Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food (26 page)
Read Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food Online
Authors: Jeff Potter
Tags: #COOKING / Methods / General
If it’s the dead of winter and there’s a foot of snow on the ground (incidentally,
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 classic French winter dishes like cassoulet (traditionally made with beans and slow-cooked meats, but that description does
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 cassoulet 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.
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.
Consider the following three soups: gazpacho, butternut squash, and white bean and garlic. The ingredients used in gazpacho and butternut 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.
Purée, using an immersion blender or food processor:
- 2 large (500g) tomatoes, peeled, with seeds removed
Transfer the puréed tomato to a large bowl. Add:
- 1 (150g) cucumber, peeled and seeded
- 1 cob (125g) corn, grilled or broiled and cut off the cob
- 1 (100g) sweet red bell pepper, grilled or broiled
- ½ 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
- ½ 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, trimming stems, or soaking).
- If you prefer a smooth gazpacho, purée all of the ingredients at the end. Or, add a portion of the veggies, purée, 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 quantities 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.
Whenever 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 Tomato
I 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...
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!
Purée in a food processor or with an immersion blender:
- 2 cups (660g) butternut squash, peeled, cubed, and roasted (about 1 medium squash)
- 2 cups (470g) chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock
- 1 small (130g) yellow onion, diced and sautéed
- ½ 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 400–425°F / 200–220°C until it begins to brown. When you go to purée the ingredients, hold back some of the squash and some of the stock, taste the purée, and see which you think it needs. Want it thicker? Add more squash. Thinner? Add more stock.
- This soup by itself is very basic. Garnish with whatever else you have on hand that you think might go well, such as garlic croutons and bacon. Or top with a small dab of cream, some toasted walnuts, and dried cranberries to give it a feeling of Thanksgiving. How about a teaspoon of maple syrup, a few thin slices of beef, and some fresh oregano? Chives, sour cream, and cheddar cheese? Why not! Instead of purchasing items to follow a recipe exactly, try using leftover ingredients from other meals to complement the squash soup.
- If you’re in a rush, you can “jump-start” the squash by microwaving it first. Peel and quarter the squash, using a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then, cube it into 1–2” / 3–5 cm pieces, drop it into a glass baking pan that’s both oven and microwave safe, and nuke it for four to five minutes to partially heat the mass. Remove from microwave, coat the squash with olive oil and a light sprinkling of salt, and roast it in a preheated oven until done, about 20 to 30 minutes. If you’re not in a rush, you can skip the peeling step entirely: cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, add oil and salt, roast it for about an hour (until the flesh is soft), and use a spoon to scoop it out.
To cut thick gourds such as squash and pumpkins, use a large chef’s knife and a mallet. First, slice off a thin piece of the gourd so that it lies flat and doesn’t roll, then gently tap the knife blade through the gourd.
In a bowl, soak for several hours or overnight:
- 2 cups dry white beans, such as cannelloni beans
After soaking overnight, drain the beans, place them in a pot, and fill it with water (try adding a few bay leaves or a sprig of rosemary). Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Strain out the water and put the beans back in a pot (if using an immersion blender) or in the bowl of a food processor.
Add to the pot or bowl with beans and then purée until blended:
- 2 cups (500g) chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 medium (150g) yellow onion, diced and sautéed
- 3 slices (50g) French bread, coated in olive oil and toasted on both sides
- ½ head (25g) garlic, peeled, crushed, and sautéed or roasted
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Notes
- Don’t skip soaking and boiling the beans. Really. One type of protein present in beans — phytohaemagglutinin — causes extreme intestinal distress. The beans need to be boiled to denature this protein; cooking them in a slow cooker or sous vide setup (see
Chapter 7
) will not denature the protein and actually makes things worse. If you’re in a rush, use canned white beans; they’ll have already been cooked. - Variations: try blending some fresh oregano into the soup. Toss some bacon chunks on top or grate on some Parmesan cheese as well. As with many soups, how chunky versus how creamy to blend the soup is a personal preference.
- Make sure to toast the French bread to a nice golden brown. This will add the complex flavors from caramelization and Maillard reactions in the sugars and proteins from the bread. You can pour olive oil onto a flat plate and dip the bread in to coat it.
