If coffee is bought at the store, roasted but not ground, each
time any is used put into the frying=pan what you want for that meal,
but no more; heat it over a quick fire until the aroma is perceptible,
shaking it constantly and adding barely enough butter to gloss but
not make it greasy; then grind it at once and use it. If it was
ground at home and buttered, reheat it and use the same way, but
without buttering it. This freshens it and develops its aroma. Re-
member that the coffee should always go hot from the frying-pan to
the coffee mill, and from the mill to the coffee pot, if you want the
best results. If ground coffee is used, that can also be heated until
the aroma is perceptible, before adding the water.
Grinding the Coffee. — Be sure your coffee is ground right. Most
grocers grind the coffee too coarse, so that much more coffee is used
than necessary, because in coarse coffee the flavor is not readily ex-
tracted. If you grind it yourself make it about like coarse corumeal
—not coarser than that. If your grocer grinds it make him grind it
the same way. He may not like to, but it is the best and most eco-
nomical way and insist on it. If it is too fine (say as fine as flour), on
558 BEVEKAGES
the other hand, it will clog the strainer. It is too coarse if it is like
rice or coarse oatmeal.
Over=boiling.^The tannic acid in coffee should not be extracted or
it will make the coffee bitter, and it will also disorder the stom-
ach more; 5 minutes is the limit to which coffee should be boiled to
avoid this, while 3 minutes is better. It is an erroneous idea that the
longer coffee boils the stronger and better it is. After the caffeine
and aroma are extracted, further boiling is a detriment. Cover the
spout also when boiling coffee in a coffee pot, that the aroma may not
escape through it. The one great object in making coffee is to ex-
tract and retain the caffeine and aromatic essential oils, icithout ex-
tracting the tannin, and any method which does this is a good
method.
The Cream and Sugar — The milk served with coffee should be
scalding hot, but should not be boiled. A pitcher of milk can be set
in a pan of hot water and brought nearly to the boiling point day
after day, without injuring the china. Some persons find the taste of
boiled milk objectionable. Serve cream also if you can; 1 tablespoon
of cream and 2 of hot milk is about right. If the coffee is very
strong, fill the cup ^ to ^ full of coffee, and fill it up with hot milk;
this is much better than diluting the coffee with water. Never fill a
cup quite full — it must not run over. Allow each guest to add the
sugar to his taste, unless it is one of the family whose taste you
know. A very pretty effect is j)roduced by placing on the surface of
each cup a teaspoon of whipped cream.
Settling the Coffee. — Isinglass, fish skins, eggs and cold water are
used to clear or settle coffee. Egg shells can be washed and saved
for this purpose, 2 or 3 of them being enough to clear a quart of
coffee; they answer about as well as the egg itself, and are less expen-
sive.
Page 414
Presented as published in 1902. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
If coffee is bought at the store, roasted but not ground, each time any is used put into the frying-pan what you want for that meal, but no more; heat it over a quick fire until the aroma is perceptible, shaking it constantly and adding barely enough butter to gloss but not make it greasy; then grind it at once and use it. If it was ground at home and buttered, reheat it and use the same way, but without buttering it. This freshens it and develops its aroma. Remember that the coffee should always go hot from the frying-pan to the coffee mill, and from the mill to the coffee pot, if you want the best results. If ground coffee is used, that can also be heated until the aroma is perceptible, before adding the water.
Grinding the Coffee. — Be sure your coffee is ground right. Most grocers grind the coffee too coarse, so that much more coffee is used than necessary, because in coarse coffee the flavor is not readily extracted. If you grind it yourself make it about like coarse corumeal —not coarser than that. If your grocer grinds it make him grind it the same way. He may not like to, but it is the best and most economical way and insist on it. If it is too fine (say as fine as flour), on
the other hand, it will clog the strainer. It is too coarse if it is like rice or coarse oatmeal.
Over-boiling.—The tannic acid in coffee should not be extracted or it will make the coffee bitter, and it will also disorder the stomach more; 5 minutes is the limit to which coffee should be boiled to avoid this, while 3 minutes is better. It is an erroneous idea that the longer coffee boils the stronger and better it is. After the caffeine and aroma are extracted, further boiling is a detriment. Cover the spout also when boiling coffee in a coffee pot, that the aroma may not escape through it. The one great object in making coffee is to extract and retain the caffeine and aromatic essential oils, without extracting the tannin, and any method which does this is a good method.
The Cream and Sugar — The milk served with coffee should be scalding hot, but should not be boiled. A pitcher of milk can be set in a pan of hot water and brought nearly to the boiling point day after day, without injuring the china. Some persons find the taste of boiled milk objectionable. Serve cream also if you can; 1 tablespoon of cream and 2 of hot milk is about right. If the coffee is very strong, fill the cup about one-third to one-half full of coffee, and fill it up with hot milk; this is much better than diluting the coffee with water. Never fill a cup quite full — it must not run over. Allow each guest to add the sugar to his taste, unless it is one of the family whose taste you know. A very pretty effect is produced by placing on the surface of each cup a teaspoon of whipped cream.
Settling the Coffee. — Isinglass, fish skins, eggs and cold water are used to clear or settle coffee. Egg shells can be washed and saved for this purpose, 2 or 3 of them being enough to clear a quart of coffee; they answer about as well as the egg itself, and are less expensive.