Well, hello again, friends! Yes, I'm back, and I'm just itching to share more ideas, tips, and other stuff with you. I've just returned from a long (7 month!!) military deployment, and I've had a lot of time to think about the kinds of stuff we should talk about when I got back. Well, I'm back now, and it's time to talk about those things. So, strap in and let's get to it!!
On my deployment I got to travel over a pretty significant portion of the world, and through my travels I got to see and experience a wide variety of culinary culture. I sampled everything from fresh hummus and tabbouleh in Dubai to Chinese street food in Singapore, and everything in between. And through it all, a thought for this first post struck me: why not talk about our own food backgrounds?
True, America is a melting pot in so many different ways, but one of the most fun for me (and most delicious) is sampling the many and varied types of food from people's cultural backgrounds. I would argue that paying tribute to your family roots through your family recipe book is one of the most powerful tangible ways to honor and remember that rich history.
I'm sure we all have that "family secret" recipe, or closely guarded ingredient that makes our lasagna, meatloaf, chocolate cake,
better than anyone else's. Our cultures, heritages, and traditions are reflected heavily in the food we share, whether it's a one-bite masterpiece or a spread for a house full of company. Just ask your grandparents sometime if your favorite dish (again, pick your favorite) is the best one out there. I can't imagine any self-respecting grandmother would concede that her cooking comes in second to anyone else's!
I could wax philosophical all day on how culture and tradition play into our family recipe books, but while that's certainly an undertone of this post, it's not the point I was driving at. I wanted to throw a couple of tidbits out to hopefully spark some discussion along those lines, and to see what sorts of hidden treasures I could find for all of you.
We all have that one favorite recipe or sauce that, while traditionally widespread and "standardized" by modern culinary standards, we just can't seem to derive our own version, make one that we like, or even begin to understand the mindset behind how it's constructed. Now, I hope I'm not hurting your head with all this, but when I cook I like to understand the "why" behind a recipe, and to get a sense for why certain ingredients go together in certain ways, certain orders, and under certain cooking methods and conditions. As a non-professional (that is to say I haven't been to culinary school) chef/cook/foodie, understanding a bit of the science behind combining ingredients gives one the proper foundation on which to experiment with new versions and variations of traditional favorites.
Arguably, two modern culinary archetypes in America today (at least in my opinion) are those of Italian cuisine and good old-fashioned barbecue. Both lend themselves to infinite variations, and they all contain a heavy dose of family heritage, which puts love into the food. As long as you follow some basic fundamentals for these two veins of cooking, you can branch off and try wild and crazy offshoots until the cows come home.
I love Italian food. It's one of the most satisfying combination of flavors that I can think of, and playing with different combinations of herbs, spices, tomatoes, etc. in my tomato gravy is something I have a lot of fun with in the kitchen. When I cook I like to play around quite a bit with the flavor profile, but I always follow a pretty basic set of fundamentals. My palette likes a robust tomato flavor, but not one that's overly bright (that is to say that the acidity of the tomatoes make it taste very vegetabley...yes I know that's not a real word). I prefer to cook my sauce with meat to add the depth of flavor imparted by the fats and the meat itself to the sauce, which adds a velvety texture to the mouth feel. You don't have to use meat, and for a lot of sauces (like for pizza) I don't, but I will consider using tomato paste to add a bit of flavor and to thicken it up a bit. You just have to take that into account and adjust your seasonings. I use fresh herbs whenever possible (basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme). Dried herbs are just fine, but the flavors - while similar since you're using the same basic ingredients - tend to be earthier and more assertive rather than subtle and velvety when using fresh. And although I don't have an Italian bone in my body, I pay tribute to that school of cooking by including red wine in the sauce. I add it after the aromatics and cook it down to form a good base before I add the tomatoes, which more often than not are San Marzano tomatoes. I make my own Italian pork sausage (again, fresh herbs as much as possible!!), and use either 2 pounds of that, or one pound each of that same sausage and ground beef. Again, this is where you get to be creative and either omit the meat or use different combinations/proportions. As a side-note, a lot of people like to use veal in Italian cooking. Whereas veal is certainly delicious, I like to keep it simple and use pork and beef. And don't forget (like with everything) to season as you go. Freshly cracked black pepper and Kosher salt are two things you should never be without in the kitchen! Finally, the last ingredient in a good tomato gravy (in most cases) is time. Simmering your sauce (depending on what you're going for) can impart flavors to it that you never knew were in there. It literally can turn out a little different every time, which is the beauty of this style of cooking. The most important thing I can tell you is to start with a good base, whether that's your old family recipe or one you get off your favorite cooking show, and work from there. Practice makes perfect, and like anything else, you have to do it a few times to find out what you want to adjust for the next time around.
Likewise, I also love barbecue. It's one of the coolest things about American food culture, and something guarded jealously by practitioners (including me!). With so many different kinds of barbecue flavor (Texas, Memphis, Carolina, Kansas City, etc.), and the age-old rivalry of pork vs. beef, just imagine the permutations of recipes! I myself prefer a thick, sweet barbecue sauce with plenty of heat, but it's got to keep that sweet, smoky taste and not just be liquid fire that rips your face off. I've experimented a lot with combinations of rubs and sauces, and I like slow-roasting a pork butt with a lot of rub, and finishing with a good homemade sauce. I go back and forth on being a purist and starting with tomato sauce and building from there, and just basing my sauce on ketchup and allowing those pre-spun flavors to form my taste foundation. There's nothing wrong with using ketchup, sometimes I think it's just good to remember your roots and try to construct the sauce from scratch, sort of like the first purveyors of barbecue sauce had to do. Pretty sure they didn't have a bottle of ketchup on hand to get them started!
For the rub, and what has consistently worked for me is a combination of brown sugar, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, and mace. Yes, mace...but not because I'm trying to fend off a bear. The stuff is actually a very sweet but assertive substance, and I think it goes very well in barbecue rub. Again, this is where you get to be creative. Definitely use the brown sugar, paprika, and cayenne, but experiment with some other flavors that sound good to you. For the sauce, choose your base (tomato sauce vs. ketchup vs. vinegar for Carolina BBQ) and then build from there. Onions or onion powder, garlic or garlic powder, cayenne, liquid smoke, and brown sugar or molasses are all good base ingredients for a solid sauce. Try a little lemon juice to give your sauce a little extra tang.
Ok, well since I'm not actually going to divulge my family recipes (I did mention that they were closely-guarded...), I'd better wrap it up. Just remember: no matter what combination of flavors you decide to try, make sure you're always having fun in the kitchen. Until next time, my friends, I bid you happy cooking!
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