ernesthon

12 Apr 2012

Cooking this Week: Zucchini Risotto

Zucchini, like cauliflower, is one of those neglected vegetables that doesn’t seem to get much of the attention at the supermarket. I was a little hard pressed to think of a recipe that used fresh zucchini, so I made myself try making it with risotto.

Because zucchini has such a high water content, it helps to salt it when it is thinly sliced and allowed to drain. This is true for lots of “bland” vegetables. The water trapped in them essentially steams the vegetable rather than searing, which is a major component of developing flavor (that’s why frying and grilling is generally tastier than boiling and steaming). By removing some of the water through osmosis before cooking, the zucchini will have the opportunity to brown if the pan is hot enough that the water in it evaporates as it is frying.

To prepare risotto, you need good arborio rice. This is a super short grain Italian rice that is high in starch. Longer grain rice doesn’t have the starch content to create the creamy sauce of a risotto, and will be lacking in texture. The rice is sauteed with onions and olive oil over low heat to toast the grains before stock is added- this partially cooks the rice and prevents the water from turning the grains mushy in the final dish. The toasting is done when grains are translucent. Then stock is added bit by bit with regular stirring to bring out the starches and prevent sticking.

To finish, I added thinly julienned sun-dried tomatoes, plenty of Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of good olive oil.

photos:ernesthon

10 Apr 2012

Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Greenpoint at the north end of Brooklyn feels like one of those parts of the city that has not changed at all for the last 50 years. I’m amazed at the fact that most of the storefronts here are still local mom-and-pop stores, and hasn’t been taken over by the chain stores. This neighborhood is in between Williamsburg and Long Island City, and sits along a picturesque strip of waterfront by Newtown Creek, that separates Brooklyn and Queens. Unfortunately (but maybe fortunately), the lack of convenient transportation options into Manhattan its appeal and has limited the amount of gentrification that has happened in this area over the past decade. The G train connects  Brooklyn and Queens (the only line that doesn’t enter Manhattan) and doesn’t run 24h a day like many of the other NYC trains. Greenpoint is also the center for Polish culture in NYC - the area near the intersection of Greenpoint Ave and Manhattan Ave are populated with Polish stores and restaurants.

photos:ernesthon

8 Apr 2012

1 World Trade Center reached 100 floors earlier this week. I’m really looking forward to seeing this building when it’s complete. These photos were from last fall, when I visited the 9/11 memorial, which is at the center of the World Trade Center complex.

photos:ernesthon

6 Apr 2012

Photo Essay: Curves at the Guggenheim

Frank Lloyd Wright’s only major commission in New York City is the Guggenheim Museum in the museum mile of Fifth Avenue. It likely draws as many people because of its architecture than for the art inside. When it was built in the 1950s, the architect had problems finding a contractor that was capable of building the smooth concrete curves; he ended up working with a construction firm that specialized in parking garages and freeway construction.

The museum was renovated about 7 years ago - a major issue that came up was what to color to paint to use. When it was first built it was painted in a warm yellow color, and was then repainted a few years later in off-white. Landmarks preservation council eventually decided to keep the off-white, which disappointed many purists who were pushing for the yellow given evidence that it was Frank Lloyd Wrights original preference.

photos:ernesthon

5 Apr 2012

Cooking this week: Soughdough, alpine sheep-milk cheese, whiskey-soaked gold raisins, caramelized onions, egg, black pepper

Cooking this week:

Soughdough, alpine sheep-milk cheese, whiskey-soaked gold raisins, caramelized onions, egg, black pepper

3 Apr 2012

Slick lizard skin to replace my disintegrating leather wallet.

Slick lizard skin to replace my disintegrating leather wallet.

1 Apr 2012

Manhattan in Bloom

photos:ernesthon

31 Mar 2012

400 Coups, Montreal

photos:ernesthon

December, 2011

30 Mar 2012

Audemars Piguet: 40 Years of Royal Oak

To celebrate 40 years since the first Royal Oak watch, Audemars Piguet had an exhibit last weekend at the Park Avenue Armory with a display of all the Royal Oaks since its inception. My favorite park of the exhibit was the watchmaker and one of the lead engineers for the AP team - who had on display movements that they were working on as well as a dial engraving machine. The machine is incredibly clever, transferring multiple designs from larger master disks perfectly into tiny brass plates that would become the visible face of the watch.

The 40th anniversary was also celebrated by a new edition of the 15202; re-designed such that it was a close homage to the original one of 1972. While the 15300 (mine) and the new 15400 models are the more widely produced and available, the 15202 remains a low production model that uses the original ultra-thin movement. This calibre, the 2121, was recently acquired from JLC by AP Renaud et Papi, and is produced in limited numbers exclusively for AP.

29 Mar 2012

Coffee: the art

Latte art has become popular over the past few as a visual indication that the cafe is serving good coffee. Comically, I observed a barista at Second Cup (a chain cafe in Canada similar to Starbucks) try in vain to pour a design into my cup a few weeks ago. He failed because his equipment and technique didn’t create the right type of foam for him to work with. While the possibilities are endless in creating cool designs (like this one from Cafe Castel in Montreal), the standard pattern is either a rosette or a heart. Both of these require no tools and relies only on careful pouring of foamed milk into the shot of espresso.

The quality of the steamed milk is important. The steaming wand needs to be placed barely below the surface to draw in enough air and break up the bubbles into fine foam. If the wand is too deep, then insufficient foam will be created. If the wand is too near the surface, then large bubbles will be whipped in and instead of finely textured micro-foam, there will be large frothy bubbles not suitable for art. After foaming, the pitcher is hit on the counter top to break up any accidental large bubbles. Then a swirl will help to homogenize the milk-foam mixture: you want to avoid separation of the two when it is poured into the coffee. And importantly, the pitcher needs to have a narrow spout in order to control the flow and shape of the pour.

I usually start the pour by going slowly in a couple of circles around the whole cup to mix the dark espresso creama with some foam to get a good brown base (others swear by the partial pour and spoon stir method). Then, going slowly, I rock the pitcher side to side while simultaneously moving it away from the cup to create the leaves. Then when the pitcher is near the end of the cup, I finish the pour by drawing the milk back into the center of the pattern to create the stem of the rosette.

28 Mar 2012

Coffee: the milk

Milk has been paired with coffee probably since its introduction to Europe, some 3 centuries ago. Milk contains many large proteins that bind readily to the tannins in coffee, which reduces the sensation of astringency. Without milk, tannins bind to the proteins in our saliva and reduce its lubricating quality, and therefore makes tannic foods “rough”. Milk makes coffee more approachable.

There are 3 derivative drinks based on the espresso: Macchiato, Cappuccino, and Latte. These all incorporate the basic espresso but varying quantities and quality of milk. A macchiato has only the tiniest amount of milk foam - its name meaning “marked” (with foam). A cappuccino is a balance: 1/3 coffee, 1/3 steamed liquid milk, 1/3 foam. And finally, the latte is 1/3 coffee and 2/3 steamed milk (but no/little foam). There is a common misconception is that Cafe au Lait is part of this group, however, a cafe au lait uses strong french press coffee rather than espresso as its base.

Good foamed milk is a big reason why we go to nice coffee shops and spend so much for coffee. It’s also what makes good machines so big and expensive - they need to be designed to handle the differing requirements of coffee and steaming. Steaming is the traditional method of creating foam and heating milk for espresso drinks. Proteins in the milk have a moderate ability to link together and form networks in order to trap little bubbles of air in the liquid (egg white or heavy cream have much greater stabilizing ability, observe meringue or whipped cream). However, when heated to 70 degrees Celsius, the milk proteins being to unfold and help to better stabilize milk foams.

To create foam with the steam, the steaming wand needs to be placed just below the surface. This allows the high pressure steam to pull in air as it violently hits the milk, therefore causing the bubbles to break up into many tiny bubbles. This is the typical chhh-chh-chh sound of a coffee shop. Milk foams best when its cold and more viscous. Skimmed or partially skimmed milk is also better at foaming (but less rich tasting!). After creating some foam at the surface, the wand can then be plunged into the milk to continue the heating until it hits 70 degrees, when the foam is stabilized but avoids causing “cooked” flavors in the milk.

27 Mar 2012

Coffee: the pull

Espresso is made with water pressure at around 9 to 11 atmospheres of pressure. This intense pressure forces the small amount of water through a large amount of beans and extracts much more of the coffee solids as well as forming an emulsion of oils and carbon dioxide with the coffee liquid. This creates a rich and substantial fluid with a layer of reddish brown foam called crema. Every good espresso will have creama (although not every coffee with crema is good!). Crema is a sign that many of the components are right - the coffee is sufficiently fresh (freshly roasted coffee has a large amount of carbon dioxide in the beans), the pressure and temperature was generally right to extract the proteins, carbohydrates, pigments, and phenolics that make a good cup.

When the pump is turned on, water is forced into the coffee and will take a few seconds before it begins to pass through and drip into the cup. The extraction time should be around 30 seconds, anything too long or too short indicates that something is wrong in the other variables (grind, tamp, etc). It will have a rich reddish brown crema that lingers on the surface of the coffee (not jet black), and will begin to lighten in color as the coffee continues to extract. This is called “blonding” which at a certain point indicates that the machine should be stopped (a medium tan, not a golden blond). The beginning of a shot and the end of a shot are remarkably different - the beginning is dark, sweet, and thick, whereas the end (the blonder portion) is thin, sharp, and contains much more caffeine.

So far, I’ve avoided the use of the word “strong”. Our notion of strength needs to be carefully defined when talking about coffee. Espresso is strong, whereas percolator coffee is weak (or watery). However, on another scale is the issue of under-extracted or over-extracted. This is often mistaken for strength. Bitter and astringent flavors is a sign that coffee is over-extracted or over-roasted, whereas acidic flavors is a flaw when coffee is under-extracted. Over-extracting happens if the grind is too fine, the dose too large, the tamp too hard, the pressure too high, or the water too hot. Under-extraction is the opposite, when the grind is too coarse, the dose too small, the tamp too weak, the water too cool, or the pressure too low.

26 Mar 2012

Coffee: the machine

Coffee is chemistry. When you get a couple important variables right, the end result is indeed a very tasty cup. At the machine and extraction stage, temperature and pressure are the two major variables that determine how good your espresso will be.

What differentiates an espresso from other types of coffee is it’s unique mix of temperature and pressure. Traditionally, coffee was brewed over long periods of time, and extracted out many of the flavor in the bean, both good and bad. These brewed versions were made with finely powdered beans and boiled with sugar and water, like Turkish or Arabic coffee is today. However, in the 1700’s Europeans began to prefer a refined version, using a cloth filter bag and cooler water - so that resulting coffee is less bitter and astringent. The modern espresso only came of age in the 19th century with the invention of the espresso machine, which made its debut at the 1855 Paris World Fair. Rather than letting time extract flavor from the beans, espresso relies on forcing hot water at high pressure through tightly packed beans to bring out a uniquely concentrated and balanced cup.

A machine has to do two important things to make good espresso. It needs to heat water to a consistent 88-92 degrees Celsius, and then deliver that water to the puck of coffee grinds at a pressure of 9 to 11 atmospheres. Espresso machines are also expected to make steam, which is useful for frothing milk. This is harder than you think. Getting water to a precise and consistent temperature and pressure presents several engineering challenges. The temperature required for making steam is much higher than making coffee, and therefore machines that are able to do both proficiently are both expensive and complicated.

A single boiler machine, the cheapest of espresso machines, use a single boiler and pump. After the coffee is made at 88-92 degrees, an element can be switched on to heat the water to above 100 degrees to create steam. However, there is a significant lag time for this and usually results in mediocre coffee and mediocre steam.

The best machines are double boiler machines. These are usually the ones you find at professional coffee shops. It has a boiler tank that produces steam and a boiler tank that is calibrated to keep water at the right temperature for coffee.

A third type, a heat exchanger (HX) machine, also uses a single boiler, but uses a clever system to deal with the dual heat requirement. The boiler is kept at a temperature above 100 degrees, hot enough to generate high steam pressure. The water used for coffee, however, does not originate from the boiler, but instead from a cool water reservoir in the back. When the machine is switched on, cool water is pumped through a metal pipe that passes inside of the boiler, heating the water to the correct temperature before infusing the coffee (thus the heat exchange). This method allows both for excellent steam and coffee without the excess weight and size of a double boiler. However, an HX machine needs a little extra care. Water that is in the section of pipe passing through the boiler becomes superheated and too hot for coffee. Therefore a HX machine needs a “flush”, where the hot water needs to be flushed out of the system with cool reservoir water to equalize the piping to the correct temperature.

I use an ECM Giotto machine, which is an HX machine. The grouphead (the shiny silver part) is one of coffee’s most famous and enduring designs - the Faema e61. This component has been perfected and is common amongst most of the great HX machines. Due to the required HX flush, I’ve installed a thermometer in the grouphead to measure the actual temperature of the water passing through, which allows me to calibrate with precision how much water to flush before the system is at the right temperature.

24 Mar 2012

Coffee: the tamp

If there’s one thing that makes it easy to tell a good coffee shop from a bad one, it is the tamp. To make good espresso you need to have a good tamp, although the reverse is not necessarily true. If this critical part of the process isn’t done, you really shouldn’t be paying $4 for that coffee (unless you’re desperate).

Tamping is where the ground coffee is pressed into the filter basket, ensuring that it is evenly distributed and dense enough to slow the water as it passes through the coffee. I used the north-south-east-west method, this gets all the sides tamped properly because the tamper is slightly smaller than the basket. I then finish off with a sight rotation - a “polish” on the puck of coffee.

23 Mar 2012

Coffee: the dose

Espresso is a really finicky thing. One of the most difficult variables to get right is the dosing of the ground coffee into the filter basket. Coffee grind usually comes out a little clumpy, making it hard to distribute it completely evenly. Dosing is important because when hot water is forced through the coffee at high pressure, it will tend to pass through the path of least resistance. If the basket of ground coffee is not very even in density and level, then something called “channeling” will likely happen. This means that the water will flow quickly through a patch of low density, causing overextraction of that part of the basket, leaving the other parts underextracted. This will result in a coffee that is both bitter and sour at the same time - generally unpleasant.

Everyone has their own little trick of getting the dosing right. I suppose that most of them are right. I use the knife method, where I tap the basket with an edge of a knife to ensure that there are no air pockets, then scrape off the excess coffee. I’ve also seen the plate method, which creates a concave surface, as well as the slight mound, to create a convex surface. In my mind, as long as the basket is filled evenly (in depth and density) and consistently each time, it’s possible to correct for the style of dose in the other stages.

And then there’s also the question of the quantity. It has become vogue to updose coffee, by using a larger basket for the same quantity of coffee. Most people in North America expect bigger drinks (just think about the small juice/soda containers in Europe and Asia) so we generally see “double” shot drinks used as singles.