December meme
Two cooking-related questions this time as I try to catch up.
genarti asked me to talk about baking bread.
I like to bake bread for practical and personal reasons. Practically, it's cheaper to bake bread than to buy it, and the result is better, fresher bread than any I could buy except in the kind of expensive artisan bakery we don't even have around here. Then, personally, there's the satisfaction of learning a skill and of creating something nice out of basic materials. A lot of people talk about the zen of slowness or the stress relief of kneading dough, but those don't play into it for me--I kind of hate kneading and will avoid it when possible, and I'm just not a spiritual/meditative kind of person. My pleasure in bread is material and direct.
One of my favorite bread recipes, and a very easy one should anybody want to try it, is this one for a no-knead four-grain crusty bread. It has a very full, rounded, grainy sort of flavor. For best results, though, start baking at 475 for 20-25 minutes, then drop the heat to 450. This makes a crisper crust.
the_rck asked about my favorite herbs, spices, and/or sauces.
I could go on about this at great length, and possibly will.
I grew up eating food that almost never used herbs or spices. The occasional pot of chili using a tiny amount of a mild commercial chili powder, or some garlic bread using garlic powder, was as exciting as it got. One of my favorite things about cooking, over the years, has been discovering new, interesting flavors.
Herbs: My favorite herb for western-European-style cooking is thyme, because it's so versatile and does lovely things in the background without ever becoming too much. I also like basil, though I don't use it often because it's expensive to buy, doesn't keep well, and I don't have a garden to grow my own. For other cuisines, I adore cilantro/fresh coriander, which is used in lots of cuisines (Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican come to mind) and has a lovely bright grassy freshness. I'm lucky enough not to be one of those people to whom it tastes soapy. Possibly my favorite herb ever, though, is curry leaves, which as far as I know are specific to South Indian dishes. Curry leaves are like magic. They smell, frankly, kind of scary (like tangerine-scented asphalt) but they make everything they're in taste so, so moresomely good.
Spices: Chiles! There are so many kinds and they're all gorgeous. I love mild fruity anchos, and smoky chipotles, and the hot smoked Spanish paprika I've been putting on everything lately, and intense little Thai chiles, and our local New Mexico green chiles that do wonders for eggs and cheese and other rich things. I also adore cumin, and Indian mustard seeds (which are deliciously nutty when fried in oil until they pop), and cardamom in sweets. And almost every other spices I've ever tried, but I won't list them all.
Sauces/condiments: Fish sauce, fish sauce, fish sauce. And my new loves, the Korean sauces doenjang (a fermented soybean paste, like miso on steroids) and gochujang (chiles with fermented soy paste and sugar). I've been falling in love with fermented vegetables, too, which are sort of a condiment: Tianjian preserved vegetable (a fermented Chinese cabbage with tons of garlic) is wonderful on congee. In a western vein, I have a terrible weakness for hollandaise sauce, and also cheese sauces on anything. And one of these days I'm going to make a real Mexican mole sauce, the kind with chocolate, which is a massive undertaking but so delicious.
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.
genarti asked me to talk about baking bread.
I like to bake bread for practical and personal reasons. Practically, it's cheaper to bake bread than to buy it, and the result is better, fresher bread than any I could buy except in the kind of expensive artisan bakery we don't even have around here. Then, personally, there's the satisfaction of learning a skill and of creating something nice out of basic materials. A lot of people talk about the zen of slowness or the stress relief of kneading dough, but those don't play into it for me--I kind of hate kneading and will avoid it when possible, and I'm just not a spiritual/meditative kind of person. My pleasure in bread is material and direct.
One of my favorite bread recipes, and a very easy one should anybody want to try it, is this one for a no-knead four-grain crusty bread. It has a very full, rounded, grainy sort of flavor. For best results, though, start baking at 475 for 20-25 minutes, then drop the heat to 450. This makes a crisper crust.
the_rck asked about my favorite herbs, spices, and/or sauces.
I could go on about this at great length, and possibly will.
I grew up eating food that almost never used herbs or spices. The occasional pot of chili using a tiny amount of a mild commercial chili powder, or some garlic bread using garlic powder, was as exciting as it got. One of my favorite things about cooking, over the years, has been discovering new, interesting flavors.
Herbs: My favorite herb for western-European-style cooking is thyme, because it's so versatile and does lovely things in the background without ever becoming too much. I also like basil, though I don't use it often because it's expensive to buy, doesn't keep well, and I don't have a garden to grow my own. For other cuisines, I adore cilantro/fresh coriander, which is used in lots of cuisines (Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican come to mind) and has a lovely bright grassy freshness. I'm lucky enough not to be one of those people to whom it tastes soapy. Possibly my favorite herb ever, though, is curry leaves, which as far as I know are specific to South Indian dishes. Curry leaves are like magic. They smell, frankly, kind of scary (like tangerine-scented asphalt) but they make everything they're in taste so, so moresomely good.
Spices: Chiles! There are so many kinds and they're all gorgeous. I love mild fruity anchos, and smoky chipotles, and the hot smoked Spanish paprika I've been putting on everything lately, and intense little Thai chiles, and our local New Mexico green chiles that do wonders for eggs and cheese and other rich things. I also adore cumin, and Indian mustard seeds (which are deliciously nutty when fried in oil until they pop), and cardamom in sweets. And almost every other spices I've ever tried, but I won't list them all.
Sauces/condiments: Fish sauce, fish sauce, fish sauce. And my new loves, the Korean sauces doenjang (a fermented soybean paste, like miso on steroids) and gochujang (chiles with fermented soy paste and sugar). I've been falling in love with fermented vegetables, too, which are sort of a condiment: Tianjian preserved vegetable (a fermented Chinese cabbage with tons of garlic) is wonderful on congee. In a western vein, I have a terrible weakness for hollandaise sauce, and also cheese sauces on anything. And one of these days I'm going to make a real Mexican mole sauce, the kind with chocolate, which is a massive undertaking but so delicious.
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.