- 5 scoops of Joe's House Full City Roast. (6.4 oz water per scoop)
- Grind, while shaking grinder, 3-5 seconds. (yes, really, that short)
- Dump grinds into press pot.
- Pour hot water over grinds
- Stir (optional?)
- Wait four minutes, press, and serve.
- Don't let it sit for too long in the grinds!
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
French press notes
Notes for my own reference on brewing a pot of French press coffee at work. Based on a Bodum glass french press, 32 oz, a Krups blade grinder, and a 29.6cc coffee scoop.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Great ride in Wissahickon
Tonight I got out of work and joined Grace, Amy, Ed, and Dmitri for a ride in Wissahickon. This will have to go down as the best MTB ride I've been on in over a year. We were all riding strong, and riding fast. Had we not lost light, we probably would have kept going, but since only Dmitri had a light, we bailed as it got harder and harder to see the trail.
My back started hurting a little bit at one point, but cleared up. This was also the first time that I felt the power I have on the road available to me on the mountain. Even at that, though, trying to keep up with Dmitri and Grace towards the end had me working, and working HARD. They've both gone and gotten seriously fast! (thank you, Amy!!) Towards the end of the ride, Ed was having problems with his back (oh how I can relate) but somehow still managed to be crazy fast.
Afterwards, Grace and I joined Ed and Amy at a bar in Glenside for beer and wings. Between the four of us, we ordered 100 wings and untold numbers of beers. Much fun was had, and although there were wings left over when we were all full, it wasn't as much as you might think! We all toasted to Amy and Grace... they've become good friends and have made each other far stronger than they had been before.
I just hope that ride is an indication of what's to come for me. Despite what Grace will make you think, I don't hate mountain biking -- when it's that good, I really, really love it!
My back started hurting a little bit at one point, but cleared up. This was also the first time that I felt the power I have on the road available to me on the mountain. Even at that, though, trying to keep up with Dmitri and Grace towards the end had me working, and working HARD. They've both gone and gotten seriously fast! (thank you, Amy!!) Towards the end of the ride, Ed was having problems with his back (oh how I can relate) but somehow still managed to be crazy fast.
Afterwards, Grace and I joined Ed and Amy at a bar in Glenside for beer and wings. Between the four of us, we ordered 100 wings and untold numbers of beers. Much fun was had, and although there were wings left over when we were all full, it wasn't as much as you might think! We all toasted to Amy and Grace... they've become good friends and have made each other far stronger than they had been before.
I just hope that ride is an indication of what's to come for me. Despite what Grace will make you think, I don't hate mountain biking -- when it's that good, I really, really love it!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
How to make a tremendously awesome steak
Summer is here, and thus, barbecue season is here. We have two grilles, a gas and a Weber charcoal... but we haven't been using either. When it comes to making an awesome steak, we've found a method that works far better and more consistently than using a grille. Credit goes to Alton Brown of Good Eats fame for this one -- using a cast iron pan and a combination of a hot oven and a big gas burner.
Here's how to do it. Let the steaks come to room temperature, or thereabouts. Lightly oil the steaks, both sides. Add a nice salt, kosher works very well. You can do the oil/salt when you take the steak out of the fridge, or just before you cook it. Take a cast iron pan (no screwing around here, cast iron is the ticket, and it needs to be properly seasoned) and put it in the oven which you preheat to 500 degrees. Once the oven hits 500 degrees, you pull the pan out and put it on the biggest burner you've got on the highest setting. The key here is HEAT and lots of it. Throw in the steaks, and don't move them for 45 seconds. It's at about this point that you realize the big downside of this cooking method - SMOKE. Better have the windows open and a strong fan.
After the first 45 seconds, flip the steaks, let them sit in the pan for another 45 seconds, then move the pan back into the 500 degree oven. Two minutes later, open the oven, flip the steaks, and wait for another two minutes. At the end, pull the steaks out and put them on a dish. (now is a good time to add some pepper. You can do it before cooking but run the risk of burning the pepper) Cover the steaks with aluminum foil (in a pinch if you've run out, a shiny pan that covers the steaks works like a charm) and let them "rest" for at least three minutes.
Once the steaks have rested, dig in. We always use a delmonico (rib eye) steak, about an inch thick, and wind up with a rare to medium rare steak which is incredibly tender and juicy. And, thanks to the incredible amount of heat we've thrown at it, it's beautifully seared with a nice crust. If you like steaks more well done, I guess you'd probably have to leave them on there longer, but I don't know. Since I kinda see that as a waste of a good steak, I won't be doing any experimentation, either!
As long as your cast iron pan is reasonably well seasoned, you'll have no problems with sticking, and I've found that the more steaks you do, the better the seasoning on the pan. After many, many seared steaks, our cast iron pan is now far less likely to have anything stick to it than even our best teflon pans! This is also a pan which spent several years in our basement, where it developed some pretty nasty rust. I cleaned the rust off, then re-seasoned it, and it's working like a true champ.
Here's how to do it. Let the steaks come to room temperature, or thereabouts. Lightly oil the steaks, both sides. Add a nice salt, kosher works very well. You can do the oil/salt when you take the steak out of the fridge, or just before you cook it. Take a cast iron pan (no screwing around here, cast iron is the ticket, and it needs to be properly seasoned) and put it in the oven which you preheat to 500 degrees. Once the oven hits 500 degrees, you pull the pan out and put it on the biggest burner you've got on the highest setting. The key here is HEAT and lots of it. Throw in the steaks, and don't move them for 45 seconds. It's at about this point that you realize the big downside of this cooking method - SMOKE. Better have the windows open and a strong fan.
After the first 45 seconds, flip the steaks, let them sit in the pan for another 45 seconds, then move the pan back into the 500 degree oven. Two minutes later, open the oven, flip the steaks, and wait for another two minutes. At the end, pull the steaks out and put them on a dish. (now is a good time to add some pepper. You can do it before cooking but run the risk of burning the pepper) Cover the steaks with aluminum foil (in a pinch if you've run out, a shiny pan that covers the steaks works like a charm) and let them "rest" for at least three minutes.
Once the steaks have rested, dig in. We always use a delmonico (rib eye) steak, about an inch thick, and wind up with a rare to medium rare steak which is incredibly tender and juicy. And, thanks to the incredible amount of heat we've thrown at it, it's beautifully seared with a nice crust. If you like steaks more well done, I guess you'd probably have to leave them on there longer, but I don't know. Since I kinda see that as a waste of a good steak, I won't be doing any experimentation, either!
As long as your cast iron pan is reasonably well seasoned, you'll have no problems with sticking, and I've found that the more steaks you do, the better the seasoning on the pan. After many, many seared steaks, our cast iron pan is now far less likely to have anything stick to it than even our best teflon pans! This is also a pan which spent several years in our basement, where it developed some pretty nasty rust. I cleaned the rust off, then re-seasoned it, and it's working like a true champ.
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