By admin | April 10th, 2009
If Napa California is about wine, then Boquete Panama is about coffee. For people living in Boquete Panama before the influx of expatriates, the economy was coffee. It was when the price of coffee collapsed that local farmers sold their farms to developers and expats who had fantasies of growing and selling boutique coffee.
I have a small, postage stamp sized farm, far smaller than required for economic viability. Boquete coffee from either Jaramillo or the slopes of Volcan Baru is about the best in the world. I have written about growing, picking and drying in the past. Today, with the help of my friend Richard of Finca Dos Jefes, I am going to share my initiation to roasting coffee.
Finca Dos Jefes, located in El Salto on the foothills of Volcan Baru, produces an excellent crop of organically grown coffee. I showed up with a bag of beans of my own for Ricard to roast. One look at the beans and he explained they were not ready to roast. They were separated from the cherry, cleaned and dried but they still had the thin parchment layer around the beans. Perfect for aging, green coffee should be aged several months before roasting, but requires parchment removal.
Pretty with the parchment on in the photo above. Ready to roast without parchment in the photo below.
Richard is hand sorting the beans prior to roasting to remove any imperfect beans, stones or other debris. The roaster at Dos Jefes can roast about two kilos of coffee in approximately twenty minutes. You should always request freshly roasted coffee if you really want the flavor.
Richard, clip board in hand is about to release the beans from the hopper into the preheated rotating drum. The drum is at 420F before the beans are added. The temperature rapidly falls as the cool beans are introduced. It fell to 203F and then started to rise again. As the temperature increases, Richard checks the beans for color and aroma at various stages.
At 363F the beans have a pleasant aroma and are starting to gain color.
By 386F they have cracked, sounds like popcorn popping. The color is darker, a light roast.
By 405F the beans are at a medium roast, where I wanted them. The next step is to rapidly cool the beans. To do this they are dumped into this cooling tray and moved around until cool.
I was given the difficult task of opening the chute and emptying the roasted, cooled beans into a tray, where they need to rest for 12-24 hours before bagging them into a vacuum sealed bag. The process is impressive and the taste of your cup of coffee depends on the quality of the beans, the preparation for the roast, the roast and the freshness of the post roasted coffee.
I did not know that when roasting coffee loses about 20% of it’s green bean weight and puffs up also. I try to learn something new everyday, today was full off coffee lessons.
Put you nose up against the screen and smell the aroma of fresh roasted Boquete coffee. If that did not work call Richard for a roasting experience.
Richard is giving interactive coffee tours of Dos Jefes, in this real boutique coffee experience you can learn all you ever wanted to know about coffee production then roast your own organically grown coffee. You get to take a pound you roasted home with you to savor the experience. You can contact Richard at dosjefes@gmail.com or call his cell phone, 66 77 77 48 . Richard speaks more English than Spanish so don’t be shy.
By admin | March 31st, 2009
Almost three months ago I took guests to the Oasis restaurant in Boquete Panama to try a rack of lamb, it was not to their liking. Although I really enjoy eating at Oasis and recommend it, their lamb was not the best. This past weekend a group of dedicated lamb consumers and culinary taste testers decided to try again.
After considerable cogitation Terry and I decided that we needed to find a lamb and someone with the proper qualifications to prepare it.
Panama is not known for it’s lamb but hidden in Poterillos Arriba is Hacienda Rancho Arco Iris. We discovered it is a cornucopia of lamb and sheep. Roger and Susan the owners have pastures a plenty, filled with the raw materials for a lamb dinner.
We called them and arranged for a lamb pickup, one complete lamb butchered and ready for the kitchen. Before going I scoured about for ice chests not having much of an idea how big a dressed lamb would be. It turns out that our lamb once butchered, weighed 22 pounds and fit neatly into one cooler.
With the lamb on ice they next step was to find a qualified culinary expert. After careful research we discovered that the minimum requirement to cook lamb is an Australian passport. With that knowledge we turned to Geoff and Caroline our hosts in Montanas de Caldera. After turning the lamb over to them Terry and I were instructed to go consume some cold beer and leave the rest the experts. It was easy to relax in the garden and watch two professionals at work.
After a short time discussing the weather, it has been beautiful, we found the lamb was reduced to two legs, two shoulders, ribs and lovely racks. For Sunday dinner for eight our hosts they decided to use the Barbie, not the doll from Mattel, the primary cooking implement from down under. Lamb legs, potatoes, and onions were doused with a fragrant mixture of extra virgin olive oil, mint and salt and massaged gently.
After several hours of slow cooking, dinner emerged and it was fabulous. Our taste testers confirm that you can have great lamb in Panama if it grown with love, harvested with love, aged at least 24 hours and cooked by Australians.
Our hosts have a perfect venue for entertaining both indoor and out and the combination of good food, good company and surroundings made Sunday dinner a treat.
If you want a lamb for your barbie contact roger or Susan at fincaarcoiris@yahoo.com the lamb is $3.50 a pound dressed out or $2.25 a pound on the hoof and still walking. For an Australian you can contact Geoff or check at immigration in David.
By admin | March 21st, 2009
After a satisfying breakfast and in anticipation of a late lunch what could be better than a Heineken and bitterballen. Around the world people know and drink a Heiny but outside of the Netherlands and it’s settlements it might be difficult to find Bitterballen. I a lovely outside bar in Curacao we discovered a perfect bar food.
Bitterballen (plural of ‘bitterbal’) are a savoury Dutch meat-based snack, typically containing a mixture of beef (minced or chopped), beef broth, flour and butter for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper. This is also called ragout. Some recipes also include nutmeg and/or curry powder. The ingredients are combined and cooked, then refrigerated so the mixture can firm up. Once firm, the filling is then rolled into balls roughly 3 cm in diameter, and battered in a breadcrumb, milk and egg mixture and deep-fried. They are typically served with a ramekin or small bowl of mustard for dipping. They are eaten in the Netherlands and Belgium, and hardly anywhere else. Popular on Dutch pub menus, bitterballen are very similar to kroketten (plural of ‘kroket’) in their ingredients and preparation/cooking methods, as well as flavour, though kroketten have a distinct oblong sausage shape, with a similar diameter, so kroketten are larger. Wikipedia
Note the Heineken is a Pilsner not a Lager.
By admin | March 16th, 2009
Boquete Panama is not a port city, however Panama City has a port on the Pacific Ocean and Colon a port on the Caribbean. Panama has long been a cross road between the seas and a point of entry to the seas. If you are a resident of Panama the addition of Colon as a port of departure for cruise ships is an opportunity.
Opportunity might come in a potentially in a rejuvenated tourist shopping center in Colon. Colon was the only port of call with no one selling anything to the tourists, an opportunity lost for a city with so much history. In fact the current benefit to Colon is a few jobs for security at the port and a small increase in taxi revenue. Colon needs an overhaul to benefit an investment in infrastructure and safety.
Panamanians made up a large portion of the passengers of this cruise and if their experience was like mine, it was wonderful. If you have never been on a cruise imagine an well appointed floating hotel, the old style, all inclusive of lodging, food and entertainment., liquor was an extra cost item. Each day you wake in a new port and can tour, walk or just stay on the ship. Eat, swim, dance, listen to music, eat, drink, nap, hot tub etc etc etc. If you have been to the Decameron but not on a cruise, it is similar except the food is better, the entertainment better and add the spice of a new port daily.
This was my second cruise, average cost was $70 a day per person including lodging, food (more food than you could eat), gratuities and alcoholic beverages. I will omit the small loss in the casino and the duty free tobacco products also consumed and enjoyed. Because the point of departure was Colon, traveling to the ship was a $15 less jubilado discount from David to Panama, a $2.50 bus ride from Panama to Colon and a final $2 taxi to the dock. Stated simply because the port of departure is in Panama, a cruise is a very inexpensive holiday.
Each person finds what is appealing to them on a cruise ship, the carrier makes many options available. Being a bit of a foodie the food is both the pleasure and the pain for me. Royal Caribbean has a buffet of some type available almost 24 hours a day. The buffet food is very good, they also have a lavish restaurant open for breakfast and dinner daily, lunch on days when the ship is at sea. On my last cruise I avoided the dinning room, on this cruise I succumb to the temptation and my friend Hilda the “Pirana” taught me that once is not always enough and if you want to try a second appetizer, entree or desert just order it. I found myself satiated with one but the option is there and she proved it daily.
The food in the dining room is as good as the best I have had in Panama and included many items not often found here. It was a refreshing change in diet.
From Prime rib to scallops and shrimp on pasta
The hazard of the ship board cuisine is two fold. First it is too easy to eat too much and despite the track the gym and the shore walking it is difficult not to over indulge. The other is the tragedy of not having an appetite for the treats to be discovering in each port of call.
Like this menu in Bonaire, I think it is in Dutch?
or this a home for displaced foodies in Bonaire.
I did discover a few things less attractive to me, but fun to see also.
I will find myself back on a cruise next time the opportunity presents and then I can try to learn culinary self control.
By admin | February 14th, 2009
American television has Iron Chef an import from Japan. In Boquete Panama we have the Woolford and Buddies Ribathon, contest of six teams attempting to win the Big Boner Award for producing the best ribs in competition. 120 Pounds of pork ribs and 24 hours later the contest ends in the Ribathon.
As a warmup for the assembled masses, Gene a man told his is not qualified to cook a hot dog in Buffalo New York, prepared 50 pounds of chicken on a grill. Fortunately for him, Carol his buddy was qualified to make an excellent dipping sauce thereby saving him from Ribathon obscurity.
You can observe the effect the chipole sauce has on Genes hair dew. As the afternoon progressed you can see one of the qualifying master chefs of the rib, Lynn, massaging her ribs on the grill.
Notice how she clutches her shoulder to inject spirit from her being into the grilling ribs. Could this be a secret to success?
As the masses watched with laughter, rum induced, and amusement, a situational interlude, the judges convened. The judges were carefully selected from people found drinking at Amigos and were fully vetted as having no bias and perhaps not taste buds. You can observe in this photo Carol and Gene trying to bribe Adrian’s father, the most professional rib eater in the group.
Other judges including, Judge Judy King, Joe Kim, master Korean Rib taster, Horseradish Pat and a mystery judge hidden behind Pat.
The tension was in-palpable as you can see Jayne Ferrell could barely contain her anticipation as to who would receive the judges nod and the big Bone.
Then came the climatic moment, Judge Judy announced the winner. The big bone went to Tom, Dr. Pepper and as you can see here Barbie massaged the Boner Petit before handing it to Lynn the winner of the Peoples Choice award for ribbing us all. Lynn promptly broke out a bottle of Champagne that she brought along for the occasion.
Finally the winners posed for this momentous victory photo after a lap around the grill.
It is important to note that no kosher pigs were sacrificed for this event, I know, I asked. s good time was had by all and for those who saw Lynn at Amigos in the evening yes that has her Boner Petit award she was caressing and showing off to Papa Ricco.
By admin | January 25th, 2009
In Panama there is a traditional to celebrate when a roof is installed on a new house. Boquete Panama is no exception and yesterday we went to a Mondongada. A Mondongada is named for the traditional tripe stew, Mondongo, served as such events. At a Mondongada the construction workers, owners and friends and families share the meal and celebrate the progress in construction.
Robert Boyd is helping himself to a bowl of this most traditional meal. It is similar to the menudo of Mexico.
In addition to the Mondongo Trisha served copious amounts of chicken and rice along with even more copious amounts of beer and wine.
In addition Trisha gave a well presented thank you to the construction workers who are making her home a reality.
This event is a touch of real Panama and a worthy tradition in many cultures, although often without the Panamanian touch of Mondongo.
This recipe is from the Recetasycomidas web site.
Ingredientes:
1 lb. de mondongo (beef guts)
2 cebollas (onions)
1 cda. de vinagre (vinegar)
2 papas (potatoes)
4 tomates (tomatoes)
2 dientes de ajos (garlic)
2 zanahorias, guisantes si lo desea (“petit pois”) (chopped carrots)
2 limones (lemons)
Sal y picante al gusto. (salt and hot sauce)
Procedimiento:
Pique el mondongo después de rasparlo; lávelo y restregue con limón.
Ponga el mondongo a cocer botando dos aguas. Ponga nueva agua y llévelo al fuergo hasta que esté blando.
Agregue los condimentos molidos, las papas y las zanahorias picadas, déjelo cocer por un tiempo hasta que se ablanden las papas y las zanahorias.
Procedure:
Cut mondongo after scraping, wash it with lemon and restregue.
Cooked mondongo in boiling water. Put water and take it to new boil until soft.
Add the ground spices, potatoes and carrots, let it cook until potatoes and carrots are tender. (My translation)
By admin | January 11th, 2009
You might not think of Panama City, Panama as the place for an excellent Chinese restaurant, it is. The Golden Unicorn is located on the 4th floor of the Evergreen Building, home of Evergreen Marine . That pedigree might help explain why the cuisine is excellent. I have been there many times, breakfast dim sum and for lunches.
If you are in Panama City and relish excellent Dim Sum this is the place to be. They serve Dim Sum seven days a week, 8am - 12 noon M - F and later on weekends. The selection and crowds are much bigger on weekends but the food is consistently excellent.
Here is a peek at the Dim Sum at this most highly recommended location.
By admin | December 27th, 2008
I was confused, what is smoked meat? Meat has been smoked forever but in Montreal Smoked meat has a special significance and is similar what I grew up calling Pastrami, but it is different.
The place for Pastrami in New York City is Katz’s Deli, the place for Smoked Meat in Montreal is Schwartz’s Deli.
Guide books say you will always find a line a Schwartz’s we did and we waited about 30 minutes to get in to the deli. There were four of us and we finally splint into two groups of two to get counter seating.
The menu is a simple deli menu and despite it?s diversity most people, except Heather go to Schwartz’s for Smoked Meat.
Althea and Gumby are enjoying their smoked meat at the counter.
Looks like Pastrami but tastes much more like corned beef, only leaner.
A great overstuffed sandwich served on rye bread with all the same finesse used in New York Deli’s.
We walked over a mile through ice and snow to eat lunch at Schwartz?s and I think the consensus is the smoked meat was excellent, the atmosphere classic over crowded deli and the service adequate.
I would go back on my next trip to Montreal.
By admin | December 22nd, 2008
It is a cold day in Quebec Canada.
We found our escape in a small restaurant in St. Zotique Quebec just east of the Ontario border. Heather suggested a local comfort food, something she said she would not normally recommend but since she knew this was Chowtrek it could not be missed.
Imagine fried potatoes and cheddar cheese curds covered in hot gravy!. You have Poutine a Quebec tradition.
It may not look pretty, it may not be gourmet but on a cold day it is very satisfying!
?The dish originated in rural Quebec, Canada, in the late 1950s and is now popular in many parts of the country. Several Quebecois communities claim to be the birthplace of poutine, including Drummondville (by Jean-Paul Roy in 1964), Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Victoriaville. One often-cited tale is that of Fernand Lachance, from Warwick, Quebec, which claims that poutine was invented in 1957, when a customer ordered fries while waiting for his cheese curds from the Kingsey cheese factory in Kingsey Falls (now in Warwick and owned by Saputo Incorporated). Lachance is said to have exclaimed ca va faire une maudite poutine (it will make a damn mess), hence the name. The sauce was allegedly added later, to keep the fries warm longer.? Wikipedia
By admin | December 15th, 2008
“In November, 1992, when the last whisky barrel was rolled out of the (Seagrams) warehouses, a rich industrial era came to an abrupt end. Former Waterloo plant manager, William Timmis spoke for many when he expressed: “”Seagram was Waterloo, Waterloo was Seagram. The company has been the backbone of the community. It will be terribly missed.”"” History of Seagrams
The Restaurant Sole in Waterloo Ontario Canada is located in what was the Seagrams repair shop. and has some history installed inside for ambiance.
Five of us went for dinner and tried a variety of items from the Sole menu. One of the members of our party was a six year old and we called to ensure it would be acceptable. The manager Scott prepared a table near the kitchen and distant from most other diners.
Each dish was excellent served on queue and in a timely manner. I am only going to do discuss three items because they were all exceptional.
These mussels were an appetizer and had about one pound of mussels bathed in a rick sauce of mustard, garlic, white wine and cream. The were tender and very flavorful. Well worth a taste.
This surprising and unique dish is a sweet potato lasagna. No pasta here. Sweet Potato slices, leeks, shitake and portobello mushrooms, feta and mozzarella cheese with a vodka rose sauce. It was a remarkable and very different taste treat.
The final dish worth a photo was their rendition of Coq au vin. The chicken breast was stuffed with brie, braised in red wine with wild mushrooms. pearl onions and bacon. Servers with fingerling potatoes it was the standout dish and received cross the table praise.
Sole is not an inexpensive restaurant dinner for four adult and one child with only one glass of wine cost about $150 CDN. The food was excellent, the ambiance very good, the service very good. In all a place to be recommended. I would suggest that is not a place for children but they were very accommodating both to us and to the other diners.
Sole Restaurant & Wine Bar
www.sole.ca
83 Erb Street West
Waterloo, ON N2L 6C2, Canada
(519) 747-5622
