It is a step towards cooking without recipes and real empowerment (and joy!) in the kitchen.”. I suspect that's because reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat feels less like standing in the pages of a cookbook than it does in a really good cooking school, standing around the butcher's island in your apron listening like a smart, eloquent and sometimes hilarious chef shows you how to fix a broken mayonnaise.
INTRODUCTION
I had never considered restaurant work before, but I wanted to be a part of the magic I experienced that night at Chez Panisse, even in the smallest way. After first immersing myself in the lessons of Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat, and then spending years teaching them to others, I distilled the elements of good cooking into their essence.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Maman always kept our bathing suits in the back of our blue Volvo station wagon because the beach was always where we wanted to be. Sometimes it was in the form of salt crystals, other times it meant grated cheese, some mashed anchovies, some olives or a sprinkling of capers.
WHAT IS SALT?
SALT AND FLAVOR
The Flavor of Salt
Types of Salt
This is why it makes sense to measure salts by weight rather than volume. This is one of the few times I will insist on anything in this book: If you only have table salt at home, buy some kosher or sea salt right away.
Kosher Salt
Sea Salt
Salt’s Effect on Flavor
This is why you enjoy eating less when you are overworked or have a cold. An unseasoned soup will taste the same, but when you add salt, you will detect new flavors that were not available before.
Seasoning
Keep salting and tasting and you'll start to pick up on the salt as well as more complex and lovely flavors: the flavor of the chicken, the richness of the chicken fat, the earthiness of the celery and thyme. If you are not sure that salt will solve the problem, take a spoon or small bite and sprinkle it with a little salt, then taste again.
HOW SALT WORKS
Sprinkle salt on the surface of a piece of chicken and return twenty minutes later. Water will also be visible on the surface of the chicken, the result of osmosis.
Meat
I can't remember the first time I tried - at least consciously - meat that was pre-salted. Oxtails, shanks, and short ribs can be seasoned a day or two in advance to let the salt do its job.
Seafood
If you've salted some meat but realize you won't be able to access it for several days, freeze it until you're ready to cook it.
Eggs
As they do, it helps their proteins come together at a lower temperature, which cuts down on cooking time. The faster the proteins settle, the less chance they have to release the water they contain.
Vegetables, Fruits, and Fungi
The more water the eggs retain while cooking, the more moist and tender their final texture will be.
Legumes and Grains
Other variables that can lead to tough beans include using old or improperly stored beans, cooking with hard water, and acidic conditions.). Since a long cooking time allows salt to spread evenly, the water for cooking grains such as rice, farro, or quinoa can be salted less aggressively than the water for blanching vegetables.
Doughs and Batters
In preparations where all the cooking water will be absorbed, and thus all the salt, you must be particularly careful not to season.
Cooking Foods in Salted Water
Taste a roast potato that was seasoned with salt when it went into the oven, and you can feel the salt on the surface, but not much deeper. But taste a potato that has been boiled in salt water for a while before roasting and you'll be amazed at the difference - the salt will make all the difference.
DIFFUSION CALCULUS
Time
Temperature
Water
USING SALT
Measuring Salt
You already have the best tool for judging how much salt to use – your tongue. Eventually you will learn to use other senses to judge how much salt to use - touch, sight and common sense can be just as important as taste.
How to Salt
This was done by gently grasping the salt in your upturned palm and letting it fall with a flick of the wrist. This grip—not the floating pinch I was used to—was the way to spread salt, flour, or anything else granularly, evenly, and efficiently over a large surface.
Salt and Pepper
Get used to the way the salt falls from your hands. experience the illicit thrill of using so much of something we've all been taught to fear. When you do use black pepper, look for Tellicherry peppercorns, which ripen on the vine longer than other varieties, and therefore develop more flavor.
Salt and Sugar
Layering Salt
Balancing Salt
Dilute
More of anything unsalted will work to balance out the salted, but bland, starchy and rich things are especially helpful in these circumstances, as just a small amount of them can help round out a relatively large amount of food. balance. If you're handing over a dish that's mixed with a lot of ingredients, add more of the main ingredient and adjust everything else until everything is balanced again.
Halve
Add bland rice or potatoes to an over-spiced soup, or olive oil to an over-salted mayonnaise. As water evaporates from a boiling soup, broth or sauce, salt will not, and what remains will be too salty.
Balance
Select
Transform
Cut off a piece of over-salted meat to turn it into a new dish where it's just one ingredient out of many—a stew, chili, a soup, hash, ravioli stuffing. Add more salt to raw, salted, excess white fish and turn it into baccalà or salt cod.
Admit Defeat
Improvising with Salt
During the olive harvest, or raccolta, I made a pilgrimage to Tenuta di Capezzana, producer of the finest olive oil I have ever tasted. In the south and on the coast, where olive trees thrive, olive oil is used in everything from seafood.
WHAT IS FAT?
For flaky, creamy and light textures, fat plays the role of the main ingredient, while for crispy textures it is a cooking medium. If it is used to adjust the taste or texture at the end of the preparation of the dish as a garnish, it is a spice.
FAT AND FLAVOR
Fat’s Effect on Flavor
The Flavors of Fat
Olive Oil
As with wine, taste, not price, is the best guide to choosing an olive oil. Save the pure stuff and use it as a finishing olive oil for salads and condiments.
Butter
If you can't keep it in a dark place, store olive oil in a dark glass bottle or metal can to block out light.
Seed and Nut Oils
Animal Fats
Pork fat is an important addition to sausages and terrines, providing flavor and richness. This is the more prized type of fat – what we call marbling when we look at a steak.
How to use the Flavor Maps
As a well-marbled steak cooks, the fat will melt, making the meat juicier inside. Although lumps of fat may not be as tasty on the plate, you can remove them from the meat and render them, then use the rendered fat as a cooking medium.
Fats of the World
HOW FAT WORKS
Crisp
Using too little fat in a pan, or allowing the fat to be absorbed and failing to add more, will result in dark, bitter blisters on the surface of the food. And lift sautéed foods out of the pan with a slotted spoon or tongs, rather than tipping them onto a plate, to leave the excess fat behind.
Heating Oil Properly
While you are cooking, if you notice that you have used more fat than you intended, you can remove the excess from the pan, taking care to wipe the outer edge of the pan where the fat may have leaked, to prevent a flash. . If the pan is too heavy or hot, then be smart: take the food out and use tongs to place it on a plate, then pour some fat, replace the food and continue cooking.
Rendering
The oven heat will be gentler and more even than on the stove, giving the fat a chance to color. So either start or finish the cooking process by placing a steak or steak on its side in the pan or grill, allowing the fat to render.
Smoke Points
The key is to cook it slowly enough for the fat to brown at the same rate as the bacon. Use a very sharp needle or metal skewer to prick the skin all over the bird, paying particular attention to the fattest parts - the breast and thighs.
Achieving Crispness
Or use them for dishes without heating, such as mayonnaise and vinaigrettes. Add foods that need time to cook through, such as eggplant slices or chicken thighs, to hot fat to form a crust.
Creamy
Left alone for a few minutes, the oil and vinegar will begin to separate or break down. To make an emulsion more stable, use an emulsifier to coat the oil and let it exist contentedly among the vinegar droplets.
Using Emulsions
Use this broken-down vinaigrette to dress lettuce, and the oil and vinegar will coat the leaves unevenly, tasting too sour in one bite and too greasy in the next. When an emulsion breaks, the fat and water molecules begin to reassemble into their bodies.
Achieving Creaminess: Mayonnaise
Once you've added half the total amount of oil and created a relatively stable base, start adding the rest of the oil more quickly. Once you've added all the oil, turn your attention to seasoning the mayonnaise to taste.
Retaining Creaminess: Butter
Do not allow the pan to get so hot that the butter sizzles; as long as there's enough water in the sauce, you'll be fine. Make it directly in the pasta pan, as long as it's hot enough and the butter is cold.
Breaking and Fixing Emulsions
Make sure there is enough water in the pan, and turn, toss, turn to make the sauce and cover the pasta all at once. Sometimes all it takes at this point is a good strong whisk to bring things back together.
Flaky and Tender
Classic puff pastry, turned six times, has exactly 730 layers of dough, separated by 729 layers of butter. Upon entering a hot oven, each of those several layers of butter turns into steam, creating 730 layers of flakes.
Achieving Tenderness: Shortbread Cookies and Cream Biscuits
Picture the flakes on your plate (or shirt) after you eat a classic puff pastry like a cheese straw, palmier, or a strudel. This dough and butter sandwich is rolled out and then folded back on itself in a process called a twist.
Achieving Flakiness: Pie Dough
Cold hands or not, consider the temperature when looking for swing to create layers of developed gluten interspersed with pockets of fat. The steam will pull apart the layers of dough as it expands with heat, yielding the flakes we value so much.
Achieving Flakiness and Tenderness: Tart Dough
Tender Cakes
As an added bonus, less gluten means more water in the batter and ultimately a moister cake. A rich flavor, rather than a moist texture, took precedence in cakes I wanted to enjoy with a cup of tea in the afternoon, or serve to friends for brunch.
LIGHT
Achieving Lightness: Butter Cakes and Whipped Cream
If butter is too cold, air won't be able to get in—at least not evenly—and the cake won't rise straight. Whip it further, and cream's emulsion will break, yielding a watery liquid - buttermilk - and solid fat - butter.
USING FAT
Layering Fats
Balancing Fat
Improvising with Salt and Fat
Unlike the revelations I experienced with salt and fat, I learned the value of acid gradually. I peeled and chopped the carrots and added them to the pot when the onions were soft.
WHAT IS ACID?
ACID AND FLAVOR
Acid’s Effect on Flavor
The Flavor of Acid
The ground fruit - the orange that can be reached and picked from the ground - is not as sweet as the fruit that grows high on the tree. Every single batch I made was different from the last - some tomatoes were watery, others were more flavorful.
Acids of the World
Vinegars
Citrus
Pickles
From Indian achar to Iranian torshi, from Korean kimchee to Japanese tsukemono, from German sauerkraut to chow-chow in the American South, every culture has its pickles. A few slices of steak can easily become a bowl of Korean bibimbap when piled high with kimchee, or it can become a taco with some pickled carrots and jalapeños, depending on what's in the fridge.
Dairy
HOW ACID WORKS
Acid and Color
Acid and Texture
With the exception of butter and cream, which are very low in protein, milk should only be added to acidic dishes at the last minute. To understand this evolution, consider how the texture of a piece of sashimi becomes tender, bright fish tartar with the addition of acid, and then turns into a chewy ceviche over time.
Producing Acid
In the other batch, some of the sugar was boiled to a dark caramel before being mixed in. The bread browns faster and the crust gets darker." Subtly sour, Chad's bread is layered with complex flavors; every time I taste it, I enthusiastically declare it the best bread in the world.
USING ACID
Layering Acid
Cooking Acids
Cooking acids tend to be mild and slowly change the foods they are cooked with over time. Simply coat the shallots or onions in the acid—no need to submerge them completely.
Garnishing Acids
Cook the rest of the small necks in this way, adding more wine if necessary to cover the bottom of the pan. This way, the pasta will absorb all the salty flavor of the clam liquid when it's done cooking.
Condiments and Umami
Balancing Sweetness with Acid
Acid Balance in a Meal
Improvising with Salt, Fat, and Acid
On their own, Salt, Fat and Acid can shape the idea for a dish or even a meal. Once you've decided, refer to The World of Acid to help you choose the forms of Salt, Fat and Acid that will take you in the right direction.
WHAT IS HEAT?
To get there, you will need to boil the potatoes in salted water until they are soft. To get there, make sure the potatoes are soft inside—simmer them in salted water.
HOW HEAT WORKS
The Science of Heat
Water and Heat
The Power of Steam
Pour chard leaves high over the sides of a pan and steam vegetables. And the higher the sides of the pan or pot, the longer it will take steam to escape.
Fat and Heat
If the fat gets too hot, simply turn off the heat or carefully add a little more room temperature oil. If the pot gets too cold, increase the heat and wait before adding more food.
Carbohydrates and Heat
Fats are slow to cool and heat - in other words, it takes a lot of energy to heat or cool a unit of fat by just a few degrees. The same phenomenon will occur in meat with large amounts of fat, such as rib roast or pork loin (or those sitting in fat, such as one of the aforementioned confit) to continue cooking slowly even when removed from the heat.
Starches
Use too little water or cooked starches and they will be dry and unpleasantly tough in the middle. But use too much water or heat, or just overcook starches, and they'll be mushy (think limp noodles and soup cakes and rice).
Sugars
Working with hot sugar is one of the few temperature-specific endeavors in the kitchen, but it's not particularly difficult. In addition to starch, which can be broken down into sugars, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and some grains also contain natural simple sugars that can participate in the same reactions as table sugar when cooked.
Pectin
Proteins and Heat
Put them on the plate and you will see that their poor, squeezed proteins continue to squeeze out the water, leaving behind a puddle. Continue stirring with a whisk or a fork as you add 4 or more tablespoons of butter in finger-sized chunks, letting each one absorb before adding the others.
Browning and Flavor
After browning a tougher cut of meat, such as brisket, use gentle heat to prevent the insides from drying out. Or, the next time you plan on braising short ribs or chicken legs, brown half the meat in the dry heat of the oven and the other half on the stovetop to see how the different forms of heat in each method differ. deliver results (e.g. a hint, read more at Braden.
Temperature’s Effects on Flavor
As any college student can tell you, the same pint of beer, while delicious chilled, will be unpalatably bitter at room temperature. There is a case to be made for serving food warm or at room temperature rather than piping hot.
The Flavor of Smoke
USING HEAT
A Note on the Oven
He showed me how the heat reflected off the walls of the rotisserie oven just like a gas oven, how it was hotter at the back and cooler at the front just like an oven and to treat them the birds seem to be roasting. them in a big, black box – something I could easily do. Let go of the false sense of control that an oven provides, just like I did with the skewer.
Gentle Heat versus Intense Heat
Gentle Cooking Methods
Intense Cooking Methods
Cooking Methods and Techniques
Simmering
He gave me my sandwich, which I took outside to eat on the steps of the market. Refer to The World of Flavor throughout the week and change the meat into a different dish each night.
Coddling and Poaching
Pull custard out of the oven and the water bath in anticipation of the residual heat that encourages coagulation to continue even as the egg whites cool. Working quickly, open the oven door, place the pan halfway on the shelf and pour in enough boiling water to come one-third up the sides of the custard.
Stewing and Braising
If possible, leave the meat in large chunks and with the bone in to preserve the flavor. Don't rush this step - you want the meat to reap all the savory benefits of the Maillard reaction.
Blanching and Boiling
