On Tuesday 16 October at the restaurant, we had a special dishes and drinks prepared with coffee. Palo Alto Café gave us coffee and we put the food. The challenge was to prepare an entry, background, and a dessert using coffee as a leading ingredient. Also, I wanted dishes that can appreciate a bit of the theory of pairing coffee with food. Before serving the menu, talked a little bit that, but the food was accompanied with wines.
The menu began and ended with coffee-based drinks. As an aperitif: a shot of espresso, vodka and Frangelico, all cold and shake in cocktail shaker. As a digestif, a latte blended with
liquor cocoa and caramel sauce. Along with dessert, well, we serve a cup of coffee at all, to try the product. As input salad served with a spicy and slightly bitter. The dressing was balsamic vinegar (which is a little sweeter than the others), honey, mustard and olive oil. All this came with a coffee tuille and Kentucky-style fried chicken ... as in the KFC crispy
the main course was pork tenderloin crusted with spices, couscous with raw vegetables (cucumber, tomato and pepper) and a coffee barbecue sauce. For the sauce, smoked some
vegetables and grind together with a mixture of soy, sugar, pepper, vinegar and ketchup. Finally, add the coffee, give it a boil and filter. Our dessert was a coffee mousse, and accompany with a warm brownie, passion fruit sauce and crispy mint (the liquor made with mint and sugar) The dessert was easier, because the coffee desserts are fairly common. We only play with the sugar, acidity and bitterness to the final result.
theory of pairing with coffee, basically tells us to take the 5 basic tastes (of which I spoke previously), along with "hotness" and proceed as follows:
Sweet: the easiest. Calms a bit sweet bitterness of coffee, but also cover some of their aromas (especially spices)
Bitter: it must be treated with care. If between bitter food and coffee are out of balance, then the mixture will seem too bitter, and smells will not feel good.
Salt: salt brings out all the flavors of coffee, so the final mixture is smooth. Just take care that the salt will not eat Soft aromas of spices that is coffee.
Acid: The acid, used sparingly, highlights the natural acidity of coffee and makes the bitter note a little less.
Umami: The toería said that the umami and coffee do not mix well, and because it would highlight the bitter and strong flavors of coffee.
Picante: The spicy and coffee should not be mixed because the coffee, the itching sensation lasts longer, and it ends up dominating any other flavor.
