OT: Small appliances - again! Coffee maker

Sure is! I made a few calls and nobody ever heard of such. Sister says the butter is low so the cream cheese takes the place of some of the fat, she also uses frozen OJ concentrate instead of water. Vinegar is fairly common, I'm inclined to lard recipes. .

Reply to
Buerste
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On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 03:30:58 -0400, the infamous "Buerste" scrawled the following:

OJ?!? Vinegar?!?

I'd -surely- best avoid comment on that one, don't you think?

P.S: I would have already emailed that crust recipe but it's no longer in my recipe drawer and I can't locate it anywhere.

-- The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity. --Epicurus, Principal Doctrines

Reply to
Larry Jaques

-------- As we seem to have segued into cooking, take a look at this website. Something on the web for everyone.

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Unka' George [George McDuffee]

------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

Still not large enough to prevent blooming with freshly roasted coffee though, particularly with lighter roasts, and/or African beans.

Our A10 Series has blown through 3 thermal fuses in the 7 or 8 years we've had it. Replacements are available for a couple bucks at Radio Shack dot com. (Our local brick and mortar RS went out of business a couple years ago.)

The A10 Series has adjustable thermostat which the home (B Series) don't have. Also the 40 watt keep-warm heater/blanket is absent on the home machines, which were never intended to stay on 24/7 like the more commercial models.

Our B series *does* have a nice stainless thermal carafe that keeps coffee hot literally for hours, something the old standard glass carafe of the A10 Series can't come close to. We don't use the hot plate on it, just brew and hopefully finish before the pot goes cold.

If you can still find a Melitta Momentum, that's built on the same design as the Bunn B's, but at a much lower price, and unfortunately, at a commensurate quality point. Ours lasted only about three years before the plastic valve stem controlling water flow from the upper resevoir to the heater tank broke.

Absolutely.

Cheap burr grinders also have problems with dust creation and static. Much better is a *good* burr grinder.

Depends on the bean, roast level/profile, and storage method. Coffee beans stored *immediately* after cooling (hermetically sealed) in the freezer are good for months. Cool, dry, dark environment, some beans can still be quite drinkable up to 3 weeks post-roast. You can probably gather that oxygen, heat, humidity, and UV are all enemies of the coffee bean.

Well... there are certainly those who would agree with you, but optimal extraction is in the nose of the beholder, and there are also many who simply don't care for the intensity of espresso.

Most people who have had "espresso" have never experienced the full potential of what that extraction method has to offer. Obviously, the need to add milk or sugar means the espresso wasn't "properly brewed." ;-)

Most people don't even know what "good" coffee is! ;-)

Reply to
Steve Ackman

A good grinder coupled with a mediocre espresso maker produces much better results than a good espresso machine coupled with a mediocre grinder. That's right, the grinder IS actually more important than the brewer.

That said, the low end of recommendations on alt.coffee would range around the Gaggia Classic or Rancilio Silvia. Those start in the $500 range these days I would guess... haven't priced them lately. Depending on what your plans are for number/frequency of guests, the recommendations might go up from there.

Low end acceptable grinders might include the Capresso Infinity, medium level grinders might include the Gaggia MDF to Rancilio Rocky, and high end grinders... well, certainly $500 isn't too much to spend on the quest for the ultimate shot is it?

"Bulletproof" is largely a function of the mineral content of your water. All espresso machines will have some build-up over time. With good water, an annual descaling will be all that's necessary beyond superficial cleaning and maintenance.

Espresso needs water delivered at ~9 bar of pressure at 195-200F(*) to the portafilter. The coffee puck needs to consist of coffee ground to the uniformity and fineness that said 9 bar of pressure is able to push ~1.5 oz of water through it in roughly 25 seconds. (*) Even better is an adjustable temp control that might range from 185-205F.

Whatever the machine... those are the target parameters for the process.

Reply to
Steve Ackman

Commercial grade machines are plumbed in. Lots of coffee afficianods use commercial grade.

Reply to
Steve Ackman

On Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:23:39 -0600, the infamous F. George McDuffee scrawled the following:

His Osso Buco looks mahvelous!

-- The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity. --Epicurus, Principal Doctrines

Reply to
Larry Jaques

That, and the popcorn popper will blow the hulls from the beans all over the place. --Glenn Lyford

Reply to
Glenn Lyford

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