One of the most satisfying, important, and romantic meals is Steak Frites. It’s the test of any self-respecting bistro or Francophile establishment. Sadly, one has to cough up around $40 a person for this meal, which is absolutely not acceptable. You can have this meal for two, with good wine and leftovers, for under $30. Need I say more?
Related recipes: Sweet Potato Oven Frites
Making your own salad dressings will change the way you eat. They are inspiring. The most important salad dressing you’ll ever learn is the Sherry-Shallot Vinaigrette. First of all, it’s a great example of a mother-dressing because it’s a basic vinaigrette. Don’t take these measurements too seriously as you’re going to need to adjust them depending on your base ingredients. I never measure this. It’s like, a little diced shallot, a small finger full of mustard, some vinegar, some fish sauce, and roughly much more oil.
Ingredients:
Grab an empty and cleaned jar with a nice fitting top, chuck in all the ingredients, attach said top, and shake shake shake. You have just made one of the best dressings in the world. Now STOP BUYING SALAD DRESSING!
Vinegars: Champagne or decent dark balsamic vinegar works well. So does lemon. Don’t be afraid to adjust the ratios to suit the vinegar – in fact perhaps to suit the brand of vinegar. Acidity levels are not a constant in vingar and citrus, so you absolutely have to taste and adjust. I’d tell you what ratio you want except that I’m not in your body and I don’t have your taste buds so I can’t do that bloody work for you. Taste your dressing, and if it’s not bright or sharp enough, add some more vinegar. If it’s too bright, add some more oil.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: You should endeavor to only use real Extra Virgin Olive Oil. See my post about how to figure that out.
Mustard: The funny thing is, since it’s not really a flavoring for the dressing, you can almost use anything. I like Trader Joe’s Spicy Brows Mustard for this job, but a sharp dijon works, and I’ve made this dressing with French’s Yellow Mustard (when desperate and hung out to dry cooking at a friend’s house) and fooled many diners.
Despite the fact that I don’t nail the frites in the video the first time, they are the easiest way to get a something resembling fries on your plate at home. Just remember: use a shitload of oil and lube every last square millimeter of the potatoes’ surface! Unless you have a deep frier, of course – but that’s another episode completely…
If there’s one thing that will take you really, really far in the world of both home and professional cooking, it is to be religious about simplicity. I learned this lesson the hard way, spending far too long trying to replicate the glorious tomato sauce I had in Florence when I was 15. It turns out that almost everything you know about tomato sauce is wrong; unless you make it this way of course!
Good God. I thought the olive oil industry was bad enough. Apparently, the Honey Bear you have napping in your pantry takes routine trips to China to adulterate himself with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals. Oh yeah, and he sips on plain sugar and maltose too because he’s too lazy to go honey-badger on a beehive. Or perhaps his health insurance doesn’t cover bee-sting related injuries.
Read this disturbing, brief article about Honey Laundering:
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/02/laser-intended-for-mars-used-to-detect-honey-laundering/
If I were you, I’d go get some seriously legit, raw honey from someone you know, like my good friend John Emery of Spotted Duck Apiary. His honey is AMAZING.
Image: Rachel James
Back in 2007 when I was in Thailand as a part of my mission to find the best bowl of noodles, I would occasionally divert from the task at hand and eat lots of other things.
In Bangkok there were literally thousands of street food stalls to choose from. One day just moseying around, we saw a lady with a massive wok making omelets. You could point at veggies, herbs, and a some meats, she’d mix them up with a few eggs, season up the mixture and deep fry the omelet. Not a bad snack for 75 cents.
This method above, the high heat, lots of oil omelet seasoned with garlic & fish sauce really captures the feeling of that Thai Lady on the Street. I’ve substituted a bunch of different ingredients like Olive Oil and and parsley, but it’s a perfect example of taking a method and simply changing the theme.
Except for the fish sauce. Fish sauce is always necessary. Otherwise, you could twist and vamp on this method ad omeletum.
I put fish sauce in and on everything. This is not an exaggeration. A lot of people think they don’t like the stuff, but the fact is that I’ve never had a single “that’s fishy” complaint from any one of my diners whether they’re crusty SE Asian backpackers, fickle gourmands, or college girls who are absolutely positive they hate fish. The only complaint I frequently get is, “There isn”t more?”. Face it: fish sauce is universally delicious.
For those of you who want me to cut to the chase, I recommend these two brands:
Fish sauce’s unique ability to elevate almost all food comes from it being an extremely pure, natural MSG delivery device. It’s the most mild-tempered and easily integrated Umami injection system ever created. And, it happens to be way more delicious than Crystal MSG.
Umami is probably more obvious in asian foods – think Unagi at a sushi joint, Anything in Oyster Sauce at a chinese joint, all Thai and Vietnamese food, and Korean Kalbi with that amazing red sweet/salty/spicy bean sauce they put on everything. What you probably don’t realize is that continental food has a lot of Umami as well. Cheese (especially Parm and Blue varieties), pickles, shellfish, porcini mushrooms, Hams, TRUFFLES, and much, much, much more. So, naturally, using a very pure and unobtrusive Umami sauce in continental or New American food works wonders.
There’s nothing uniquely Asian about taking a barrel full of anchovies, sardines, or some other small sea creature, salting it heavily, and letting it ferment in it’s own drawn-out juices. In fact, the Romans did this a long time ago and it was called Garum. Using fish sauce in your Béchamel is downright old school.
When you cook with it, don’t be afraid. Just make sure that you watch the saltiness of the entire dish by tasting every step of the way. I like to use both salt and Fish sauce. That way, you can control the saltiness and the wondrous sensation of Umami. It’s good to have a spectrum.
Need some unconventional ideas? Well, I put it in: Cassoulet, Chili, Cauliflower Cheese, Broccoli with Garlic-Butter, Tomato Sauce (except for the one time I’m filming), Beef Bourguignon, Clams in White Wine, Chimichurri, Salsas in general, Guacamole, Pesto, OMFG Caesar Dressing, Clam Chowder, Veal Marsala, Red wine pan sauces, Paté, Chantrelles in Butter w/ Parsley, Omelets, etc, etc, etc… Here’s what it’s not in: Dessert. And, I absolutely guarantee you there’s probably an easy way to make it work if you really want to.
Apparently working in the International Olive Oil industry requires Mafia connections and James Bond Balls. If you think you know where your extra virgin olive oil is actually coming from, you might want to think again.
Here’s a list of absolutely, definitely real extra virgins that are affordable:
http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/2012/09/toms-supermarket-picks-quality-oils-good-prices
Don’t forget to check out the rest of Tom’s site, or read his book. It’s food history meets industry exposé.
