What’s Cooking is a series in which I answer questions and share advice about food and cooking that you have but may be too shy to ask.
I know at times it may seem tedious or fussy when a recipe suggests that you crush rather than chop or puree instead of pound. In the larger scheme of things it may not seem important but if you are seeking a certain result in flavour, texture, taste, and appearance, then it matters. Specific treatments are about the releasing of essential oils and the exposure of surface area; both elements lend themselves directly to flavouring and spicing a dish – intensely or subtly. There are times when things are to be left whole or be cut into large pieces; this determination affects the texture as well as the cooking times, temperature, and overall taste of a finished dish.
Bruise, bash, chop, crack, crush, grind, pound, smash – are among the many applications we make to ingredients when cooking.
For example, when a recipe recommends that ginger be sliced thinly on the bias it means that the maximum surface area from this type of cut will facilitate a lot of the ginger flavour being released. When it is recommended that whole spices be dry roasted just before being ground, it is to bring the oils of the spices to the surface thus creating an intensity of flavour and aroma. Nuts and dried fruits such as raisins or cranberries when added whole to granola bars are to add a chewy texture and heft. The same ingredients when added to biscotti, buns or sweet bread would be chopped small enough to be incorporated into the mixture so that they become one with the other ingredients providing subtle flavour.
Hot peppers tossed whole into a boiling pot of soup, rice and peas, or Cook-up Rice will not impart any heat, but if punctured with a couple of tiny slits before being added to the pot, the peppers will release gentle heat to the entire pot. If the same peppers are minced finely or ground with their seeds and membranes the intensity of heat would be greater.
Sometimes a particular cut is recommended to break down an ingredient to release its flavour such as onions, tomatoes, and herbs. Herbs chopped/minced finely offer up more pronounced flavour than those added whole. On the other hand, some ingredients are to be reduced to such a state – ground, puree, paste – that when cooked with other ingredients they are integrated so that they become an essential part of the dish. A curry is a good example of this – the mixture of spices when ground and mixed with ground turmeric, onions, garlic, peppers, and herbs form a paste that becomes the base and foundation of the dish. All these ingredients flavour the gravy/sauce of the curry.
Many of the same spices in garam masala when cooked whole are not as strong in flavour, it is for this reason, I always recommend a dish of Fish Molee (a Kerala style fish curry) to introduce people to curry. The curry is mild with the spices cooked whole in coconut milk. The dish is fragrant and light. A Gurkha Chicken curry is mild in flavour compared to a Guyanese Chicken curry, simply because the spices used are added whole to the curry.
Here are some other examples to indicate how breaking down an ingredient matters and how cooking techniques contribute to their flavour profiles.
· If you are making dhal/dal and decide to add the jeera/cumin seeds at the beginning of the cooking process, the flavour is restrained. However, toast the jeera in hot oil then pour it over the dhal and immediately the seasoning and flavour of the dal changes (tadka/chunkay).
· Not everyone likes the assertive flavour of garlic, for a mere hint of garlic in a dish, crush it after peeling and add to the pot/pan. For a more robust flavour, mince the garlic fine or make a paste of it.
· Cracked nutmeg in a drink imparts a lighter flavour than grated nutmeg; the same goes for many other spices. Add a whole piece of cinnamon to rice pilaf and it fragrances the rice in an exotic way, add it ground up and it overpowers the dish.
· Eggs are a perfect example of how important it is to vary an ingredient when cooking. To make meatballs and other fried foods that require eggs, they are cracked, added whole and mixed in. Those same eggs change function when they are beaten lightly to work as a wash for baked goods, or as a coating for foods that need a batter. When eggs are to be added to cakes, some recipes call for them to be beaten until they become frothy, this process adds lightness and air to the batter and ultimately, the finished product. And then there is the separation of egg whites and yolks like when making soufflés, meringues, angel cakes etc.
I invite and encourage you to try different ways and methods of breaking down ingredients, you will be surprised by what some ingredients reveal in terms of layers of flavour and texture.
Finally, there is no substitute for the use of certain kitchen tools to give the texture and feel of what you are looking for when breaking down or even mixing ingredients. These days we use a lot of electrical equipment that, while they make fast work of whatever we are using them for, prohibits certain control. Think of the importance of the pulse button on your blender or processor. A mortar and pestle, lorha and sil, and a knife and cutting board are still among the best tools we can use in a kitchen.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
