Read Saveur: The New Comfort Food Online
Authors: James Oseland
Saveur: The New Comfort Food (2 page)
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SAVEUR
, we’ve always been interested in where these foods come from, and we’ve trekked to the places where they’re produced. We’ve marveled at the producers’ ingenuity: the gristmills that grind wheat into flour, the aging rooms where cheeses develop their flavors. We’ve come to understand the historical and cultural contexts that shape a cuisine’s character: the trade routes, the agricultural traditions, the ways people obtain their food. We’ve learned to use cooking tools like seasoned woks for making Chinese stir-fries and clay tagines for Moroccan stews, and we’ve embraced techniques for everything from extracting the flavor from lemongrass to evenly slicing carrots.
Most of all, we’ve come to know and admire the people who acquainted us with these dishes. Some of them are chefs, to be sure, but most are people making a living serving great food—like José and Gloria Fonseca of Los Angeles’s La Abeja café, whose huevos rancheros introduced me to the pleasures of Mexican breakfast; and the Mississippi Delta line cook Brandon Hughes, who deep-fries catfish like nobody’s business. They’re home cooks preparing meals for family and friends: people like saveur contributor Alia Yunis, who gave us her Palestinian-Lebanese mother’s exemplary recipe for hummus; Aggeliki Bakali, from the Greek village of Pertouli, who taught us how to make hortopita, a savory pie of wild greens wrapped in homemade phyllo dough; and even my dad, Larry, whose method for marinating and grilling flank steak yields a charred, salty crust and a perfectly pink center.
This book is a tribute to those great cooks and to all the valuable lessons we’ve learned from them over the years. In the sidebars and notes that run alongside the recipes, our editors and contributors share their stories, as well as kitchen wisdom and ingredient information that inspire and empower us as cooks. The dishes these people make is food for the body and soul. We can’t help but give ourselves over to it. That’s the beautiful thing about comfort food: no matter where it comes from, it awakens our senses and lifts our spirits. It comforts us again and again.
—J
AMES
O
SELAND
A variety of mezedes, or small plates, at Tsinari, an ouzeri in the city of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece.
Every corner of the globe has its favorites: Thai spring rolls, Argentine empanadas, Italian crostini. From the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where snacking on small plates is a way of life, we get hummus drizzled with aromatic olive oil, vegetable-filled savory pies, and grilled bread topped with peak-of-season ingredients like wild mushrooms or sweet, juicy tomatoes. If you ask us, there’s no more convivial way to eat than laying out a table full of these flavorful starters and inviting everyone to dive in.
The French cows’ milk cheese Comté is one of the best melting cheeses we know of. The key to bringing out its mildly sharp, herbaceous flavors is to cook it very slowly in a generous amount of butter over moderate heat, allowing it to relax into a luscious melt—in this case between two thick slices of sourdough bread.
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
4 ½ -inch-thick slices sourdough bread
8 oz. Comté cheese, grated
Serves 2
1. Spread the butter evenly on both sides of each slice of bread. Put half the cheese on one slice and half on another. Top each with a remaining bread slice.
2. Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sandwiches to the skillet and cook, flipping once with a metal spatula, until golden brown and crusty on both sides, 9–10 minutes each side. Transfer the sandwiches to a cutting board and slice in half with a knife.
COOKING NOTE While Comté makes the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich, other semifirm cheeses—including Jarlsberg, fontina, and Gruyère—melt beautifully, too.
As much as I loved grilled American cheese sandwiches as a kid, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered how transcendent this classic comfort food can taste when it’s made with truly great cheese. That epiphany came after a visit to the Jura mountains, along the French-Swiss border. There, I was seduced by Comté, a semifirm cheese born of the distinctive milk of local Montbéliarde cows, whose diet includes wild orchids, daisies, dandelions, and more than 400 other plant varieties that grow on the green hillsides of the Franche-Comté region. Produced in the fruitières, or cooperative dairies, that have dotted this landscape for centuries, the wheels of cheese are aged on spruce boards for a few weeks before being entrusted to an affineur, or cellar master, who oversees its further maturation. Unlike many AOC cheeses (meaning those from specially designated cheese-making regions), Comté is made with an emphasis not on uniformity but on individuality. A young cheese that’s just a few months old may taste and smell like butter, an older one that’s been aged for a year or more, like fruit and spices. Over time, the cheese develops hints of chocolate, spice, nutmeg, apricot, hazelnut, and caramel, flavors that become even more prominent, I discovered, once the cheese has melted. It’s no wonder that Comté is such a celebrated cooking cheese, used in both France and the United States for everything from fondues to soufflés to gratins to my personal favorite, great grilled cheese sandwiches.
—Cara de Silva
Frisée aux Lardons
This classic French bistro salad gets its savor and crunch from a liberal scattering of thick bacon slivers, which the French call lardons. saveur contributor Eugenia Bone (pictured) makes it with her own home-cured bacon, but any store-bought unsmoked slab bacon will work well. For tips on poaching eggs, see
“Perfect Poaching.”
5 ½ -inch-thick slices unsmoked slab bacon, sliced crosswise into ½ -inch-wide strips
2 cups distilled white vinegar Kosher salt, to taste
4 large eggs
1 tbsp. minced shallots
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ lb. frisée greens, torn into medium-size pieces
Serves 4
1. Combine bacon and 1 cup water in a 12-inch skillet over mediumhigh heat. Cook, stirring, until water evaporates and bacon crisps, 30–40 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate. Reserve fat in skillet.
2. Prepare eggs for poaching: Bring 16 cups of water to a boil in a tall 6-qt. saucepan over high heat. Add the vinegar and 2 tsp. salt, lower heat to medium, and bring to a simmer. Crack each egg into its own ramekin and set aside. (Don’t cook the eggs yet.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together shallots, lemon juice, mustard, and 3 tbsp. reserved bacon fat. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to make a smooth vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, toss frisée with vinaigrette. Divide frisée and bacon between 4 plates.
4. Swirl the simmering vinegar water with a spoon to create a whirlpool. Carefully slide each egg into the water and poach until just firm, 2–3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to paper towels to drain, then top salads with 1 egg apiece. Season salads with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Boh Biah Tote
Crunchy fried spring rolls like these, stuffed with pork, mushrooms, and rice noodles and served with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce, are a popular midday snack in Thailand. Be sure to keep the reserved spring roll wrappers covered with a damp towel while you’re working, to prevent them from drying out.
FOR THE CHILE-GARLIC SAUCE
:
1 cup sugar
½ cup distilled white vinegar
2 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
FOR THE SPRING ROLLS
:
3 dried mushrooms, such as cloud ear, porcini, or shiitake
2 oz. rice vermicelli noodles
¼ lb. ground pork
¼ lb. medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and minced
2 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. minced shallots
½ tsp. freshly ground white pepper
½ tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic, minced Kosher salt, to taste
7 6-inch square spring roll wrappers, quartered into small squares
1 egg, lightly beaten Peanut oil, for frying
Makes 28 rolls
1. Make the chile–garlic sauce: In a 2-qt. saucepan, bring the sugar, vinegar, garlic, salt, and ½ cup water to a boil over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until the liquid is thick and syrupy, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the cayenne, and transfer to a serving bowl. Chill until ready to use.
2. Make the spring rolls: Put the mushrooms into a small bowl, cover with hot water, and let soak until soft, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, put the noodles into a large bowl and cover with hot water; let soak until soft, about 6 minutes. Drain and roughly chop the noodles; set aside. Drain the mushrooms and finely chop them. In a large bowl, combine the noodles and mushrooms along with the pork, shrimp, fish sauce, shallots, white pepper, sugar, and garlic. Mix the filling together and season lightly with salt.
3. Working with 1 small square of spring roll wrapper at a time, put the wrapper on a work surface so that one corner faces you.
See Image A
Put 1 scant tbsp. of filling in the center of the wrapper, and brush the far edge of the wrapper with a little of the beaten egg.
See Image B
Fold the near corner up over the filling to make a cylinder, and cinch the cylinder to make sure the filling is tightly wrapped.
See Image C
Fold the sides of the wrapper into the center of the cylinder.
See Image D
Roll the cylinder toward the far corner until the spring roll is sealed. Transfer the spring roll, seam side down, to a plate. Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers; set aside.
4. Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches into a 6-qt. heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Heat until a deep-fry thermometer reads 350°F. Working in batches, fry the spring rolls, turning, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate. Serve the spring rolls with the chile–garlic sauce.
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B
C
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