You can’t know the players without a scorecard. Here the culinary terms used throughout this book are explained.
Italian for “to the tooth.” This term describes how pasta and many vegetables should be prepared. “Al dente” foods are tender yet still slightly textured.
Beans are normally available in bulk or prepackaged. One cup of dried beans yields two cups cooked. To cook dried beans, sort out dirt and broken beans and rinse the beans well in a strainer. Place in a bowl or pot and cover with water (you may have to add more water as the beans soak). Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the soaking water (throw in the rind, too) and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Rinse the soaked beans well before cooking. Soaking beans breaks down the complex sugars (oligosaccharides) that hinder digestion. I also always add kombu, a sea vegetable, during the cooking process. Kombu has a high mineral content that reduces the gas produced by bean starch. Some canned beans, such as Eden brand, include kombu. Rinse canned beans well and wake up their flavor with a spritz of lemon and a pinch of salt. Cooking times for beans vary depending upon their variety and age, so taste often during the cooking process. Place soaked and rinsed beans in a pot, cover with 3 inches of water, and add a 6-inch piece of kombu. Bring to a boil and decrease the heat. Cook the beans at a low simmer (bubbles will occasionally break the surface) for 45 minutes to 1 hour; begin tasting after 30 minutes. When the beans are tender but still al dente, add 1 teaspoon sea salt to the pot (adding salt too soon retards the cooking process). The last 15 minutes are important, as the beans start to cook faster; taste to ensure the beans don’t overcook. Drain, discard the water, and rinse the beans with cold water. Proceed with the recipe or, when completely cooled, store the beans in an airtight container in your fridge or freezer. Cooked beans can be frozen for up to 1 month. If you are planning on storing and reheating beans, leave them slightly undercooked.
Partially cooking vegetables by plunging them rapidly into boiling salted water. This heightens color, especially for green vegetables. After blanching, plunge the vegetables into a bowl of ice water to halt the cooking process. This is also called a “cold water bath” or “shocking.”
Food is first browned in a fat (my choice is olive oil), then cooked, tightly covered, in a small amount of liquid at low heat for a long time. This slow cooking develops flavor and tenderizes foods by gently breaking down their fibers. Braise in an oven or on top of a range.
The food’s exterior browns while the interior stays moist, giving food a rich flavor and lovely color. This is accomplished by cooking quickly at extremely high heat. Browning is usually done on the stove.
This technique requires patience. During cooking, onions slowly go through a number of visual stages, from translucent to a deep golden brown, as they release their yummy sugars. Keep in mind that onions will cook down to less than one-third their original volume as they are caramelized. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy stainless-steel sauté pan. Add the onions. Sprinkle with sea salt; this helps the onions give up their juices. Sauté briefly so all the onions have been exposed to the heat and coated with oil. Decrease the heat to very low and put down your spoon. Allow the onions to cook slowly for 20 to 40 minutes (depending on the number of onions). Do not stir! After about 20 minutes, the onions should begin to wilt. At 30 minutes, they’ll take on a deep golden hue. That’s your cue to turn the heat back up. Allow the onions to stick slightly to the pan and deglaze with ½ cup of liquid. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the liquid has evaporated.
This refers to adding liquid and scraping up the bits of food that are stuck to the bottom of the sauté pan (that stickiness is the food’s sugar, which is outrageously delicious!). The pan may look like you have overcooked the food, but that’s not the case. Just add a little liquid (wine, broth, or water) and quickly move the food around with a spoon or spatula to loosen all those flavorful bits. This also makes cleaning the pan a breeze.
A system of making dishes taste their best by balancing their flavors. FASS stands for fat, acid, salty, and sweet. This method utilizes simple, healthy ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil (fat), fresh lemons and limes (acid), sea salt (salt), and Grade B organic maple syrup (sweet) to enhance taste and correct dishes that have gone awry. For a full explanation, see chapter 1.
A method for locking in the flavor of a prepared dish. An example is adding herbs and deglazing a pan to seal in the flavor of an onion or shallot that has been sautéed to a golden brown.
To quickly remove stems from parsley or cilantro, hold a clean, dry bunch of parsley or cilantro at a downward 45° angle with your noncutting hand, with the “head” of the herb touching the cutting board. Use short, blunt angled strokes with the side of your chef’s knife to scrape the herb and separate the leaves from stems.
Besides the usual culprits (carrots, potatoes, and onions), I also peel celery and asparagus with a vegetable peeler, making it sweeter, less stringy, and easier to digest.
Gentle cooking in liquid. The liquid should be just below the boiling point, with its surface barely quivering. This method produces a delicate flavor by infusing the flavor of the liquid into the food.
Using a food processor or your Vita-Mix high-speed blender to turn fruits and vegetables into an ultrasmooth, creamy consistency. For that silky perfection, be patient; you’ll see and taste the difference!
We use this technique to keep rice and grains from sticking together. Raking helps dry the food after it cooks and prepares it for the next step in a recipe. As the name implies, raking should be done with a fork, not a spoon. A spoon promotes pasty rice.
Rapidly boiling a liquid (usually stock, wine, or a sauce) until evaporation reduces its volume. The result is a thicker consistency and intensified flavors.
Oven-cooking food in an uncovered pan. This creates a well-browned exterior and moist interior. It is an excellent method for releasing a lot of flavor.
This process releases the nuts’ natural oils and increases their flavor. Roast nuts at 325°F (350°F for almonds) on a sheet pan. The roasting time depends upon the type and quantity of nuts. Roast almonds for 10 to 15 minutes, pistachios for 8 to 10 minutes, pecans for 7 to 8 minutes, and pine nuts for only 2 to 4 minutes (don’t walk away … they burn quickly!). Roast a lot at one time, some to eat and some to freeze. To toast, place seeds in a small frying pan over medium heat. Don’t walk away from the stove or your seeds will be toast—not toasted. Shake the pan over the heat until the seeds become fragrant, about 3 minutes.
To cook food rapidly in a small amount of oil.
A thin paste made with cold water and a thickening agent such as kudzu, arrowroot, or cornstarch. The paste is then whisked into a simmering sauce, soup, or stew.
This process breaks down the whole grain acids, improving our ability to digest and absorb nutritional benefits, especially B-complex vitamins. Soak grains overnight (or for at least 8 hours) in a bowl by covering them with warm water and the juice from half a lemon.
Canned foods often lose some of their taste. Re-energize these foods, especially beans, by adding a spritz of lemon or lime juice and a pinch of salt. Frozen items get a spritz of lemon after defrosting.
Finding that perfect taste balance that makes one’s taste buds moan involuntarily with joy!
The outer rind of citrus fruits (usually oranges, lemons, or limes) used to enhance flavor. The best way to remove the zest is by raking a microplane grater across the fruit’s surface. Before zesting, please thoroughly wash the fruit.