Mission: Cook! (17 page)

“Sour” would include lemon, vinegar, yogurt, and cheese, among others. Perception of the sour taste is the “acid detector,” and is a guide to finding and using that element in your cooking. Acids can act as a preservative, but more prominently as a sharpener of flavors.

“Salty” is rather self-explanatory, but it's a tricky category, as anyone who has been placed on a low-sodium diet will tell you. Salt lurks in many unsuspected places. Everybody knows not to salt a country-cured ham at the table because salt is already in there, but you may not realize how much there is in a fast-food milk shake. Salt is the showstopper of the food world; it really makes flavors stand up and be noticed, and you have to understand it and know how to make use of it properly because too much or too little can ruin the careful balance for which you will always be striving.

“Bitter” encompasses the green leafy vegetables: spinach, broccoli, endive, parsley, oregano, and other leafy herbs. I would put coffee into that category as well. Bitterness affects a different zone on the palate, and a masterful use of bitterness, usually in counterpoint to the other major tastes, often can result in a true symphony of flavor. A diet without the bitter taste is like an essay without adjectives.

Preheat
the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the olive oil, the juice of one of the lemons, the salt, white pepper, honey, and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a bowl, and add the tomatoes, broccoli rabe, carrots, and yellow squash, coating them well with the oil mixture.

Roast the vegetables on a baking sheet until tender.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan and sear the fish, beginning with skin side down, leaving undisturbed for 2 or 3 minutes, until crispy brown. Turn over and sear the other side of the fish the same way. Cook completely, but do not overcook. (The fish is done when the flesh springs back.) Remove the fish, and let it rest.

Place the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the juice of the other lemon into the pan, and swirl together to create a butter sauce.

PRESENTATION

Place the vegetable medley on a platter. Arrange the fish on top. Spoon the butter sauce on the fish and medley and serve.

S
PICES HAVE BEEN TREASURED SINCE ANCIENT TIMES BECAUSE OF THEIR
intense qualities of flavor. There is an infinite number of uses for spices in the kitchen.

Spiciness, as a term related to the “heat” of certain peppers, is an interesting component of flavor that can be inherent to foods or that can be added in a number of different ways. A gentleman named Walter Scoville devised a scale of measurement for the capsaicin in peppers that is widely known to culinarians. It ranks the “heat” of peppers from the mildest, green or red bell peppers, through poblanos, serranos, and jalapeños, to the atomic Scotch bonnets and habaneros. Peppers produce a sort of phantom heat, because they really have less to do with temperature than it does with the chemical reaction that takes place when they come in contact with your mouth. This reaction has a systemic component, which is why you may begin to sweat if you eat a lot of hot peppers, and why they impart a sudden sense of fullness to the body. I feel that there is a danger in using too many Scoville-rated, peppery flavors in my cooking because they have a tendency to dull the tongue and mask the genuine flavors of foods, but when they are properly controlled, as in good chili, jerk chicken, curries, chutneys, and the like, they can be quite marvelous. Balance has to be preserved. That's why when you eat a very hot curry, the traditional
sambals,
or accompaniments, are all sweet and cool. Coconut, cucumber, mango chutney, all help to neutralize the heat and settle everything down.

The opposite of this false heat of peppers might be the artificial cooling sensation brought to the palate by mints and menthols. This sensation can be very refreshing and can be employed to bring a beautiful finish to meat and fish dishes, starches, and astringent dishes, as well as desserts. Mint is widely used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, especially Greek cooking, and it adds a flavorful dimension of freshness and liveliness to foods as well as a sense of vitality to the body.

“Pungent” basically refers to spices such as horseradish, ginger, mustard, red and black pepper, cardamom, coriander, chile peppers, paprika, and their brethren, which are featured much more prominently in the ethnic cuisines of China, Thailand, Mexico, and the like. There is a bit of wizardry in spices, of alchemy, which is mostly derived, Merlin-like, from the seeds and barks of mysterious, aromatic plants. Outside of some of the classic spice mixtures—such as curry powder, chili powder, Chinese five-spice powder, garam masala, Old Bay seasoning—the use of spices, from a pinch judiciously added at just the right moment, to the thick pastes and dry rubs used in barbecues, means excitement. Spices are almost always dried, and can be purchased whole or
ground. If you can buy and dedicate a small coffee grinder to the purpose of grinding whole spices, do so. You will add a greater depth of flavor to many of your dishes.

“Astringent” may essentially be understood as applying to beans and lentils, and is also a quality found in cabbages, apples, and pears. It refers to the kind of reaction that tannins give to the mouth. If you really want to experience astringency, chew on a slice of persimmon flesh, and have someone you love nearby, because you are really going to pucker up. Again, many Eastern, Middle Eastern, and even European diets, especially around the Mediterranean Sea, rely much more heavily on beans than the typical American diet does. Think of how bean curd or tofu is used in Japanese cooking, or hummus in the Middle East, or the fact that Tuscans were widely referred to as the “bean eaters” of Italy. Beans, or pulses, are a terrific source of nutrition and protein. They are remarkably versatile and flavorful in their own right and are talented transmitters of flavor when married and infused with pork, garlic, onions, molasses, sesame, herbs, and a multitude of other ingredients in purees, baked or simmered, or in soups and stews.

Place
the chicken in a bowl and sprinkle with the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix to coat the chicken thoroughly, then cover and set aside.

Place the onion, garlic, and ginger in a blender or food processor and chop finely. Add the yogurt and strain the lemon juice from the chicken into the blender. Puree until blended, then pour back over the chicken. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Thread the chicken onto kebab skewers, reserving the marinade. Barbecue or grill as slowly as possible until just cooked through (it is important not to overcook the chicken), 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skewers.

Meanwhile, make the masala. Heat the ghee or clarified butter in a wok, add the onion and garlic, and fry for 4 to 5 minutes until soft. Sprinkle in the turmeric, chili powder, and cinnamon. Stir well and fry for 1 minute.

Add the cardamom pods, coriander, and aniseeds, and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the reserved yogurt marinade. Mix well and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Serve hot.

You can serve this great dish with either a crisp iceberg salad or basmati rice. Enjoy!

T
HERE IS A FLAVOR THAT IS TALKED ABOUT MAINLY IN CHINESE AND JAPA
nese cooking called
umami.
Chemically, it has to do with the sensation on your palate in response to free glutamates in foods. I have read of it being described as the “savory” taste, and it is referred to in regard to fermented products, such as soy sauce and fish sauce, and in Parmesan and blue cheeses. It is also strongly present in tomatoes, which would indicate a much wider portfolio in the Western sphere of influence, though it is not widely discussed. It is a bit of a mystery—not everyone can clearly name it or sense it in foods—but it bears mentioning when considering flavor. If you are interested in Asian cuisine and influences, it warrants further investigation.

Mix
the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, lemon juice, lime juice, ginger juice, and chives well, making sure the sugar has dissolved. Refrigerate.

Season the tuna with the salt and pepper and sesame seeds. In a large nonstick skillet, over moderate to high heat, pour in the grapeseed oil and sear the tuna for 1½ minutes on each side, or until desired doneness.

In the same pan in which you cooked the tuna, place the olive oil over moderate heat, then add the garlic and brown for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and the vinegar, shaking the pan to coat the mushrooms with the vinegar on moderately high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mushrooms are slightly wilted. Turn off the heat. Add the chives, season with salt and pepper to taste.

PRESENTATION

Place the tuna in the middle of a large round plate; top with mushrooms and microgreens. Drizzle lightly with the ponzu sauce and serve the remainder of the sauce on the side.