 at 5:37pm

With you on the gravy - I always deglaze the pan for my breakfast sausage gravy with half a mug of the morning's drip. That, blond roux, some milk, and my cajun seasoning blend and you're good to go. I guess maybe that makes this "au lait gravy"?

I occasionally drop half a cup into my chili pot... not brewed for this purpose, but whatever may be left in my thermal carafe from the afternoon pot.

My wife likes to drop a double ristretto into her favorite chocolate cake batter. You can't taste it, but it definitely punches up the chocolate flavor... We'll have to try the brownies.

I am interested to see what some of the ideas for things where the coffee takes more center stage. It is such a nice accompaniment to sweet and savory breakfast dishes. You'd have to be careful not to boil it, but I wonder if, slightly thickened, it would make a good sauce for grilled meat? Could you sub it for Guiness in stew? Maybe in some red-wine applications? Hmmm...

BTW Sarah, when you use it as a rub, do you use finely-ground coffee?

Permalink Reply by Brady on November 5, 2008 at 5:42pm

The thing that I think somewhat limits potential applications is the traditional pairings idea. I like to use a little of whatever beverage will accompany the dish in that dish - beer or wine for dinner. Hence the popularity of red wine reductions, beers in stew, etc. Coffee and breakfast or dessert go hand-in-hand. I have a hard time getting to coffee with dinner. Maybe that is part of the challenge?

Permalink Reply by Djaya on November 6, 2008 at 12:52am

I mainly use coffee for sweets like brownies, cookies or even cakes. But i experimented with some savoury dishes as well. The last thing i tried was using coffee beans lightly smoke a trout. It came out beautiful and the flavour was really delicate.

Permalink Reply by Brady on November 6, 2008 at 4:52am

Dj, did you actually burn the beans and use the smoke, or was it a component of a rub?

Hmmm... I wonder if a smoky, darkly-roasted brewed coffee could be used as a poaching liquid for fish? That might be ideal, as the coffee could be kept at a volatile-preserving 170-deg F or so... nowhere near boiling. I see an experiment coming...

Permalink Reply by Sarah Dooley on November 6, 2008 at 8:04am

You know Brady, just reading your comment reminds me how often I add coffee to so many things. I have added a shot to red wine mushrooms at the end of my reduction so it doesn't boil and especially in barbecue sauces or an "12 hour pork shoulder" stuffed with prunes, cherries, chilli, oranges, salt, pepper, and then scoured on the outside and dry rubbed with paprika, shaved garlic, more salt, a little maple syrup- real stuff and a cup of drip coffee in the bottom of the pan for the pulled pork sauce...melts in your mouth.
On the rub side, I let the espresso grounds marinade and then I have wiped them off to a certain degree and even washed them off to remove grounds even though I think that removes some of the flavors. I marinade with dry rubs for at least 2 hours if not more when I am using coffee.
Thanks for reminding me about breakfast sausage gravy, love that one. Also I have made a bacon grease gravy with a cup of my morning brew, butter and some chilli powder for my grits and eggs. In the south I heard it called "red sauce".
thanks for sharing!

Brady said:

With you on the gravy - I always deglaze the pan for my breakfast sausage gravy with half a mug of the morning's drip. That, blond roux, some milk, and my cajun seasoning blend and you're good to go. I guess maybe that makes this "au lait gravy"?

I occasionally drop half a cup into my chili pot... not brewed for this purpose, but whatever may be left in my thermal carafe from the afternoon pot.

My wife likes to drop a double ristretto into her favorite chocolate cake batter. You can't taste it, but it definitely punches up the chocolate flavor... We'll have to try the brownies.

I am interested to see what some of the ideas for things where the coffee takes more center stage. It is such a nice accompaniment to sweet and savory breakfast dishes. You'd have to be careful not to boil it, but I wonder if, slightly thickened, it would make a good sauce for grilled meat? Could you sub it for Guiness in stew? Maybe in some red-wine applications? Hmmm...

BTW Sarah, when you use it as a rub, do you use finely-ground coffee?

Permalink Reply by Djaya on November 10, 2008 at 5:49am

I used the smoke. I experimented with it because you can use tea as well for the smoking process.


Brady said:

Dj, did you actually burn the beans and use the smoke, or was it a component of a rub?

Hmmm... I wonder if a smoky, darkly-roasted brewed coffee could be used as a poaching liquid for fish? That might be ideal, as the coffee could be kept at a volatile-preserving 170-deg F or so... nowhere near boiling. I see an experiment coming...