Gourmet Magazine ran a good article (August, 2005) about three acclaimed Sichuanese chefs from China eating at one of the absolute top restaurants in the United States. They didn't "get" the food at all. The flavors just didn't strike chords in the ranges for which the chefs had formed any appreciation. This isn't to say that the flavors that excite you will be unstimulating for the friends that you cook for, unless you're cooking for a bunch of world-famous Chinese chefs. But there will be some differences between your tastes and experiences and those of your guests, so don't be surprised if a combination of flavors tastes great to you and merely okay to your eating companions. ran a good article (August, 2005) about three acclaimed Sichuanese chefs from China eating at one of the absolute top restaurants in the United States. They didn't "get" the food at all. The flavors just didn't strike chords in the ranges for which the chefs had formed any appreciation. This isn't to say that the flavors that excite you will be unstimulating for the friends that you cook for, unless you're cooking for a bunch of world-famous Chinese chefs. But there will be some differences between your tastes and experiences and those of your guests, so don't be surprised if a combination of flavors tastes great to you and merely okay to your eating companions.

Another method for finding ingredients to experiment with is to run a simple online search with a list of ingredients you already have in the dish. If you're making an improvised stew (i.e., following no recipe) and have tomatoes, onions, and lamb but aren't sure what foods and spices might round out the flavors, run the existing ingredients in an online search and see what the Internet says. Just scanning the t.i.tles of pages found can be enough (in this case, coriander, potatoes, and chili powder).

When experimenting, you might find it easier to test a new flavor in a small portion set aside in a separate bowl. Cooking has no "undo," so if you're not sure that the chili power will work, put a few spoons of the stew in a bowl along with a pinch of the spices and taste that. That way, if it turns out yucky, you still have an unadulterated pot of stew to try something else with.

Similarity is also a good gauge of compatibility. If a recipe calls for A, but B is extremely similar, try using B instead and see if it works. Kale and chard are both hardy green leaves that can be subst.i.tuted for each other in many dishes. Likewise, Provolone and mozzarella cheese both have mild flavor and share similar melting properties, so using one in place of the other in foods like omelets makes sense. I'm not suggesting that like foods are always interchangeable. They each have their distinct flavors, and if you attempt to recreate a traditional dish with subst.i.tutions, you won't faithfully reproduce the original. But if your goal is to make an enjoyable dish, experimenting with similar ingredients is a great way to see where things line up and where they diverge.

One easy place to start experimenting, especially if you're at the pasta sauce and spaghetti phase (ah, those were the days!), is to take whatever it is you're doing now and start making minor changes. If one of your standard dinners is store-bought pasta sauce over spaghetti (and there's nothing wrong with this; it's easy, yummy, and satisfying), toss in some additional vegetables next time. Take a nonstick frying pan, put in a tablespoon or two of olive oil, chop up an onion, and saute the onion for a while, until it tastes good. Think about the taste. Does it need salt? Onion and olive oil by itself, while good, is a little flat. So, toss in a pinch of salt. Now, take the jar of pasta sauce, heat it up in that same frying pan, and toss in your spaghetti, just as before. "Spruced-up pasta sauce" is easy and tastes better than the original (unless you burned the onions, in which case, try again!).

Spruced-up Pasta SauceHere's an example of how to extend pasta sauce, courtesy of one of my readers: Try mixing in a can of quality tuna and chopped olives. Microwave a few ounces of pancetta until crispy, and then crumble it into the sauce.

Next, begin to expand your flavor repertoire. The next time you make the dish, try something other than an onion. At the grocery store, take a look at other veggies and ponder whether they might go in that pasta sauce equally well. Zucchini? Squash? Mushrooms? They all sound good to me. One sure-fire way of guessing is by peeking at the ingredient list on your jar of pasta sauce. If it includes mushrooms and oregano, you know adding more mushrooms won't cause an unpleasant flavor. The key is to try varying these things one at a time, starting slowly and building up various bits of information one variable at a time. It's just like writing and then debugging code: instead of making a whole bunch of changes, try one thing at a time. As you get more comfortable, you can work for longer intervals before testing your logic.

[image]

If you fold back the wrapper on a stick of b.u.t.ter, you can b.u.t.ter the pan with it directly. It's not as elegant as slicing off a pat and dropping it into the pan, but it does save fetching and washing another utensil. Make sure to fold the paper back over the end when storing, so the b.u.t.ter is wrapped when you put it back in the fridge. As an experiment, figure out if "crowding" the mushrooms matters. Conventional wisdom says that overcrowding the pan will cause the mushrooms not to taste as good, but is this really true?

If you're already a master of the "spruced-up pasta sauce method," try experimenting with what the French call mother sauces mother sauces. The French chef Marie-Antonin Careme began this cla.s.sification scheme in the 17th century with a handful of sauces from which virtually all traditional French sauces are derived. Both Bechamel and veloute sauces are fast to make and can carry a lot of flavors.

Beyond picking harmonious flavors, you should also consider how they blend together (the "loudness" of the notes). Good cooking is very much about balance. One of the most important corrections you can make is to adjust the balance of tastes and smells to where you think the dish tastes ideal. Lean in and smell the dish. Take a taste. Then ask yourself: what would make this dish better? Does it need more salt? If it's dull or flat, would adding a sour note (lemon or lime juice) add some brightness? Is it too heavy on one of the tastes? Some pasta sauces, for example, can benefit from a splash of balsamic vinegar (sour) to help balance the sweetness brought by tomatoes. Chocolate chip cookies can be improved with a bit of salt to help balance the sweetness from sugar and slight bitterness from cocoa.

If you're following a recipe closely, approach your tweaking cautiously, being sure not to add too much of a taste modifier such as salt or lemon juice, because it is nearly impossible to remove it. Add only a small amount at the beginning, and adjust the taste at the end of cooking by adding a little more at a time until it tastes balanced.

If you do add too much seasoning, you can make minor adjustments of other taste sensations to partially mask overzealous seasoning. If, however, you've added too much of something, your best bet is to dilute the dish to reduce the seasoning's concentration. Contrary to folk wisdom, adding potato does nothing to reduce saltiness (how could it? evaporation?), but might "work" for the same reasons that adding more broth does (dilution). You're better off just removing some of the too-salty liquid and adding more unsalted liquid. If your dish is too sweet, you can adjust it by adding spicy ingredients.

NoteCapsaicin is sugar and fat soluble, but not water soluble. This is why drinking milk or consuming something fatty tames the mouth, while drinking water doesn't help. If a dish is too hot, add either something with sugars or fats to reduce the heat.

Think about what tastes are missing, and add one of the following seasonings to adjust the taste.

To increase: Bitter Sour Umami Sweet Salty Add...

c.o.c.ktail bitters Quinine powder Tonic water Cocoa Lemon juice Vinegar Verjuice (verjus) or dry wine Soy sauce Fish sauce Mushrooms Kombu (seaweed) MSG.

Sugar Honey Sweet wines (sherry, Madeira) Mirin Salt Umami-based ingredients (because they amplify salt perception)

As a general tenet when seasoning a dish, start slowly. You can always add more. You can partially mask some tastes by increasing other tastes. If you do end up with one taste being too dominant, try one of the following adjustments.

To counteract: Bitter Sour Umami Sweet Salty Add...

Increase saltiness or sweetness Increase sweetness to mask None known; try dilution Increase sourness or heat (e.g., cayenne pepper) to mask Increase sweetness (low concentrations) to mask

Bechamel Sauce (White Sauce)In a pan, melt 1 tablespoon / 14g b.u.t.ter over medium heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon / 8g flour and continue stirring, making sure to combine the flour and b.u.t.ter thoroughly, cooking for several minutes until the mixture begins to turn a blond to light brown color (this b.u.t.ter-flour combination is called a roux roux). Add 1 cup / 256g milk, increase the heat to medium-high, and stir continuously until the mixture has thickened.Traditional additions include salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Try adding dried thyme, or preheating the milk with bay leaves. If you're anti-b.u.t.ter, you can use a half b.u.t.ter/half oil mixture.This sauce can be "subcla.s.sed" into other sauces. After making the roux and adding the milk, try the following instances:Mornay sauce (a.k.a. cheese sauce)Bechamel sauce with equal parts of Gruyere and Parmesan added. If you're not a stickler for tradition, almost any cheese that melts well will work.Bayou sauceBechamel sauce that's had the roux cooked until it reaches a dark brown color. Commonly used in Louisiana-style Cajun cooking, in which onions, garlic, and Creole seasonings are also added.Mustard sauceBechamel sauce with mustard seed or a spoonful of mustard (try one with whole seeds in it). Mustard sauce can be further subcla.s.sed with the addition of cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Or, try sauteing some diced onions in the b.u.t.ter while making the roux and adding mustard at the end for a mustard-onion sauce.Veloute SauceStart like you're making Bechamel: create a blond roux by melting 1 tablespoon / 14g of b.u.t.ter in a pan over low heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon / 8g of flour and wait for the flour to cook, but not so much that it browns (hence the term blond roux blond roux). Add 1 cup / 256g of chicken stock or other light stock (one that uses raw bones instead of roasted bones) and cook until thickened.You can make derivative sauces by adding various ingredients. Here are a few suggestions. Note the absence of specific measurements; use this as an exercise to take a guess and adjust the flavors to suit what you like:Albufera sauceLemon juice, egg yolk, cream (try on chicken or asparagus)Bercy sauceShallots, white wine, lemon juice, parsley (try on fish)Poulette sauceMushrooms, parsley, lemon juice (try on chicken)Aurora sauceTomato puree; roughly 1 part tomato to 4 parts veloute, plus b.u.t.ter to taste (try on ravioli)Hungarian sauceOnion (diced and sauteed), paprika, white wine (try on meats)Venetian sauceTarragon, shallots, chervil (try on mild fishes)Grilled Fish with Bayou Sauce or Mustard SauceMake either a bayou sauce or mustard sauce per previous instructions, playing with the amount of onions and seasoning.Select a mild fish, such as cod or halibut. Season with a light amount of salt and pepper and transfer to a heated grill. Cook for about 5 minutes, flip, and cook until flaky, about another 5 minutes. Place on serving plate and spoon sauce on top. (Try serving this with simple steamed vegetables!)Simple Ravioli SauceHere's a quick experiment: try making two batches of Aurora sauce, one with 1 cup / 240 ml of light cream and the second with 1 cup / 240 ml of chicken stock. Add cup / 60 ml of either tomato sauce or pureed tomatoes to each and stir to combine. (If you're cutting corners and cooking for yourself, you can use ketchup instead of tomato puree.)[image]What do the two sauces remind you of? Try using the cream-based sauce (sometimes called a pink sauce) on top of ravioli. And the stock-based sauce? Toss in some carrots, celery, beans, and pasta, and you've got the beginning of a minestrone soup.Mac 'n CheeseStart with a double batch of Bechamel sauce. Add and slowly stir until melted: - 1 cup (100g) grated mozzarella - 1 cup (100g) grated cheddar cheese In a separate pot, bring salted water to a rolling boil and cook cup / 250g pasta. Use a small pasta, such as elbow, fusilli, or penne-something that the sauce can cling to. Test for doneness by tasting a piece of the pasta. When ready, strain and transfer to pan with cheese sauce. Stir to combine.You can stop here for a basic Mac 'n Cheese, or spruce it up by mixing in: - cup (60g) sauteed onions - 2 slices (15g) bacon, cooked and chopped into pieces - A pinch of cayenne pepper Transfer to a baking pan or individual bowls, sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese, and broil under medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until bread and cheese begin to brown.Notes - You can add more milk to the cheese sauce to make it thinner.

- To make your own bread crumbs, you can drop a slice of day-old or toasted bread into a food processor or blender and pulse it. Or, use a knife and chop it up into small pieces.[image]

Regional/Traditional Method Say your Aunt Suzie sends you a jar of her famous (or is it infamous?) homemade quince jelly. What to do with it? Someone suggests that you try it with Manchego cheese and crackers and, sure enough, the combination is delicious. But why? One potential explanation can be found in the history of the ingredients: they come from the same geographic region and its corresponding cuisine.

This method for thinking about flavor combinations is expressed in the idiom "if it grows together, it goes together" and encompa.s.ses everything from a loose interpretation of what the French call le gout de terroir le gout de terroir ("taste of the earth") to what an American gourmand would term "regional cooking" for broad styles of cooking. In addition to the limitation of ingredients based on what can be grown in any given area, regional cooking also involves the culture and tradition of a region. Back to Aunt Suzie's jelly: Manchego cheese and quince jelly both have long histories in Spain, so the pairing is likely rooted in history. ("taste of the earth") to what an American gourmand would term "regional cooking" for broad styles of cooking. In addition to the limitation of ingredients based on what can be grown in any given area, regional cooking also involves the culture and tradition of a region. Back to Aunt Suzie's jelly: Manchego cheese and quince jelly both have long histories in Spain, so the pairing is likely rooted in history.

Given an ingredient, you can look at how that ingredient has been used historically in a particular culture to find inspiration. (Think of it as historical crowdsourcing.) If nothing else, limiting yourself to ingredients that would traditionally be used together can help bring a certain uniformity to your dish, and serve as a fun challenge, too. And you can extend this idea to wines to accompany your dishes, from the traditional (say, a French rose with Nicoise salad) to modern (Aussie Shiraz with barbeque).

Another way of looking at historical combinations is to look at old cookbooks. A number of older cookbooks are now in the public domain and accessible via the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org), Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org), and Google Books (http://books.google.com). Try searching Google Books for "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book"; for waffles, see page 80 (page 112 in the downloadable PDF). If nothing else, seeing how much-and, really, how little!-has changed can be great fun. And then there are cla.s.sic gems, foods that have simply fallen to the sidelines of history for no discernable reason.

Sally Lunn Mix one pint of flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, one-half teaspoonful salt, yolks of two eggs well beaten, one-half cup milk, one-half cup b.u.t.ter melted, whites of two eggs beaten stiff. Bake in m.u.f.fin pans or drop loaf fifteen to twenty minutes. If for tea, add two tablespoonfuls sugar to flour.

--from The Community Cook Book The Community Cook Book on Project Gutenberg on Project Gutenberg http://gutenberg.org

The older the recipe, the harder it can be. One reason is that language has changed. A lot. Take this example (also taken from Project Gutenberg) for apple pie from The Forme of Cury The Forme of Cury, published around 1390 A.D.: Tak G.o.de Applys and G.o.de Spycis and Figys and reysons and Perys and wan they are wel brayed coloure wyth Safron wel and do yt in a cofyn and do yt forth to bake well.

Almost as bad as a condensed tweet, this translates to: "Take good apples and good spices and figs and raisins and pears and when they are well crushed, color well with saffron and put in a coffin (pie pastry) and take it to bake." (The "coffin"-little basket-is an ancestor to modern-day pie pastry and would not have been edible at that point in time.) Still, as a starting point for an experiment, the idea of making a mash of apples and pears, some dried fruit, spices, and saffron suggests not just a recipe for pie filling, but also a festive apple sauce for Thanksgiving.

Old recipes aren't always so concise. Take Maistre Chiquart's recipe for parma torte parma torte in in Du Fait de Cuisine Du Fait de Cuisine, 1420 A.D. He starts with "take 3 or 4 pigs, and if the affair should be larger than I can conceive, add another, and from the pigs take off the heads and thighs, and..." He goes on for four pages, adding 300 pigeons and 200 chicks ("if the affair is at a time when you can't find chicks, then 100 capons"); calling for both familiar spices like sage, parsley, and marjoram, and unfamiliar ones such as hyssop and "grains of paradise"; and ending with instructions to place a pastry version of the house coat of arms on top of the pie crust and decorate the top with a "check-board pattern of gold leaf" (diamond-studded iPhone cases have nothing nothing on this guy). on this guy).

[image]

Modernized version of parma torte, without the gold leaf, from Du Fait de Cuisine, Du Fait de Cuisine, by Maistre Chiquart-France, 1420 A.D. by Maistre Chiquart-France, 1420 A.D.

Needless to say, you'll likely need to do some scaling and adaptation of older recipes-again, part of the fun and experimentation! For parma tortes, I worked out my own adaptation. I later found that Eleanor and Terence Scully's Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations (University of Michigan Press) includes a nice adaptation. You can peek at it on Google Books; search for "parma torte." (University of Michigan Press) includes a nice adaptation. You can peek at it on Google Books; search for "parma torte."

Besides studying older recipes, you can look at traditional recipes from particular regions to see how ingredients are normally combined. Different cultures have different "flavor families," ingredients that are thought of as having an affinity for one another. Rosemary, garlic, and lemon are pleasing together-hence, traditional dishes like chicken marinated in those ingredients. It can take time to build up a familiarity with flavor families, but taking note of what ingredients show up together on menus, bottles of salad dressings, or in seasoning packets is a good shortcut.

Common ingredients Served with...

Chinese Bean sprouts, chilies, garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce, mushrooms, sesame oil, soy, sugar Rice French b.u.t.ter, b.u.t.ter, and more b.u.t.ter, garlic, parsley, tarragon, wine Bread Greek Garlic, lemon, oregano, parsley, pine nuts, yogurt Orzo (pasta) Indian Cardamom seed, cayenne, coriander, c.u.min, ghee, ginger, mustard seed, turmeric, yogurt Rice or potatoes Italian Anchovies, balsamic vinegar, basil, citrus zest, fennel, garlic, lemon juice, mint, oregano, red pepper flakes, rosemary Risotto or pasta j.a.panese Ginger, mirin, mushrooms, scallions, soy Rice Latin American Chilies, cilantro, citrus, c.u.min, ginger, lime, rum Rice Southeast Asian Cayenne, coconut, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, lemon gra.s.s, lime, Thai pepper Rice or noodles

Common ingredients used in chicken dishes by a few common cuisines. (Note that not all of these ingredients would be used simultaneously.) The ingredients used to bring balance to a dish will vary by region. For example, the Greeks use lemon juice in horta horta to moderate the bitterness of the dark leafy greens like dandelion greens, mustard greens, and broccoli rabe, while the Italian equivalent uses balsamic vinegar. to moderate the bitterness of the dark leafy greens like dandelion greens, mustard greens, and broccoli rabe, while the Italian equivalent uses balsamic vinegar.

[image]

With even a short list of culturally specific ingredients as inspiration, you can create simple marinades and dipping sauces without too much work. Pick a few ingredients, mix them in a bowl, and toss in tofu or meat such as chicken tenderloins or steak. Allow the tofu or meat to marinate in the fridge for anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, and then grill away.

When creating your own marinade, if you're not sure about the quant.i.ties, give it a guess. This is a great way to build up that experiential memory of what works and what doesn't.

Simple Greek-Style MarinadeIn a bowl, mix: - cup (60g) yogurt - 1 tablespoon (15g) lemon juice (about lemon's worth) - 1 teaspoon (2g) oregano - teaspoon (3g) salt - Zest of 1 lemon, minced finely Simple j.a.panese-Style MarinadeIn a bowl, mix: - cup (70g) low-sodium soy sauce (regular soy sauce will be too salty) - 2 tablespoons (10g) minced ginger - 3 tablespoons (20g) minced scallions (also known as green onions), about 2 stalks - 2 tablespoons (40g) honey

Bitter Salty Sour Sweet Umami Hot Chinese Chinese broccoli Bitter melon Soy sauce Oyster sauce Rice vinegar Plum sauce (sweet and sour) Plum sauce (sweet and sour) Jujubes (small red dates) Hoisin sauce Dried mushrooms Oyster sauce Mustard Szechwan peppers Ginger root French Frisee Radish Endive Olives Olives Capers Red wine vinegar Lemon juice Sugar Tomato Mushrooms Dijon mustard Black, white, and green peppercorns Greek Dandelion greens Mustard greens Broccoli rabe Feta cheese Lemon Honey Tomato Black pepper Garlic Indian Asafetida Fenugreek Bitter melon Kala namak (black salt, which is NaCl and Na2S) Lemon Lime Amchur (ground dried green mangoes) Tamarind Sugar Jaggery (unrefined palm sugar) Tomato Black pepper Chilies, cayenne pepper Black mustard seed Garlic Ginger Cloves Italian Broccoli rabe Olives Artichoke Radicchio Prosciutto Cheese (pecorino or parmigianoreggiano) Capers or anchovies (commonly packed in salt) Balsamic vinegar Lemon Sugar Caramelized veggies Raisins / dried fruits Tomato Parmesan cheese Garlic Black pepper Italian hot long chilies Cherry peppers j.a.panese Tea Soy sauce Miso Seaweed Rice vinegar Mirin s.h.i.take mushrooms Miso Dashi Wasabi Chiles Latin American Chocolate (unsweetened) Beer Cheeses Olives Tamarind Lime Sugar cane Tomato Jalapeno and other hot peppers Southeast Asian Dried tangerine peel Pomelo (citrus fruit) Fish sauce Dried shrimp paste Tamarind Kaffir limes Coconut milk Fermented bean paste Bird chili Thai chili in sauces and pastes

Examples of ingredients used by different cultures to balance out flavors. Use this chart as an inspiration to try out new combinations and take note of how the various flavors change your perceptions.

Rice, Wheat, Grains Congee, Cream of Wheat, Porridge A billion people eat congee daily, but you're unlikely to find it on many restaurant menus in the United States, for the same reason that "porridge" and "gruel" don't appear very often: it's a dish meant to stretch the filling power of a few cheap ingredients as much as possible. (Think Oliver Twist: "Please, sir, I want some more.") That doesn't mean it can't be delicious and nutritious; it just means that unless your cultural background includes it, you might not know it. For some, it's the equivalent of chicken noodle soup: something nourishing to turn to when sick or looking for comfort.

Since everybody has to eat, every culture has something like congee based on the staple crop that grows regionally. Different regions of the world support growing different crops: wheat in the United States, grains such as oats in Europe, and rice in much of Asia. Wheat becomes cream of wheat, oats become porridge, and rice becomes congee.

Congee can be "subcla.s.sed" into several different versions, depending upon the culture. The Chinese call it zhou zhou (runny rice porridge with eggs, fish paste, tofu, and soy sauce); in India, it's called (runny rice porridge with eggs, fish paste, tofu, and soy sauce); in India, it's called ganji ganji (rice "soup" that has flavorings such as coconut milk, curry, ginger, and c.u.min seeds added to it). When cooked in sweet milk with cardamom and topped with pistachio or almonds, you have the dessert version. (rice "soup" that has flavorings such as coconut milk, curry, ginger, and c.u.min seeds added to it). When cooked in sweet milk with cardamom and topped with pistachio or almonds, you have the dessert version.

If you want a further challenge, try fusion cooking: blending the ingredients and flavors of two regions together. Why not try porridge with traditional congee toppings, or congee with porridge toppings? Or, pick two random locations (the tried-and-true semi-random method: dartboard and map of the world; if you hit water, go for fish), and create a meal blending the flavors from the different cultures, or using one culture's ingredients with another culture's techniques. Italian and Mexican? Try taco pizza: pizza with cheese, tomatoes, salsa, beans, and cilantro on top. Vietnamese and Cla.s.sic American? How about a Vietnamese hamburger, seasoning the meat with fish sauce, lemongra.s.s, and red pepper flakes, and adding cuc.u.mber and bean sprouts to the bun? j.a.panese and Cla.s.sic European? Go for miso ice cream; it's salty and sweet, and delicious!

Fusion cooking often results from the mixing of two cultures via immigration. There are plenty of fusion-like dishes that have come out of cultures situated where two different regions meet or two different cultures mingle: Mediterranean (North African + Southern European), Southeast Asian (Asian + European colonialism), and Caribbean (African + Western European), for example. Israeli markets carry ingredients from the surrounding western regions of North Africa (especially Moroccan) and Eastern Europe; their cuisine is influenced by the traditions of both areas. Modern Vietnamese food was heavily impacted by French occupation in the 19th century. The United States is perhaps the most diverse example of fusion cooking; with so many different cultures mingling, you might not even think of using the term "fusion" to describe our cuisine, but it is. Just think of African-influenced Southern cooking, the French and African backgrounds in Cajun food, and the impact of Mexican cuisine on Tex-Mex.

Rice CongeeCook for at least several hours in a slow cooker, or in a pot set over a very low flame: - 4 cups (1kg) water or stock - cup (100g) rice, unwashed unwashed (so that the starches remain in the congee) (so that the starches remain in the congee) - teaspoon (3g) salt When you're ready to eat, heat the rice to near boiling to finish cooking. The long, low-heat cooking will have broken down the starches; boiling the liquid will cause them to gelatinize and quickly thicken. I have a rice cooker that has a slow-cook mode, so I switch it from slow-cook mode to rice mode, which is hotter and will take the rice up to near boiling. If you are doing this in a pot on the stovetop, set the pot over medium heat, periodically stirring and checking it while working on the rest of these instructions so that it does not burn on the bottom.While the rice is cooking, prepare a number of toppings. I enjoy: - Tofu, cut into small cubes and browned on all sides - Scallions, chopped into small pieces - Garlic, sliced into thin discs and toasted on each side to make "garlic chips"

- Sriracha sauce - Soy sauce - Toasted almond slices You can serve this family-style, with the toppings in small bowls where your guests can help themselves (or not, in the case of sriracha sauce), or you can portion the toppings out more formally: a tablespoon or two of tofu, a few teaspoons of scallions, a sprinkling of garlic chips, and a dash of sriracha and soy sauces. Quant.i.ty is not particularly important, except for the hot and salty sauces.[image]Notes - This isn't a fancy or precise dish, and there's no right or wrong set of toppings or quant.i.ties. (Millions of cooks can't be getting this wrong.) A simple rice congee is a great place to try different combinations of ingredients!

- To toast the garlic, use a sharp knife to slice a few cloves (or more, if you're a garlicphile) into thin discs. Place a frying pan on a burner set to medium-high heat, but do not add oil. Arrange the garlic wafers in a single, thin layer. Toast one side until medium brown, about two to three minutes, and then flip (try using tongs) to toast the second side.

- Try cracking an egg into the congee at the end of cooking, either in the pot (and then mix it in), or in the individual bowls (you might need to pop the congee into the microwave for a minute if it isn't hot enough to fully cook the egg). Adding an egg will alter the texture and give the dish a much richer taste.

- Try subst.i.tuting other salty ingredients for the soy sauce and hot ingredients for the sriracha sauce, using the flavor-by-culture table presented earlier.

One of the keys to a successful blend of two culinary traditions is to choose recipes for which the ingredients are readily available. Indian cuisine has translated extremely well to the United States, in large part because the ingredients commonly used either are already present here (onions, lentils, peppers) or ship and store well (c.u.min, paprika, curry powders). Much Egyptian food, on the other hand, relies on goat meat, which is extremely uncommon in the American grocery store. One great way to find inspiration is to visit local ethnic markets and stores. They tend to be small storefronts with "weird" smells from the different produce and spices, and are typically located in obscure neighborhoods, so ask around to discover where they're hidden.

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Salad[image]Tomato, basil, and mozzarella are a cla.s.sic Italian combination, and a good example of "what grows together goes together." This recipe is all about the freshness of the ingredients, so you'll need to wait until the height of summer for the ingredients to be in season.If you are adventurous, try making your own cheese. See Mozzarella in Mozzarella Cheese Mozzarella Cheese in in Chapter6 Chapter6.Toss in a bowl and serve: - 1 cup (180g) sliced tomatoes, about 2 medium ones - 1 cup (15g) fresh basil leaves, from about 3 or 4 stems - cup (100g) mozzarella - 1 tablespoon (15g) olive oil - Salt and pepper to taste

Notes.

- The ratio of basil to cheese to tomato is really up to you. Hold back some of each ingredient, take a look at the resulting salad, and toss in more of whatever you think will make it better. The only thing to be careful with is the salt; once there's too much in there, it's hard to fix. How to slice the tomatoes and cheese is also up to you. Try thick slices of tomato and cheese, alternating in layers on the plate and served with a fork and knife. Or, slice the tomato and cheese into bite-sized pieces to be served with just a fork.

- Try making this twice, once with conventional tomatoes and a second time with heirloom tomatoes, to see the difference made by the quality of ingredients.[image]

Xeni Jardin on Local Food[image]PHOTO OF XENI JARDIN USED BY PERMISSION OF JEN COLLINSXeni Jardin is a coeditor of Boing Boing ( (http://www.boingboing.net).Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and food?I've been fascinated with cooking as long as I've been fascinated with creating and exploring technology, if not longer. To me, the two worlds aren't mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they feed each other. Just recently, one of our coeditors on the blog, Lisa Katayama, was in Nepal, and over the weekend she posted a single sentence: "I could eat dal bhat every day of my life." Dal bhat is basically rice and stewed lentils. It's what you eat at almost every meal in Nepal. I traveled to the region myself. I was remembering how good the simple food of that Himalayan country was. So I said, "You know what? I'm going to make some dal bhat right here in Los Angeles." I had some split yellow peas in the cupboard and dug out some different spices. I didn't know exactly how to make it so I started Googling. I do this a lot. I'll spend half an hour poking around at different recipes. I end up kind of improvising something in the end usually based on my own cooking experience and different little bits of the recipes I find.What is it like exploring food both through the Internet and through traveling and seeing the traditional ways food is prepared in other countries?I was in a Mayan village with some people that I work with, a nonprofit. It was Christmas, and in Guatemala, tamales and Christmas go together. In this particular village, the women have a particular way that they prepare the Christmas tamales. They use locally grown white corn. I followed them around and took notes and, with their permission, filmed the preparation and watched every step. This woman was toasting sesame seeds over a wood fire, and then grinding them in a stone grinder. Another was making the spicy sauce. Other women in another part of the room boiled prepared corn into a mash.This particular preparation was kind of runny and soft and white, a lot like the grits that I grew up with in the South. I sat in the middle of this a.s.sembly line of women all wearing their brightly colored woven blouses as they glopped a big dollop of that soft white corn into big green leaves from the corn plant. Then they added a little bit of meat and sauce, and then they tied them all up and steamed them.A few days later we drove back into Guatemala City, where we stayed with a nonindigenous family. The house was just packed to the gills with tamales that were purchased from local vendors. When a guy is on the street walking around with a bag of tamales, the answer is always yes. They have a million different kinds of tamales that are prepared for Christmas in that country alone. I remember sitting at some Christmas celebrations there, too. We're sitting there at the table and there's sheets of all these different kinds of tamales. One of the Guatemalan people at the table said, "What the h.e.l.l is in this? Cherries?" That's the kind of sweet and savory Guatemalan tamale you can get for Christmas.I can't get enough of that in the same way that I frequently fall down these Internet search rabbit holes when I'm just chilling out thinking about what kind of yummy, healthy food I'm going to prepare for my family and friends. I love exploring food in traditional cultures as a part of the reporting that I do, and I love exploring food back here. It's a fairly important part of my life.

Seasonal Method Cooking "within season" means using only those ingredients that have good, fresh flavor and are ripe. Restricting yourself to ingredients that are in season in your region is a great way of creating constant challenges and exposing yourself to new ingredients. And because in-season ingredients tend to be of higher quality and pack more of a flavor punch, it's that much easier to make the resulting dishes taste good. Next time you're at the grocery store, take note of what new fruits and vegetables have arrived and what is in dwindling supply.

Of course, not every ingredient in a dish is a "seasonal" ingredient. Cellar onions, storage apples, and pantry goods such as rice, flour, and beans are year-round staples and fair game. What is off-limits with this approach are those foods that are outside their growing season for where you live. Put another way, don't try making grilled peaches in February. Even if you can get a peach in February, it won't have the same flavor as a mid-summer peach, so it will invariably taste flat. Even if those peaches shipped from Chile taste okay, they won't be as good as the local in-season peaches, because they have to be of a variety that favors shipping durability and disease resistance over taste and texture. (Unless you happen to live in Chile.) One of the perks of using in-season ingredients, besides the quality, is that the abundance of the in-season produce generally means lower prices, too, as the supply-and-demand curves change. Grocery stores have to figure out how to sell all those zucchinis when they come up for harvest, and running specials is one of the standard ways of moving product. The same challenge applies even more if you're growing your own fruits and vegetables, because a home garden can produce an abundance over a short period of time. If you figure out what to do with the 100 pounds of zucchini that all come ready in late summer, I know plenty of people who would like to hear it!

NoteIn-season, local foods have the advantage of typically being fresher than their conventional counterparts, which is especially important for flavor in highly perishable foods such as heirloom tomatoes and fresh seafood. Local isn't always better, though. For example, if you live in a northern climate, you might find that produce such as radishes from traditional farms located where it gets hotter might taste better.

[image]

Caterina Fake's Roasted Potatoes[image]Caterina Fake cofounded the photo-sharing site Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) and Hunch (http://hunch.com), a decision-making site. She also serves on the board of directors for both Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) and Etsy (http://www.etsy.com).Tell me about what role food and cooking play in your life.I never considered myself to be much of a cook, but at some point I realized that I was a much better cook than I had thought I was. It was a revelation to me. I had mostly been cooking family recipes that had been handed down; I didn't refer much to cookbooks. I've been told by guests to my house that I was a better cook than I thought I was and it took me a while to come around to actually believing that. It came very gradually over time, adding one recipe a year maybe, but over time you get many, many recipes.Why did you think that you weren't a good cook?Just because I cooked such simple things, using such simple ingredients. I would get waxy potatoes and cut them up and put olive oil on them with rosemary and garlic and salt and pepper and grill them and for whatever reason I didn't think that that qualified. My mother would occasionally do these incredible James Beard and Julia Child recipes, these elaborate recipes that took hours and hours of preparation and special ingredient shopping and that was what qualified as good cooking. It was haute cuisine, whereas the kind of cooking that I always did was just put something yummy on the table for dinner without a lot of effort.I think so often it's the very simple dishes that actually can be some of the most special, most significant meals of our lives. What created this interest in learning to cook?Necessity. I loved having people over and I loved cooking for people. When I was working as a web developer in San Francisco, dinner parties were really my favorite ways of socializing. I would have people over and as a result, I had to learn how to cook. When I lived in New York I actually didn't cook very much because there are so many restaurants and New York kitchens are so tiny. It's much more of a dinner party culture here in San Francisco.Any parting thoughts that you would like to share?I'm very lucky to live in California, where fresh food is plentiful. I started receiving a box of food from the Eat Well Farms CSA. I learned a bunch of new recipes and ways of cooking from having had that basket of vegetables delivered to my doorstep with a bunch of things that I normally would avoid at the grocery store. I didn't know what to do with fennel. I didn't know what to do with sweet potatoes. I didn't know what to do with parsnips. It got me out of my comfort zone and taught me some new ways to think about food. One of my favorite cookbooks is The Art of Simple Food The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter). It would not look down upon my potato recipe. Those are the exact kinds of recipes that it includes. It's really very intuitive cooking; it gives you a very short list of very simple ingredients from which you can cook a great many things. by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter). It would not look down upon my potato recipe. Those are the exact kinds of recipes that it includes. It's really very intuitive cooking; it gives you a very short list of very simple ingredients from which you can cook a great many things.Caterina Fake's Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and RosemaryCut in half some waxy potatoes, such as yellow potatoes like Yukon Gold, or red potatoes. Blanch the potatoes in a pot of boiling water for a minute or two. Strain the potatoes out and spread them on a cookie sheet. Mix with a generous amount of olive oil and diced-up garlic and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper to taste.Place the cookie sheet on the top shelf of an oven set to broil. Once the top side is golden brown and crispy on the outside, turn them over, and broil the other side until done.These are great for breakfast or you can have them as a side dish or snack.Environmentally Sound InputsFirst they say farm-raised salmon is better, then it's wild salmon. Or the blogs light up with posts about how many metric tons of greenhouse gases or gallons of water are a.s.sociated with producing an average cheeseburger. Then there's the whole "local food" movement wanting to help with reducing our collective carbon footprint. What's an environmentally conscious geek to do?It depends. How much are you willing to give up?Let's start with the good news, with the greenest of the green: your veggies. Locally grown veggies combined with a minimum of transportation and sold unpackaged are about as good as you can get for the environment, and they're about as good as you can get for yourself. Look for a farmers' market in the summer (or if you're lucky enough to live in California, year-round). Farmers' markets are a great way to really understand where your food is coming from. Plus, your local economy will thank you.You can also subscribe to a CSA (community-supported agriculture) share, where every week or two you receive a box of local and seasonal produce. It's a great way to challenge yourself in the kitchen, because invariably something unfamiliar will show up in your CSA share, or you'll find yourself with 10 pounds of spinach and be looking for something new to do with it. Regardless of anything else, your mother was right: eat your veggies. (On a personal note unrelated to the environment, I believe the typical American diet doesn't include enough veggies. Eat more veggies! More!)In the other corner, there are red meats like corn-fed beef. It's environmentally expensive to produce: the cow has to eat, and if fed corn (instead of gra.s.s), the corn has to be grown, harvested, and processed. All this results in a higher carbon footprint per pound of slaughtered meat than that of smaller animals like chickens. Then there's the fuel expended in transportation, along with the environmental impact of the packaging. By some estimates, producing a pound of red meat creates, on average, four times the greenhouse-gas emissions as a pound of poultry or fish. See Weber and Matthews' "Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States" (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es702969f).Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum between local-shopping vegan and delighting in a ginormous bacon-wrapped slab of corn-fed beef, limiting consumption in general is the best method for helping the environment. Choose foods that have lower impact on the environment, and be mindful of wasted food. See the caveat below, but current data suggests the total impact on the environment of consuming fish is less than the impact of eating chicken and turkey, which likewise is more sustainable than pork, which is in turn better for the environment than beef.This isn't to say all red meats are bad. If that steak you're cutting into came from a locally raised, gra.s.s-fed cow, she might actually be playing a positive role in the environment by converting the energy stored in gra.s.s into fertilizer (i.e., manure) for other organisms to use. See Michael Pollan's cla.s.sic The Omnivore's Dilemma The Omnivore's Dilemma (Penguin) for more on this topic, but as a general rule, the more legs it has, the "less good" it is for the environment. (By this logic, centipedes are pure evil...) (Penguin) for more on this topic, but as a general rule, the more legs it has, the "less good" it is for the environment. (By this logic, centipedes are pure evil...)By most a.n.a.lyses, cutting the amount of red meat you consume is the easiest way to make a positive impact on the environment. One friend of mine follows the "no-buy" policy: he happily eats it, but won't buy it. I've heard of others following variants of Mark Bittman's "vegan before 6 diet: limiting consumption of meats during the day but pigging out at dinner.With respect to fish, whether farm raised or wild-caught is better depends upon the species of fish, so there's no good general rule. There are issues with both types: some methods of farm fishing generate pollutants or allow fish to escape and commingle with wild species, while wild-caught contributes to the depletion of the ocean's stocks, and the impact of a global collapse in the fisheries from over-fishing is a very real threat to the food supply to hundreds of millions. For a good article on fisheries and the global impact of over-fishing, see the New Republic New Republic's "Aquacalypse Now" (http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-energy/aquacalypse-now).The biggest contribution you can make-at least on the dinner plate-is to avoid wild-caught seafood of species that are overfished. The Monterey Bay Aquarium runs a great service called "Seafood WATCH" that provides a list of "best," "okay," and "avoid" species, updated frequently and broken out by geographic region of the country. Search online for "seafood watch" or visit http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx.

[image]

Data from Google Trends showing search volumes for the terms "peach" (left) and "tomato" (right) for California users and Ma.s.sachusetts users. The growing season in Ma.s.sachusetts starts later and is much shorter than in California. There's a tight correlation of this with Google's search volumes for those terms.

If it's the dead of winter and there's a foot of snow on the ground (incidentally, not not the best time to eat out at restaurants specializing in local, organic fare), finding produce with "good flavor" can be a real challenge. You will have to work harder to produce flavors on par with those in summer meals. Working with the seasons means adapting the menu. There's a reason why cla.s.sic French winter dishes like ca.s.soulet (traditionally made with beans and slow-cooked meats, but that description does the best time to eat out at restaurants specializing in local, organic fare), finding produce with "good flavor" can be a real challenge. You will have to work harder to produce flavors on par with those in summer meals. Working with the seasons means adapting the menu. There's a reason why cla.s.sic French winter dishes like ca.s.soulet (traditionally made with beans and slow-cooked meats, but that description does not not do this amazing dish justice-I make mine with duck confit, bacon, sausage, and beans, then slow roast it overnight) and coq au vin (stewed chicken in wine) use cellar vegetables such as onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes and slow, long-cooking simmers to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. I can't imagine eating ca.s.soulet mid-summer, let alone venting the heat generated from keeping the oven on for that long. Yet in the dead of winter, nothing's better. do this amazing dish justice-I make mine with duck confit, bacon, sausage, and beans, then slow roast it overnight) and coq au vin (stewed chicken in wine) use cellar vegetables such as onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes and slow, long-cooking simmers to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. I can't imagine eating ca.s.soulet mid-summer, let alone venting the heat generated from keeping the oven on for that long. Yet in the dead of winter, nothing's better.

[image]

Seasonality chart for fruits and vegetables in New England. Fruits have a shorter season than vegetables, and only a few vegetables survive past the first frost. Some plants can't tolerate the hottest part of the year; others do best during those times. If you live in the Bay Area or New York, see http://www.localfoodswheel.com for a nifty "what's in season" wheel chart. for a nifty "what's in season" wheel chart.

Consider the following three soups: gazpacho, b.u.t.ternut squash, and white bean and garlic. The ingredients used in gazpacho and b.u.t.ternut squash soup are seasonal, so they tend to be made in the summer and autumn, respectively (of course, modern agricultural practices have greatly extended the availability of seasonal ingredients, and your climate might be more temperate than the sources of these traditions). White bean and garlic soup, on the other hand, uses pantry goods that can be had at any time of year. Thus, it is traditionally thought of as a winter soup, because it's one of the few dishes that can be made that time of year.

Gazpacho (Summer)[image]Puree, using an immersion blender or food processor: - 2 large (500g) tomatoes, peeled, with seeds removed Transfer the pureed tomato to a large bowl. Add: - 1 (150g) cuc.u.mber, peeled and seeded - 1 cob (125g) corn, grilled or broiled and cut off the cob - 1 (100g) sweet red bell pepper, grilled or broiled - small (30g) red onion, thinly sliced, soaked in water, and drained - 2 tablespoons (20g) olive oil - 2 cloves (6g) garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press - 1 teaspoon (4g) white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar - teaspoon (1g) salt Stir to combine. Adjust salt to taste and add ground black pepper as desired.Notes - The weights in this recipe are for the prepared ingredients (i.e., after removing seeds, tr.i.m.m.i.n.g stems, or soaking).

- If you prefer a smooth gazpacho, puree all of the ingredients at the end. Or, add a portion of the veggies, puree, and then add the remainder to achieve a partly smooth, partly chunky texture. It's all about your preference!

- Gazpacho is one of those dishes that is really about the fresh ingredients that you have on hand. There's no mechanical or chemical reason for these quant.i.ties to be written as they are, so add more of this, less of that, whatever you like to suit your tastes. Try expanding this recipe to include other ingredients, such as hot peppers or fresh herbs.

- Grilling or broiling the corn and bell peppers adds a smoked flavor to the soup, due to the chemical reactions that take place at higher heat, as we'll discuss later in this book. You might find you prefer a "raw" version of this soup. Or, if you really like the smoky flavor, try adding some "liquid smoke" to amp it up.

NoteWhenever you see a recipe calling for a grilled vegetable, you should default to rubbing it with a light coating of olive oil before grilling it, because this will prevent the vegetable from drying out while cooking.How to Peel a TomatoI have a friend whose boyfriend tried to make her a surprise dinner involving tomato soup, but he didn't know how to peel tomatoes. She came home to find her guy frantically trying to use a vegetable peeler on the tomatoes to no avail...[image]To peel tomatoes, drop them in boiling water for a few seconds and then pull them out with tongs or a mesh spider, and then just pull the skins off. You can cut an "x" shape into the skin before blanching, although I find the skin on some varieties of tomatoes will pull back regardless, as long as the water is at a full rolling boil. Experiment to see if it makes a difference!b.u.t.ternut Squash Soup (Fall)Puree in a food processor or with an immersion blender: - 2 cups (660g) b.u.t.ternut squash, peeled, cubed, and roasted (about 1 medium squash) - 2 cups (470g) chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock - 1 small (130g) yellow onion, diced and sauteed - teaspoon (1g) salt (adjust to taste)

Notes.

- As with the gazpacho recipe, the weights are for the prepared ingredients and only rough suggestions. So, prepare each item individually. For example, for the squash, peel it, then coat it with olive oil, sprinkle it with salt, and roast it in the oven at a temperature around 400425F / 200220C until it begins to brown. When you go to puree the ingredients, hold back some of the squash and some of the stock, taste the puree, and see which you think it needs. Want it thicker? Add more squash. Thinner? Add more stock.