My wife was making dinner the other night. As she was getting ready to chop an onion, the 6 year old wandered into the kitchen and commented “That’s big garlic!”
She refused to believe it was an onion. Then she skipped right back out of the kitchen. We just laughed.
Garlic, onions, and butter are my holy trinity
I started watching TV cooking shows in the late 90s (e.g. Good Eats, Iron Chef, Naked Chef etc.) and I would just cook what I saw for my friends. They were all “wow ChickenLady you’re such an amazing chef” for a few years until they started watching that shit themselves. Then they were all “you should have used white balsamic vinegar and black garlic in that”.
I feel like one of the garlics could be replaced with a shallot.
But then there would be less garlic :(
And when you can’t cook at all just throw in some butter and/or bacon at the end and BOOM!..tasty and delicious!
You can also drizzle olive oil and za’attar on top of anything and basic bitches like me will think it’s fancy.
Go to an international grocery store and buy a jar of anything you have trouble pronouncing.
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Put black garlic in everything.
Like surströmming
I’d be unsure how to prepare it in a way that my American palate would enjoy it, but fermented fish as Asian ‘fish sauce’ is mighty tasty when used correctly, so it’d be worth a shot. My google search (I was pretty sure it was similar to lutefisk, but wasn’t sure how) had an AI overview question of ‘is it illegal to open surströmming indoors?’, which I thought was funny.
So many things taste great after a fermentation that we don’t always notice the process: cheese, sourdough, beer/wine/liquor, kimchi, (some kinds of) pickles, etc, including meats such as salami and chorizo. Why not a fish?
I may be misreading things, but if you’re going to pick on a regional specialty… pick on durian :P I’m assuming it’s like coriander, in that some find it pleasant and others disgusting based on their genetics. I’m in the latter category for durian. Foods for me are like pokemon: Gotta try 'em all.
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Some only once.
What I’m picking on is the idea of going into the international grocery store and buying some random thing. I’ve cooked all over the world with a variety of ingredients, many of the dried, fermented, salted…randomness is fine if you’re cooking for Ted Allen otherwise at least look it up first.
I wasn’t trying to be antagonistic, just defending “gross” foods. I absolutely agree that one should know what they are doing before inflicting it on others… but if cooking for yourself or others who are in on the adventure, there’s no harm (except maybe nausea) in trying things without knowing what they are.
Smoked anything, as well. My guilty vegan addition to too many meals is Liquid Smoke it smoked paprika. Makes nothing ingredients like bland beans and tofu actually taste like something.
The jury is out as to whether these delicious ingredients will cause cancer. Probably not any more than me overcooking everything to get a delicious char, this setting off the smoke alarm whenever I’m allowed near a burner.
to get a delicious char
Didnt knew sou could eat a char
You can, but you can only take one byte
Soffritto 🤌
Image is missing cooking cream and basil.
Since I’m lactose intolerant and so is most of my family, cream usually isn’t used so I wouldn’t be aware if it sends a particularly pleasant smell.
Cream is a crutch. Well, sometimes. Mint relatives are good.
the picture correctly includes double dose of garlic, but i’m missing the paprika and lard/bacon. source: i’m originally from hungary.
Wow, I hate to bring up Spanish smoked paprika then.
I love me some smoked paprika!
Also use some wine for even more smells! Even when cooking Western food, I’ve grown fond of using a little bit of Shaoxing wine, and replacing a bit of salt with a dash of soy + fish sauce for more complex umami
I always use wine when cooking anything with tomatoes in it. Tomatoes (and other vegetables) have a lot of flavor compounds that are alcohol-soluble and the wine brings them out.
I didn’t know that, thanks for the fun fact!
I see you’re a man of culture as well.
For European cuisine, I like replacing salt with anchovies as they are basically just salt with benefits.
Have you ever tried cooking your own Jamaican Jerk marinade? Pimento, chili, garlic, onions, thyme and ginger, nutmeg, cloves plus soy sauce. And since that is supposed to cook for hours… your kitchen will smell lovely for days.
Ooh interesting! Will have to try that.
Never even made Jamaican food! Do you have a go-to recipe or chef/youtuber you’d recommend for jerk marinade/Jamaican flavours?
Butter is missing from this
How does butter smell good?
If you don’t know about brown butter, I am sad for you.
Butter smells good when cooking something, must be a subjective thing but to me it smells really good.
Maybe in America, not in Spain
And in Dinamarca!
I’ve long meant to publish a cookbook but since it’s probably not going to happen I’ll share my concept here. It was going to be called “it starts with an onion” About 90% of the dishes I make start this way. Even if a recipe doesn’t call for it, I’ll often just start with some diced onion in oil and then began the recipe. If you have some ingredients around and you are trying to think of what to do with them, envision a Dutch oven or frying pan with some softened salted chopped onions in it and start planning what you will add too it. It’s a solid start to many a meal. Also, don’t underestimate shallots. They are like if garlic and onion had a baby.
It starts with onions,
nice, small and diced,
set the pan temperature not too high
then add some olive oil, you’ll see why,
and then let them sauté until! They’re! Fine!
It starts with onions - weep for their demise!
Their blackened bodies charred centimeters high,
Seal their souls with garlic thrice,
I am a chef and I do not play nice.Amazing, I was thinking of the beat of the song reading the main text and here you are giving me lyrics to go with it before I could even ask or mention.
Red onions make you stinky. White onions only ✅
laughs in French
Red onions make you stinky. White onions only ✅
Objectivley wrong but ok
Who tf are you quoting? Also I’m not wrong about the red onions. Places that use a lot of red onions always make me stink afterwards.
fixed lol
Herbs and ginger also smell really nice.
