Exceptional ingredients

[jgm]

I didn't even try a search on this topic, because I didn't know what words to look for. So if this has been covered before, please forgive me; if the moderator needs to combine it with a previous topic, you have my permission and my blessing.

Something I read in the Julie/Julia project caught my attention, many months ago, and I have been mulling it over ever since. I'd like to know what you think.

Julie Powell said: "I have had enough. Enough of the $40 olive oils and imported semolina flour and "please, Turkish oregano only." . . . People speak of gleaning the green markets for the freshest this, the thinnest that, the greenest or firmest or softest whatever, as if what they're doing is a selfless act of consummate care and good taste, rather than the privileged activity of someone who doesn't have to work for a living.

Julia Child wants you ... to know how to make good pastry, and also how to make those canned green beans taste alright."

In short, Julie's thesis here is that technique performed on standard ingredients is what it's all about.

As someone who can't even find arugula in a local supermarket, I find the idea she expresses here is an interesting and attractive one. Obviously, "special" (for lack of a better term; feel free to offer one if you have it) ingredients can be quite wonderful. (Said the woman who eats creme fraiche right out of the carton.)

How much of your cooking relies on "the basics"? How much absolutely requires "special" ingredients, otherwise the dish just won't work?

[melkor]

How much of your cooking relies on "the basics"?  How much absolutely requires "special" ingredients, otherwise the dish just won't work?

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It isn't a matter of the dish working or not. If the goal when cooking is to make something that doesn't taste awful then the quality of your ingredients isn't an issue. Clearly good fresh ingredients taste better than their canned cousins. If you are looking for something more than just ‘not bad’ and you’ve got access to great ingredients then your task as a cook is far easier.

Personally, almost everything I cook uses the best and freshest ingredients I can get my hands on.

[Patrick S]

Well, obviously there are some recipes that call for specific, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients when their readily available counterparts would work just as well. But there are other recipes were 'special ingredients' really do make the dish. The trick is knowing which is which ahead of time.

[Ben Hong]

High standards should be maintained, and preferred, if economically and logistically feasible. Sometime the stars can't all be lined up and ya gotta do what ya gotta do. There are only a few of us on earth who can tell whether an oregano comes from a hillside in eastern Greece or a hillside in southeast Albania.

Blessed are the cooks who can create fine food out of "non elitist" ingredients.

[Potter]

Well, obviously there are some recipes that call for specific, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients when their readily available counterparts would work just as well. But there are other recipes were 'special ingredients' really do make the dish. The trick is knowing which is which ahead of time.

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You said it. You just have to know when you need to use the so-called special/expectional/best. I don't think it matters whether the oregano is from a mountain in Greece or the pot in my backyard. I think it does make a huge difference if you make a tomato salad and use out of season supermarket tomatoes and Polly-O mozzerella rather than waiting til the tomato season for a tasty fresh one and using fresh mozzeralla. As with everything else gotta use common sense.

[slkinsey]

I think it really depends on the style of cooking. The more simple the dish and the technique, the more the quality of the ingredients plays a big part.

For example, one of my standard tomato sauce recipes: 1 large can peeled tomatoes, 4 tablespoons cold butter, 1 medium onion peeled and cut in half, put all into cold pan, bring up to heat and simmer low for 30 minutes, discard onion and use sauce.

Now, this is a recipe in which the quality of the tomatoes makes a huge difference that anyone interested in food will immediately notice. If, on the other hand, I was using a can of peeled tomatoes to make something like chicken tikka masala, the quality of the tomatoes doesn't make nearly as big a difference -- one is unlikely to taste the difference between a $4 can of San Marzano tomatoes and a $1 can of quotidian tomatoes.

[Boris_A]

Dont' start with the recipe. Make reverse enegineering. Cooking is always a logistical problem.

Check what you can get in decent quality. There are always differences, even in supermarket stuff. Compare. Check for farmer markets. Maybe check for additional, easy to ship mail order ingredients. Then choose possible recipes respecting these limits and your technical skills.

For instance, a simple, braised beef doesn't require any exceptional ingredients or tools, but can be very rewarding. It seems to be rather a question of technique. So it's completely up to you to achieve a great results. That's the art of cooking.

[JPW]

To pile on with a real world experiment.

Last week I made a chicken soup with lentils using homemade chicken stock. Mrs JPW, who tends not to be a big soup person declared it delicious.

Last night, I again had leftover chicken meat to use up so I made the same dish. Unforutnately I was out of homemade stock so I had to use store bought. Mrs JPW said "Last week's was much better".

[Malawry]

I cook at work using Sysco's finest--produce, meats, spices, grains, beans, canned tomato products. These are thoroughly average supplies. I use a gourmet product supplier for a few things where Sysco's quality is not up to standard (chocolate callets, olives), and I buy most ethnic ingredients at area specialty markets (sweet chili sauce, bean thread noodles). I don't generally have the budget or the wherewithal to source the world's most amazing whatever for these girls. However, I am strict about assessing the quality of everything I buy before accepting--especially produce--and I employ classic, tested techniques when preparing these ordinary food products. I happen to think the end product is pretty darn good.

At home I prefer cooking with premium ingredients, partly because it's a change of pace from what I do at work. There is absolutely a difference--but it doesn't mean the ordinary products are bad at all.

[Wolfert]

I'd like to address the original comment doubting Turkish oregano would make a difference in a recipe.

Let's imagine we all visit some town in Turkey or Greece and fall in love with the local grilled kebab.

We all agree this is one dish we could duplicate at home and share its flavor experience with friends, each other, etc.

So, before we head back, we learn the local secret of double seasoning with dried herbs (most likely oregano), once before grilling and once afterwards. We study the cuts of meat used so we can be sure to have the right amount of fat to lean..

Ok, now we're back in the States: We try to duplicate this simple dish and it bombs. American lamb is fabulous and works perfectly, but the taste isn't there.

A simple ingredient that costs about $.25 to season a few dozen kebabs would have changed the whole scenario.

There are so many kinds of oregano with so many different flavors and uses. The one mostly sold in supermarkets in the States is from Mexico which is fine for many dishes.se. But it is never going to bring a little bit of Turkey or Greece into your dining.

My solution is to opt for Mediterranean oregano available at any Middle Eastern store, or from the Penzeys.

[Busboy]

Premium ingredients are important and good and many are the mornings I've hauled my hungover ass out of bed to make the farmer's market before the best tomatoes are sold out or the ripe melons are bought. The cumulative cost of choosing prime over choice and imported over domestic would probably, invested wisely, cover the cost of my son's first two years at a prestigious university -- assuming, of course, that he could get himself into one.

For all that, though, premium ingredients are just one variable in the larger cooking equation. The recipe you're using, your technique and skill level, the amount of time you're willing to devote to something are all important, sometimes moreso. A premium green bean won't taste much better than the canned variety if you boil it until it's mushy. The best peaches in the world won't make a good tart if you can't get the crust right. Those free-range short-ribs aren't going to make a memorable meal unless you have -- and take -- the time to braise them properly.

Obviously, the simpler the dish, the more important the ingredient. I get up early for those damn tomatoes because I eat them sliced, with salt and maybe some vinegar and oil. The tomato is the dish, it better be good.

Also, at some point the incremental cost of incremental quality improvements becomes too high, unless you have unlimited funds. Frankly, the difference between the $20 olive oil and the $40 olive oil is too subtle for me to spend the money. And when I'm frying in the oil or it's not a major part of the dish, the crap from the Safeway is fine with me.

In the long run, you're better off learning to cook Julia's way -- becoming skilled enough in the kitchen that you can make the canned green beans taste good -- than becoming a fetishist for prime ingredients. Shopping is important, and I don't mean to dismiss the wonder of buying and serving The Very Best, but good cooking trumps good shopping every time.

Edited February 17, 2005 by Busboy (log)

[AK@Spicehouse]

I cook at work using Sysco's finest--produce, meats, spices, grains, beans, canned tomato products. These are thoroughly average supplies. I use a gourmet product supplier for a few things where Sysco's quality is not up to standard (chocolate callets, olives), and I buy most ethnic ingredients at area specialty markets (sweet chili sauce, bean thread noodles). I don't generally have the budget or the wherewithal to source the world's most amazing whatever for these girls. However, I am strict about assessing the quality of everything I buy before accepting--especially produce--and I employ classic, tested techniques when preparing these ordinary food products. I happen to think the end product is pretty darn good.

At home I prefer cooking with premium ingredients, partly because it's a change of pace from what I do at work. There is absolutely a difference--but it doesn't mean the ordinary products are bad at all.

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Could not agree more !! This is the answer, although cut back on the Sysco and all your customers will still smile !!

[fifi]

I'd like to address  the original comment doubting Turkish oregano would make a difference in a recipe.

Let's imagine we all visit some town in Turkey or Greece and fall in love with the local grilled kebab.

We all agree this is one dish we could duplicate at home and share its  flavor experience with friends, each other, etc.

So, before we head back, we learn the local secret of double seasoning with dried herbs (most likely oregano), once before grilling and once afterwards. We study the cuts of meat used so we can be sure to have the right amount of fat to lean..

Ok, now we're  back in the States: We try to duplicate this simple dish and it bombs. American lamb is fabulous and works perfectly, but the taste isn't there.

A simple ingredient that costs about $.25  to season a few dozen kebabs would have changed the whole scenario.

There are so many kinds of oregano with so many different flavors and uses. The one mostly sold in supermarkets in the States is from Mexico which is fine for many dishes.se. But it is never going to bring a little bit of Turkey or Greece into your dining.

My solution is to opt for Mediterranean oregano available at any Middle Eastern store, or from the Penzeys.

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Just to be perverse . . . Here is how I would handle this scenario: I have my good lamb. I have learned how to pick the right cut and quality. I have learned the seasoning technique. But all I have is my McCormick's oregano. It is the mediterranean type, not Mexican. (That is a different plant altogether.) No, it is not the same as that wonderful herb that came off of the southeastern slopes of Mount Olympus. I make the dish and serve to my guests. They pronounce it delicious. Here is the perverse part: I don't tell them that it doesn't taste exactly the same as the dish I had in Greece. I know but they don't. I did improve the dish for having discovered the details of lamb selection and seasoning technique. I just smile and accept the compliments.

I generally go with what I can get without wearing myself out. Folks in California need to understand that most of the rest of the world do not have their fortunate climes and market opportunities. I guess that is why Alice often rubs me the wrong way when she starts preaching produce. When good stuff does show up, I take the reverse engineering approach. "Are those purple hull peas that guy has in the back of his pick-up?" And, sorry, I refuse to pay the price for the chicken at Central Market to make stock. I have tried it and proclaimed it not worth it. Technique seems to be the important ingredient in good stock. And, let us not forget that there are some cooking styles that are intended to make what isn't prime ingredients taste delicious, gumbo for instance.

I guess I am just a practical cook. Most of the time, I deal with what I can get, without too much fuss, and do my best to make it good. Then there are times that I am cooking a Coquille St. Jacques for a special friend and will visit three or more markets before deciding on which scallops to buy.

[Wolfert]

I totally agree that one can make a great lamb kebab without a particular seasoning, in this case the mediterranean oregano. I was setting up a scenario where the recreation of a particular dish was what was wanted by those who actually had tasted the dish.

As a food writer who writes about other regions' foods exclusively, there has never been a better time to share experiences with readers. The availability of new culinary products over the past twenty years has made the inclusion of numerous new recipes possible.

On the subject of chicken stock: I use chicken feet, backs and wings or the carcass of a roast chicken. The feet ,after a nice little manicure, make the stock rich and hefty.