Cooking

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Kimberly - A mornay sauce can be tricky but you've got the right idea by using freshly grated cheese and adding it off the heat. It's likely the type of cheese you are using. Aged cheeses don't melt well. For this reason when I make macaroni and cheese I use a combination of cheeses - sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack. Sharp cheddar has a ton of flavor, but doesn't melt well (you can tell that it won't because it sort of crumbles when you cut it). Monterey Jack is a creamy cheese that melts really well, but lacks a ton of flavor. The two together create the perfect balance of flavor and texture. This flavor profile creates a pretty classic Mac and cheese, but yny good melting cheese can be used in place of the Monterey Jack - gruyere, fontina, muenster, taleggio. Feel free to experiment with a flavor combination you like best and good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by April Dodd

Hi Susana - we do have a recipe for an excellent Thai soup that we learned as Khao Tom; take a look and let us know if it is what you're looking for: Thai Rice Soup (Khao Tom) In terms of whether these ingredients are available in supermarkets, that will depend on the supermarket! Fish sauce and chili garlic sauce have become pretty widely available staples. If you can't find lemongrass, simply add an additional shallot, as well as the zest of one large, or two small, lemons. - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Mike - there are about as many ways to caramelize onions as there are cooks, so the short answer here is that if you have a technique that works for you, then use it! There's no "correct" answer here: rather, if the approach you use gives you the results you want, then it's a good one. The longer answer is that the lower and slower the heat, the more sweetness will be coaxed out of the onions over time. A traditional French-style caramelized onion might cook for two hours or more, with occasional splashes of water added to loosen up anything that might have gotten stuck to the bottom of the pan. However, for the home cook, there's no shame in cooking them over medium heat for less time - even 20 minutes will see a good amount of caramelization - like we do in our Lentils and Bulgur with Caramelized Onions: https://bit.ly/2wn6WBt. I will note that salt can dramatically transform caramelized onions; added too early, salt can result in oddly mushy onions. Wait to season to taste until the end. - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Good questions, Chi. In our gnocchi recipe, we recommend boiling the potatoes until tender, draining, and then drying them further in a hot pot back on the stove top. Our goal is cloudlike, airy gnocchi, meaning that we want to avoid anything that might produce dense or gummy texture. To that end, we are looking to minimize the moisture trapped inside the dough and to control gluten development. That's why we wait until the potatoes cool before ricing; as they cool, steam evaporates off the surface of the potatoes, and excess moisture drains through the wire rack. This is also why we use a comparatively small ratio of flour to potatoes: more flour produces a glutinous, chewy pasta, not the airy one we want. Using too little flour, however, results in a gummy texture reminiscent of overwhipped mashed potatoes. - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

What we do in our development kitchen is this: simply place a whole clove of garlic on a cutting surface, then place the flat side of a chefs knife over the clove and smash with the palm of the hand. The knife helps to distribute the force of the smash so that the garlic's skin pops open, making it easy to peel off. Then, if needed for the dish you're making, just slice off that small root end. Happy cooking! -April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Michael, we're so happy to hear that you're using this time to tackle some big cooking projects. I'm not surprised to hear that you're having trouble finding salt pork; it has fallen somewhat out of favor these days. You could certainly use pancetta (rolled, not sliced like bacon) as a stand-in; it's similarly salty but has a slightly higher meat:fat ratio than salt pork does. I'd recommend that over lardons or smoked ham hocks, which can be quite intensely smoky and overwhelm the other flavors in a cassoulet. For ease, I'd go with the pancetta, but if you make your own salt pork, more power to you! - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Nancy - I'm glad to hear that you have plenty of ginger on hand and that you are thinking about how to make it last. Here are some favorite options: Peel your ginger and cut it into thin (about 1/4 inch) slices. Place the slices on a parchment paper-lined sheet and freeze until very firm, then transfer to a tightly sealed plastic baggie. When you need fresh ginger, simply pull out a few discs from the freezer, let thaw for 10-20 minutes, then cut as needed. These are good for a year or more. If you frequently use ginger in curries in soups, then you could make frozen ginger paste. Peel and finely grate the ginger, then pack it into the cubes of an ice cube tray. Freeze until solid, then transfer to a tightly sealed plastic baggie. These are good for a year or more. Make a snack of candied ginger. I love this recipe from David Lebovitz: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/candied-ginger/. Just save the syrup from this recipe and use it for cocktails or homemade sodas. This stays good for up to two weeks in a sealed container in the fridge. Hope that helps! - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

Christopher - sounds like you know your way around a kitchen! Your description of red cabbage as a minerally, stout relative of green cabbage is spot-on. The flavors are different, and we treat them differently as a result. Red cabbage has bolder flavor than green cabbage; it's more peppery, and can even border on spicy. So we pair it with things that complement and contrast those flavors. Try these two very different recipes to see how flexible red cabbage can be: first, a braise with apples and brown sugar to play on cabbage's sweetness, but balanced with bold spices (caraway, allspice) and a generous amount of vinegar; and second, a Cambodian salad that counts on cabbage's robustness to carry the big flavors of lime juice, fish sauce, and fresh chilies. Happy cooking! - April D. Braised Red Cabbage with Apples and Juniper Cambodian Beef Salad

Answered by April Dodd

Great question, Dee. When you sweat those foundational vegetables - whether it's just onions and garlic, or a classic mirepoix, or something else - what is happening has to do with the vegetables being exposed to direct, more intense heat (in contrast to the gentler heat of a simmering sauce, soup or stew). When you just have your mirepoix in the pan, those ingredients are getting up to the neighborhood of 300°F, which is when we start to see browning occur via the Maillard reaction and caramelization (remember that there are plenty of sugars in things like onion and carrot), two chemical processes that catalyze new flavor and aroma compounds. Once those flavors have been developed, you can move on to adding liquid - at which point the temperature drops to a maximum of 212°F - which distributes those complex flavors through the sauce, soup or stew. Does that make sense? - April D.

Answered by April Dodd

You're not alone, Carol - lots of folks have strong feelings about celery. In terms of a substitute, it depends on what you're making. What we ask ourselves when thinking about substitutions is: what role is this ingredient playing in this recipe? When we use celery, it is very often for a pop of crunchy texture. In that case, a good stand-in might be shaved fresh fennel or radishes, or sliced jicama or bok choy - the choice will depend on the flavor profile of the dish you're making. Hope that helps! - April D.