Cooking with coffee

Sure, a cup of joe can perk you up anytime, but why stop there? Cooking with coffee accentuates the flavor in a range of dishes.

Tips for cooking with coffee:

• Savory dishes: Coffee heightens the flavor in many savory dishes, from pot roasts, stews, hearty soups and chili, to mole and baked beans. Make the coffee you add to dishes stronger than you would normally drink it because the flavors mellow as they cook.
• Braising: Braise pork, poultry and beef using coffee as part of the liquid to add depth to the flavor of the meat. The coffee flavor won’t be discernible but will accentuate other flavors.

  Substitute strong coffee for half of the stock when braising heavy cuts of meat such as beef and lamb. For example, try braising beef in a combination of stock and coffee, and add a little unsweetened cocoa powder. Braising the beef with sweeter vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and onions offsets the bitter notes of the cocoa and coffee.

  If you don’t have stock, you also can braise meat in straight coffee.