Duh! Cooking Thought of the Day – Page 2

Salted WHAT?!

Easy answer; almost everything.

No, really; why do y’all think that salted caramel, chocolate and a hundred other deserts are hot right now?

One of my favorite authors, Mark Kurlanski, wrote a great book all about salt. Think that’d be a boring read? Think again, it’s a page turner. Salt has been used for money as well as for food, ya know…

So, naturally, the next logical question is, “I thought salt was bad for us?”
Answer: All things in moderation, Grasshopper!

We’ve been told that line, but is it true? Turns out the answer is, probably not.

The whole sodium leads to high blood pressure thing has never really been proven. Again, moderation is the key; high sodium diets aren’t any good for you, but neither is much of anything else, when taken out of balance.

Besides that, there are bunches of good things salt does for us, including;
Aids blood sugar control by improving insulin sensitivity.
Helps maintain the proper stomach pH.
Helps lower adrenaline spikes.
Aids sleep quality.
Helps maintain proper metabolism.
Supports proper thyroid function.

Look any of those claims up; there’re ample sources of support for them.

More to the point for our purposes here, salt makes food taste good. You might be shocked at how much salt is used in a professional kitchen. They don’t go crazy, mind you, but they sure do salt, and the primary reason is that proper salting makes food more enjoyable, and specifically, it enhances quality over quantity. In that light, you could argue that proper salting helps encourage weight management, too.

Next, you ask, “OK, let’s say I buy that, why is it so.”

Ahh, I nod sagely, it’s science time! (And if you enjoy this side of food study, you’ll want to look up Harold McGee)

Chemically speaking, table salt, is sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-).

Why do humans dig it so? Well, we came from it, in a very real sense; The Earth is made up of lots of minerals that get continuously washed into the sea, and sea water is, therefore, salty. Sea critters get raised in that, and they are from whence we came, si? As land-based critters who evolved from sea-based critters, we still rely on water and salt for many of our basic biological processes, as described in the last paragraph. Salt plays a crucial role in allowing water to diffuse throughout our bodies properly, and as such, being relatively intelligent, we’ve developed taste buds that dig what we need to survive. Neat, huh?

Now, taste wise, research suggests that salt has the effect of flavor suppression for what we perceive as bitter tastes. By doing that, it’s thought that salt thereby allows us a greater perception of sweet and sour. It’s not really clear why it is that salt lets us taste the caramel or a green bean more distinctly; there’s supposition that the presence of the salt suppresses water within the chemistry of the food, and thereby allows volatile aromatics to become more noticeable to us. As to whether or not salt actually does something like that, or just gets our brains to perceive it as such, your guess as good as mine; that might just be a dandy PhD subject.

“Alright,” you concede, “I’m in; so how do I do this right?”

Well, first off, use the right salt. For cooking, there’s a couple things to consider, source and grain size. For my mind, sea and kosher salts are best and anything that says ‘Iodized’ or ‘Table Salt’ I avoid like the plague. As for grain size, keep in mind that the larger they get, the slower the salt dissolves. If you’re doing rubs, big grains are fine, because that nice slow, time-released salting goes great with that process. If you’re making brine, you’d like the salt to dissolve pretty quickly, so smaller is better. And keep in mind that the same thing will happen on tongues as well.

Getting the idea that you might want more than one kind of salt in your pantry? I just went and looked at ours; we have 9 varieties of sea, kosher and various finishing salts. The latter has become popular lately, and they are, in fact, pretty cool. If you’re gonna finish a dish or garnish a hand made chocolate, why not Hawaiian black, Chilean pink, or Fleur de Sel? If you’ve never tried fish quick cooked on a heated block of Himalayan Pink Salt, you aughta; it’s not only cool, it’s seriously delicious.

We use kosher and sea salts as our primary cooking varieties, flaked for canning, pickling and brining, and the various others for special touches here and there. Once you get one you like, stick to it. All salts do not weigh the same, so for baking, brining, or any other recipe where the ratio really matters, you’ll want to know where yours hits the scales. The other great thing about kosher is it’s uniformity; you can grab it and send it to a dish with great control and repeatable uniformity, and that’s important.

So, how to use the stuff like a pro?

First and foremost, the rule is, do it, but don’t overdo it. You want to taste the food better, not the salt. The best way to achieve this goal is to salt throughout the cooking process, and taste what you’re making at every step. If what you’re adding is already salty, (bacon, olives, capers, etc), taste before you salt.

Do keep in mind that salt levels will change as your dish develops. If you reduce a liquid that’s salty, it’s gonna taste saltier. Ditto for stuff you make and then shove in the fridge for a spell. On the too light side, dairy sucks up salt like nobody’s business, so multiple checks are warranted with, say, a cream soup or stew.

Do it like this and your dishes will properly develop flavor as they cook, with the added fringe benefit that, if you screw up and hit it too hard at an intermediary step, you have time to fix it.

OK, so if you do screw up and over salt, whataya do? Adding cream and or butter, as mentioned above, reduces saltiness, so do that if your dish warrants it. Starch can do the same thing, so a piece or two of bread, soaked in milk for about 10 minutes, squeezed dry and added to the dish can help; note it also acts as a bit of a thickener though. The great Julia Child advocated grating a raw potato or two into a dish, allowing it to simmer for about 10 minutes, and then straining them out, noting that, “they’ll have absorbed quite a bit of the excess salt.” Anything good enough for Julia is certainly good enough for us, right?

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Now, one last tip, helped by this New Yorker cover; I know y’all have watched Food Porn TV and seen a bunch of chefs do this: get a nice pinch of that kosher salt, and raise your hand about a foot above the pan or bowl, and ever so slowly, release a dusting of salt from that lofty height. You didn’t really think those chefs do that just to look cool, did you? The increased drop height will allow you to better judge the amount of salt you’re adding, as well as allowing the salt granules to spread more evenly over the food.

Oh, and you’ll look cool when you do it, too.

That’s a Shitty Deal…

Not yet convinced that you need to know and control the source of the meat you eat?

Read this then, but get ready, it’s not pretty…

Juniper!

It’s so much more than a flavoring for gin! The variety that Juniper berries are harvested from is indeed a relative of the ornamental kinds we see out and about, but not all juniper berries are edible, so go with known sources rather than picking from the front shrubs. As some forestry buff is likely to point out, Junipers are actually a coniferous evergreen, and as such, the berries technically aren’t berries, they’re cones; now look who’s picking nits…

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Juniper berries can be a bit hard to find, but World Spice, Penzey’s, or Pendrey’s will come to your rescue with a fresh supply; it’s well worth adding to your spice cabinet and here’s why.

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You’ll use Juniper sparingly, so an ounce or two is plenty for your pantry. It’s a strong flavor, similar in seasoning power to Rosemary, but with a fruitier, somewhat resinous overtone to it, (again, they’re cones, so that makes sense, right?)

Juniper makes a stellar addition to base spices for stock, equally good for my mind in beef, chicken, pork or veggie. Two or three whole berries are plenty, added to your usual cohorts.

You can toast or roast the berries to bring out more complexity in the flavor profile.

If you’re using them as part of a rub or marinade and want to release a stronger juniper flavor, gently crush the berries under the flat of a chefs knife as you would garlic cloves, or do them up in a dedicated spice grinder.

For dang near any kind of game, Juniper is a secret weapon for taking the funky (AKA ‘gamey’, ‘strong’, etc) notes out of the taste profile. Try this wonderful rub as a marinade on any game you like.

3 cloves fresh Garlic
1-2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon black Pepper
3 juniper berries, crushed
2 sprigs Rosemary, about 3″ long
Juice and zest of 1/2 fresh Lemon

Peel and finely mince the garlic.

Zest the lemon, bright color skin only of course.

Strip the leaves from the Rosemary sprigs and chop them finely.

Put juniper and pepper in a spice grander and process them until fine ground.

Put all of the above into a non reactive bowl, add the garlic, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. mix thoroughly to a paste like consistency, add more oil if needed.

Spread evenly on all surfaces of your meat. Allow to marinate, refrigerated, for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

This is also a great marinade for poultry or pork. If you like the flavor profile, try adding a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a cup of grapefruit or orange juice for a wonderful wet marinade.

FIFO

Here’s another helpful little tip for y’all from the pro food world. It’s called FIFO and in any restaurant of quality, it’s practiced throughout each and every day.

It stand for
First
In
First
Out

Get it? It’s how you organize your stuff so that things don’t go to waste. Now, you’re probably thinking, ‘OK, but I’m not a restaurant, so why would I need this?’ That’s a rhetorical question though, right? Lemme answer it with a few questions of my own.

Do you throw out what could and should be good leftovers out ’cause they didn’t get used in time?

A couple/few times a year, do you go through your fridge and freezer and cabinets and shelves and chuck a bunch of stuff that didn’t get used in time?

Do you have a bunch of sauces, spices, herbs and whatnot that are way past their prime, maybe even downright off?

Can you afford all that waste?

If you answered too yup, yeah, yes, and no, then it’s FIFO time in your house. A little discipline will go a long way toward correcting those problems.

In restaurants, every time we prep, open, use or otherwise handle food, we slap a label on them that says what it is, when we opened or made it, and how long it’s good for. If you have a food waste problem, here’s a big part of the solution. This simple manifestation of FIFO at home is so often not done, it’s scary; how often have you looked at a leftover and asked ‘When did we make that; is it three days or seven?’ Sound familiar?

The easy fix is to label it every time and it’s problem solved. Use a non-permanent marker on storage containers in the fridge. Use a permanent marker in the freezer and in your shelves. Get some little stick on labels for anything else. Do it with spices, herbs, and stuff from your dry storage that tend so last a long time.

The next manifestation is to physically FIFO your fridge, freezer and cabinets; oldest stuff goes to the top or the front and gets used first, before it goes bad and before anything newer is opened or bought. You spend a bunch of money, time and effort on food and cooking; spend a little more an incorporate FIFO practices in to your menu planning. If you don’t menu plan, start. There’s simple, easy, smart food management. Get your family involved so the effort isn’t wasted.

Do you buy stuff in bulk like we do? Do you sometimes cook a bunch more of something than you need for than next meal, to save time and energy? Does it always get used in time when you do that? If not, think about it and start FIFOing your leftovers. If you did a bunch of chicken and it needs to be used in three days or so, stack that container front and center where it can’t be missed. If you don’t want to eat chicken for three days straight, portion and freeze what won’t get used right away. Food and money not wasted = good practice.

Again, we do this in the cafe every day without fail; it’s how we keep you well fed and safe. Do the same at home and you’ll save money and eat better.

Vas-y!

Herb and Spice Use 101

Adding herbs and spices,
A ‘Duh’ cooking moment?

Well, yes and no…
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(And yes, that’s really our cabinet…)

First off, disclaimer, this is a quick overview in response to a question from a reader, not The Big Picture view, K?

The first and most important answer to the question is this: Herbs and spices and herbs should be used to compliment the flavors of great food, not overwhelm them. In other words, all things in moderation, eh?

With that in mind, do think of salt and pepper as spices. They impact the flavor of foods and should not be left out of your thought process when deciding what to add, if for no other reason than not to add too much or too many. You can almost always say yes to salt, to some degree. Just a little shake or two of salt will wake up natural flavors and help others blend. Likewise, pepper adds a pleasant bottom note, a base to a flavor profile if you will, that’s more often worth it than not.

So, what else, if anything, do you need? The answer is again, moderation, most of the time. If you’re not making black mole, you don’t need 20 different spices and herbs. If you’re unsure what you need, but confident you do need some thing, try 2 and 3 component combinations that will enhance the flavor of the dish you’re building. It may be as simple as salt, pepper and lemon, or salt, pepper and garlic, or maybe garlic, lime and dill. Be selective, add a bit, allow the flavors to marry, then taste and see where you’re at.

Take for example, something simple like chili – what could and should go into your signature taste for that dish? We braise our meat in beer, add a dash of salt, onion, a little garlic and fresh cilantro to the base tomato flavor, and then use our house made chili powder, and that’s it.

The chile powder looks like this:
3 Tablespoons ground Chiles of your choice
1 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon ground Mexican Oregano
½ teaspoon smoked Paprika
½ teaspoon ground Garlic

There’s a great example of a wealth of complex flavor fueled mostly by the food, enhanced with just a few choice herbs and spices.

The next question that gets asked a lot is when to add herbs and spices. There’s no one answer to this question; it depends on what you’re cooking and adding. Here are some general rules of thumb.
1. You can add herbs anywhere in the cooking process. In general, if you want the flavor note of the herb to stand out more, add it toward the end, and I f you want the flavor note blended with the dish more thoroughly, add it at the start.
2. Ground spices and dried herbs release flavors quite quickly; they can and will peak and diminish if added too soon. For instance, in that chili we’re making up there, we add the chili powder when there’s about an hour left to go in the process; that lets the flavors infuse, but also keeps them brighter than they would be if they were in there for hours on end.
3. Whole spices release flavor more slowly than ground or leaf form. This is why we toss Bay leaves, whole pepper corns, Juniper and stuff like that in when we’re making stock; they can and should do their thing through the whole process to maximize the flavor notes they add to the mix. Try tying these kinds of herbs and spices into a sachet of cheesecloth; that’ll make them really easy to fish out when their work is done.
4. When making uncooked foods like salads, salsas, and dressings, add spices and herbs an hour or two or three before serving; that’ll allow flavors to marry properly. For salad dressings, add the spices to the vinegar and let that sit for half an hour before adding the oil.
5. For marinades, try briefly and gently heating the seasoned liquid and then allowing it to cool completely; that’ll help release the flavor notes from the spices.

And then there’s the ‘How Much to Add’ question.
It’s real hard to form a viable general rule for the correct amount of spices and herbs to use, ’cause the strength of each differs widely, as does their effect on different foods.
I think it is a sound rule of thumb to say that, the stronger the herb or spice, the more sparingly you should employ it. For example, it doesn’t take a whole lot of Rosemary to go from herbed to overwhelmed, so go easy with those bad boys.
Keeping in mind that recipes are often written to the lowest common denominator, you may want to get a feel for altering them effectively, and more to the point, you probably want to get comfortable building your own ideas for scratch, right?
If you need a starting point and just don’t have a comfortable reference, try this:
Use 1/2 teaspoon per pound of meat or pint of sauce or soup.
For strong herbs and spices and hot chiles, start with 1/4 teaspoon and adjust as you see fit.
It’s always easier to add than take away…

BTW, don’t shake herbs and spices from the jar into what you’re cooking; you’re asking for a disaster when the whole thing cuts loose and falls in, and besides that, rising moisture can ding the potency of the herb or spice. Crush leafy herbs in your hand and then add them to your dish.

Finally, store your stuff in airtight jars, away from strong light, heat and moisture, and if you don’t use it inside of year, reevaluate if you need it, and consider getting some fresh stuff, too!

Vas-y!

Vinegar? Duh!

Duh! Cooking Thought of the Day

Now, I’m not promising that I’ll post one of these each and every single day, but… When I don’t have some thing else cooking, we’ll toss in some of these. The idea is kind of a combination of “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas, as well as stuff to get you thinking about your cooking and your kitchen. So, here goes;

Vinegar.
Duh, right?
Yeah?
Well then, how many you actually got in your kitchen?
I consider the minimum acceptable contingency to be White, Cider, Red & White Wine, Balsamic, White Balsamic, Malt, and Rice.
Wha? You stutter; why all that?
Weeellllllll, let’s see…

Plain white vinegar is made from grain alcohol and basically tastes nasty, but it’s good for extracting flavors from herbs and spices, and you can add a splash of it to milk for a very workable faux buttermilk substitute, and it’s great for cleaning.

Cider vinegar is our go-to for pickling and marinating; the slightly sweet note just goes well with lotsa things.

Red and white wine vinegars are also every day vinegars, great for dressings and adding dash to a sauce or gastrique.

Balsamic vinegar is indispensable for marinating, salad dressings and as a distinctive, sweet, complex finish to sauces.

Malt is the one for fish, far as I’m concerned, unless you want the lightest vinegar touch possible, and then you turn to rice.

Rice is the least acidic vinegar, and by the way, goes great with its root constituent for a nice little twist in flavor.

And speaking of, when you make flavored vinegars, always keep ’em in the fridge, ’cause nasty bacteria can form at room temp.

All vinegars should be stored tightly closed in a cool, dark place to avoid premature breakdown. They’ll last about a year after opening.

And speaking of last, citrus juices, especially lemon and lime, make great subs for most vinegars,
but not balsamic;
nuthin’ is a sub for balsamic…