SEASON
by
TO
TA S T E
Alex Mackay, author of Everybody, Everyday
Raymond Blanc taught me to taste and the lesson began on my first day in his kitchen at Le Manoir. My hero shook my
hand, laughed and began to explain that he’d put me (a Kiwi) on the cold section, to keep me as far as possible from the Aussie on the fish section. But he didn’t finish his explanation. Instead, his eyes leaped to my garnishes for his Provencal terrine. He grabbed a spoon. “Taste,” he said. “Every bit, mon grand.” He demonstrated. “The green beans need more pepper. Taste them. The tomatoes need some sugar. Taste, see for yourself. The fennel, too sweet. Balance it with lemon, taste. The herb dressing, mmm, good, very fresh, very clean.” RB said it so often that I’d hear “taste, taste” in my dreams. But tasting isn’t only for Le Manoir, the best of restaurants. It’s not just a ‘cheffy’ thing. Tasting is the easiest way to make a difference to everything that everybody cooks every day. You can start early, I’ve passed on “taste, taste” to my 3 and 6 year old sons who now say it to me when we cook together.
Taste, taste, taste If we taste our food as we prepare it, we can improve as we go. Think of it as a glorious game of “How can my dinner be more delicious?” When you add salt to your sauce, is it enough? Taste it again. Would it be nicer with spice? Sugar? What about acidity? When you roast a vegetable, cut off a bit and taste it. Is it undercooked? Is your boiled vegetable tender? Before you strain it, dip it in quickly cold water so you don’t burn your mouth and taste it. Taste a salad dressing with the tip of a leaf. Lick the sauce from spoons and spatulas. Just keep tasting. Taste takes you on adventures A recipe’s taste evolves as it cooks. When you try cooking my tomato compote, for example, your tomatoes may be watery. Simmer them to evaporate the water and leave as much flavour as possible. Taste. If the compote’s become too acidic, balance it with sugar. Then, to strengthen the taste, add salt, little by little, and taste between each addition. Now the compote becomes a chameleon that you can season to whatever taste you fancy. Salt doesn’t have to be followed by pepper, for a spicy bite, use chilli, curry or jerk spice. For smokiness, smoked paprika. A fresh burst? Use grated citrus zest or ginger. For sweetness, there are raisins and raz-el-hanout. And for a super salty treat, fried bacon bits with their cooking fat. Everybody Everyday has three sections: Adventures, Magic and Sorcery. Tasting takes you on an adventure, seasoning is a sort of magic, and the results can seem like sorcery. Take your smile into your kitchen, your curiosity and the tip of your tongue. Grab a spoon and turn good into magnificent, by tasting as you go.
EVERYBODY, EVERYDAY by Alex Mackay Bloomsbury £20.00
Want to see Alex Mackay live? Click here for his programme of Cookery Demonstrations
EVERY GRAIN OF RICE by
Fuchsia Dunlop
‘Delicious and authentic Chinese food made clear, easy and accessible. Brilliant.’ Jamie Oliver
The Chinese know, perhaps better than anyone else, how to eat. I’m not talking here about their exquisite haute cuisine, or their ancient tradition of gastronomy. I’m talking about the ability of ordinary Chinese home cooks to transform humble and largely vegetarian ingredients into wonderful delicacies, and to eat in a way that not only delights the senses, but also makes sense in terms of health, economy and the environment.
GONG BAO CHICKEN WITH PEANUTS | GONG BAO JI DING As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the ultimate chicken dishes: quick and easy to make and thrillingly delicious. The cooking method is xiao chao, ‘small stir-fry’, in which all the ingredients are simply added to the wok in succession. With its kick of scorched chilli, tingle of Sichuan pepper and gentle sweet-sour sauce, it’s a typically Sichuanese combination of flavours. The crunchy peanuts, juicy spring onions and succulent chicken also give it a delightful mouthfeel. INGREDIENTS 2 boneless chicken breasts, with or without skin (300–350g in total) 3 garlic cloves An equivalent amount of ginger 5 spring onions, white parts only A handful of dried chillies (about 10) 2 tbsp cooking oil 1 tsp whole Sichuan pepper 75g roasted peanuts
For the marinade ½ tsp salt 2 tsp light soy sauce 1 tsp Shaoxing wine 1½ tsp potato flour
For the sauce 1 tbsp caster sugar ¾ tsp potato flour 1 tsp dark soy sauce 1 tsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tbsp chicken stock or water
Cut the chicken as evenly as possible into 1.5cm strips, then cut these into small cubes. Place in a small bowl. Add the marinade ingredients together with 1 tbsp water, mix well and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and ginger and chop the spring onions into chunks as long as their diameter (to match the chicken cubes). Snip the chillies in half or into sections. Discard their seeds as far as possible. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the oil with the chillies and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until the chillies are darkening but not burnt (remove the wok from the heat if necessary to prevent overheating). Quickly add the chicken and stir-fry over a high flame, stirring constantly. As soon as the chicken cubes have separated, add the ginger, garlic and spring onions and continue to stirfry until they are fragrant and the meat just cooked through (test one of the larger pieces to make sure). Give the sauce a stir and add it to the wok, continuing to stir and toss. As soon as the sauce has become thick and shiny, add the peanuts, stir them in and serve.
EVERY GRAIN OF RICE by Fuchsia Dunlop Bloomsbury £25 / 7 June 2011
WIN TICKETS TASTE OF LONDON
21st-24th June 2012 • Regents Park • Stand C10 We have two of pairs of tickets to give away Visit our stand at Taste of London where you’ll be able to browse and buy our cook books, meet authors like Raymond Blanc, Atul Kochhar and Jacob Kenedy of Bocca di Lupo, enter our competition to win £100 worth of cookbooks and find out more about upcoming Bloomsbury Cooks events To enter, just email marketing@bloomsbury.com with Taste of London in the subject line. Valid on the Thursday and Friday only. Click here for T&C
Coming next month... Unpacking boxes of books in the attic, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love discovered this wonderful cookbook written by her greatgrandmother in the 1940s - ahead of its time, yet perfect vintage AT HOME ON THE RANGE by Margaret Yardley Potter With an introduction by Elizabeth Gilbert
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