OUR COOKING TIPS
We are not professionally trained chefs. It’s our love of food, our access to great ingredients, and our fearlessness that have enabled us to grow confident enough to share our recipes. We both have a simple style of cooking and are comfortable improvising and substituting. Over time, we’ve learned a few things to help make our cooking more enjoyable, healthful, and consistently delicious. Here are some tips we’d like to share:
BAKING
Vegan baking was scary at first, but it has become our favorite way to bake. Instead of using eggs, we use healthy chia and flaxseed (see page 70); instead of milk, we use soymilk, and we make it into a buttermilk substitute by adding lemon juice. The results are delicious and far healthier than typical baked goods. Two important baking tips (vegan or otherwise) are:
Ensure correct oven temperatures: Check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer, which is inexpensive and available anywhere that kitchen supplies are sold (including most large supermarkets). It turns out my oven runs 40 degrees cold, and Marea’s 25 degrees hot. We discovered this only after our cooking times for the same recipes varied so much. Now we know to adjust the temperatures to compensate. We both test our ovens regularly.
Measure flour correctly: All the recipes in this book provide flour measurements by both the volume and weight. Weighing your flour ensures you are using the correct amount. However, if you are measuring by volume, the most accurate method is to fill a measuring cup by the heaping spoonful and then level it off with a knife or spatula. If you scoop out flour with a measuring cup, it will be dense and weigh up to 20 percent more, which can have a big impact on a recipe.
KITCHEN EQUIPMENT
Besides the basics like mixing bowls, pots and pans, a blender, etc., there are a few kitchen items we were slow to adopt that we encourage you to consider.
A kitchen scale: Weighing food is the most accurate way to get quantities correct. Digital scales are affordable and frequently come in very handy.
Good knives: If possible, invest in at least three good knives and keep them sharp. You will enjoy cooking so much more when you have a variety of high-quality knives that feel good in your hand (a nice wooden cutting board is important, too!). We suggest the following:
- A chef’s knife with a 7- to 9-in/17- to 23-cm blade
- A paring knife with a 3- to 4-in/7.5- to 10-cm blade
- A serrated knife with a 9- to 10-in/23- to 25-cm blade
An ice cream maker: Ice cream makers are increasingly affordable and simple to use. It’s amazing to discover how delicious homemade sorbets and ice creams are. Once you get going, it’s easy to experiment with countless different flavors. The great recipes in this cookbook are a good enough reason to purchase one!
A spice grinder or coffee grinder: It takes less than a minute of your time to fresh-grind spices, and you’ll taste the difference in the brighter flavors compared to preground spices in a jar. We also call for ground chia seeds for our brownies and ground flaxseed for our hot cereal and many baked goods.
Cast-iron skillets: We’re huge fans of cast-iron skillets and truly adore ours. Cast iron is affordable and lasts forever. Food rarely sticks, and you don’t need to worry about scratching off the nonstick surface as with Teflon pans. We can turn the heat up high to give food a nice crust, pop the skillet in the oven, and serve from it to keep food warm. It cooks evenly and beautifully. If you only buy one, get one that’s 12 in/30.5 cm in diameter. Many of our recipes call for a skillet that’s “preferably cast iron.”
HOMEMADE STOCK
If you have never made your own stock, we urge you to try it at least once. Homemade vegetable stock tastes so much better than any packaged options, plus it’s very economical, ecological, and easy. You can use up leftover bits of vegetables and ingredients like leek tops that would otherwise go to waste, and there is no packaging to throw away. Vegan stock is much quicker to make than meat stocks. Simmering for just 1 hour will make a flavorful enough stock. Make sure to use good-tasting water, though. If the water from your tap tastes metallic, it will affect the final product. See page 76 for our Easy Vegetable Stock recipe.
CHOOSING THE BEST OILS
Cooking oils can be made from seeds, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Many commercial conventional cooking oils have been exposed to high temperatures, solvents, and chemical preservatives, and many oil sources—canola, corn, and soybeans in particular—are almost always genetically modified. The more you learn about the processes and additives involved in the manufacture of commercial oils, the more choosing organic makes sense. Although organic oils are more expensive, there are no GMOs, solvents, or preservatives involved in organic production, so they are your safest bet.
Oils have different smoke points, which is an important consideration in cooking. The smoke point is the temperature at which oils begin to smoke, and smoking oil releases unhealthy carcinogenic free radicals. Refined oils such as peanut, soybean, safflower, sunflower, avocado, or grapeseed are ideal for high-temperature cooking because they have very high smoke points, in the range of 440 to 520°F/227 to 270°C. Other oils such as extra-virgin olive oil, canola, and many nut oils have lower smoke points and are best used for lower-temperature cooking. Oils such as hemp seed, flaxseed, and some toasted nut oils should not be heated at all, but are ideal when used as flavor accents or nutrition enhancers.
Refined oils are typically colorless, odorless, and fairly flavorless. The cleanest oils are cold-pressed or expeller-extracted in a heat-controlled environment so that temperatures do not exceed 120°F/48°C. Unrefined oils have robust flavors and aromas, and they also are richer in nutrients. The only drawback is that unrefined oils have lower smoke points than their refined counterparts. As a general guide, choose unrefined oils for flavor and nutritional benefits. Choose refined oils that have been manufactured without chemicals or preservatives for high-heat cooking. (For more information, visit www.spectrumorganics.com.)
