Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Trifecta


Friends and family are constantly asking me questions about food preparations and recipes. I tell my wife that I'm going to have business cards printed up.  On them, it's going to say, "olive oil, salt, & pepper".  It's going to allow me to remain even more moody and standoffish than I already am.  I'm going to do this because it is the most common answer that I give to this question, "How did you make this?  It tastes so good."  I know.  People often look very disappointed that the response isn't something more like, "I poached this sous vide in a veal stock scented with Chinese Five-Spice and tears from unicorns."  It also usually involved these three ingredients and roasting on an embattled cookie sheet in the oven at about 425.  Almost anything can be elevated when cooked like this.  

That celebrity hack, Rocco DiSpirito, actually once said something very valuable when he was cooking for Martha Stewart, "Really salt it.  That's why food tastes so good in restaurants."  It's true and he was right.  (You can go overboard, unless it's chicken skin or popcorn and then it's nearly impossible.)  But, I digress.  I've also been very happy to see nutritionists and chefs explain something else to the public, 90% of sodium is probably coming from processed and pre-packaged foods, not the foods you make yourself at home.  The salt that you add at home does not constitute the majority of an unhealthy sodium intake.  So, salt with moderation but err on the side of delicious.  Let's review these three ingredients and their various facets.  

SALT:
Alton Brown recently jibed a contestant on a Food Network show, asking a sweaty and stressed contestant, "What salt is sea salt?"  She didn't have a reply.  He was asking kind of a smug question; all salt is sea salt in that all salt deposits were formed by the seas of the Earth whether or not that means modern or paleolithic.  The modern understanding has morphed into WHERE was the salt harvested from:  a salt mine or the modern sea? My mother recently called me and asked me what's up with all these new "fancy" salts.  (I hate the word "fancy".)  

I grew up, like many of you, eating your standard iodized table salt.  I think we all survived.  However, most chefs cook with Kosher salt.  The modern American is eating fish at least once a week, yes?  This virtually negates the need for an iodine supplement in our table salt.  What's wrong with iodized table salt?  Well nothing, per se.  However it does two distinct disadvantages:  1) The fine particulate nature of iodized table salt is harder to control when cooking.  This makes it easier to accidentally add to much salt to a recipe and it also makes it harder for the cook to see and feel the salt distribution in a dish. This also comes into play when you are using a recipe off the internet.  The person who wrote the recipe has almost always gauged the recipe to Kosher salt and that's a problem when ONE teaspoon of table salt is roughly equivalent to TWO teaspoons of Kosher salt. After anyone adapts to the nature of Kosher salt, they will find it much easier to gauge and distribute salt in any dish.  2)  Some say that the iodine produces a slightly metallic taste and I agree.  

Keep your Kosher salt in a small dish or ramekin near the stove and on the table.  You will find it is much easier to access and use than salt that is in a shaker.  If you have children you might want to avoid putting the dish on the table.  Also, and my sister once teased me for this, learn to salt your food from much higher up.  Elevate your hand at least 12"-24" above the food.  My sister thought this was so that I would look "fancy". Thomas Keller points out the practical reason for this, when many people salt their food, they concentrate the salt into a small area.  However, if you raise your hand up further, the salt distributes as it falls through the air and evenly and efficiently salts the surface of the food, avoiding concentrated applications in some areas without any salt in others.  Yes, it matters.  

And finally, what's up with those "fancy" finishing salts that my mother called me on the phone about.  They are not fancy.  They are salts that have been used by the rest of the world for hundreds, even thousands of years and we're just slow on the uptake here in America.  These are not salts that you use prior to cooking or prepping foods.  In most cases you do not want to apply finishing salts until just before serving.  The idea of finishing salts is to end up with an actual crunch of grains of salt highlighting the dish.  They can actually be a very effective way to use LESS salt because you can really skim on the amount of previously incorporated or dissolved salt and just rely on the bright pop of undissolved salt as a garnish on a dish. 

Common finishing salts include Fleur de Sel, Sel Gris, Maldon flakey sea salt, and/or pink Himalayan sea salt.  I find Fleur de Sel most enjoyable.  It is a French sea salt that is harvested from marine marshes.  Experiment with it on the tops of salads or spreads and dips.  It is generally the more expensive of finishing salts. Sel Gris is co-harvested with Fleur de Sel but instead of it being the fine sheet of premium salt that is raked off the top of the salt water, it is the "dregs" or crystals that are in the bottom of the salt ponds.  Sel Gris is also very good, and more cost effective, but you have to have a special "wet" sea-salt grinder that will not corrode from being in constant contact with a salt that is actually still slightly wet even in your pantry. ("Wet" sea salt grinders have internal parts comprised entirely of plastic.  Yes, I have one, a Peugeot I believe. I recommend William & Bounds for a pepper grinder.  More on that later.)   

And finally, some of you are wondering:  Doesn't salt taste like salt?  No.  Just like we mentioned earlier, iodine can have a negative effect on the taste of table salt.  However, other components can have a positive effect.  Those of you who are addicted to Dasani bottled water will understand this.  And just for the record, I am against bottled water due to its detrimental effect on the environment, but every once in awhile I just need a liter of cold water when I'm at Walgreen's.  Don't judge.  Dasani adds magnesium to their bottled water which gives it a crisp and refreshing taste which we interpret as, "Water that tastes good".  However, it is actually filtered water providing a blank canvas to the effect that magnesium has.  This is the same with salts like Fleur de Sel & Sel Gris; they have other naturally occurring "extras" that enhance the way we perceive the salt on our tongues.  

Thomas Keller says that learning to salt properly is an art and the foundation of good cooking.  I still witness, very few unprofessional cooks who know how to salt properly.  Salt, thoughtfully. Wow, that's just salt.  On to black pepper!  

BLACK PEPPER
Thankfully, this section won't be so long.  Stop using pre-ground black pepper.  Stop it.  Nope.  No.  Absolutely not.  The difference between pre-ground black pepper and freshly ground is unmistakable.  I couldn't believe I had been deceived for so long before switching.  If you want to have the premium search for Tellicherry black peppercorns.  However, even your most generic whole black peppercorn is going to be better than anything, ANYTHING, that has been pre-ground.  I recommend a William & Bounds grinder.  They are cost effective, work fantastically, and are a restaurant industry standard.  I actually have the grinder that has a little handle on top so that I can just turn the crank.  

What about those really cute and expensive blends of black, white, green, and pink peppercorns?  They are basically a way to get you to spend more money, but I'll explain them each in a little more detail. Black peppercorns are the standard and we all know what they taste like.  They shouldn't just taste spicy, good black peppercorns should have fruity back-notes on the tongue.  White peppercorns are the second most used.  White peppercorns are peppercorns that have the black hull washed or rinsed off the outside.  This process gives them a slightly winey, more acidic flavor profile.  Many recipes will specifically call for white peppercorns only to impart a sophisticated subtlety.  For everyday use, my grinder is always full of a mix of black and white peppercorns at a roughly 1:1 ratio.   

On to the more elusive cousins: Green peppercorns are unripe peppercorns that are dried or brined. Most of us are familiar with the dried kind that are mixed in with the four-color blends that we display proudly in clear pepper grinders to entertain our dinner guests.  (Well, you do.  I don't.)  As might be expected, the fact that they are green lends them a more acidic and herbal quality. The most common use is in a traditional cognac-cream sauce for a steak.  Next time you pan fry a steak, remove said steak and tent with foil, de-glaze the pan with cognac & beef stock, reduce with chopped shallots & BRINED green peppercorns, finish with some cream, reduce, salt and pepper to taste.  Finally, pink peppercorns are not even actual pepper.  They are different entirely.  They have an interesting flavor profile that I think really works with veal, biscuits, and creme fraiche.  Hey, that's just me.  

OLIVE OIL
I get to the end of these things and I'm usually tired of writing.  However, this shouldn't go on to long.  Extra-Virgin Olive Oil is the first press of the olives, hopefully done cold.  It should never be cooked.  Olive oil is what you should be using for all of your cooking needs.  Pomace oil is the last press and is a bit dubious.  Any of these can be diluted with an equal part of canola oil for cost savings.  Also, use pure canola anytime you don't want the assertiveness of olive oil.  As for me, I'm lazy and EVOO has become so cost effective that I use it for everything.  If I'm doing high temperature frying, I dilute it half with canola.  If I want a really high-end finishing EVOO for salads or delicate appetizers, it's got to be Olio Verde.  It tastes like black pepper, fresh grass, and a hint of banana.  Don't have a heart attack when you see the price, a bottle of it will last you for a looooooooooong time.  

Wow.  That olive oil paragraph was a lackluster ending to this whole peace.  Please leave a comment if you want a question answered.