Cooking tips and wonderful flavour combinations

[baboon2004]

Does anyone make sofrito/mirepoix etc etc vegetable bases before cooking their meals, like what European restaurants (apparently) do?

I sort of do a version of it sometimes, but starting to think I should make it a rule to get better results.

mirepoix = onion/carrots/celery diced, sweated for 10 mins
sofrito = garlic/onion/tomatoes, or lots of variations
holy trinity (cajun version) = onions/bell peppers/celery

 

[Numbers]

I do. Always Italian-style (red onion, carrot, celery, parsil) and only for the dishes that need it, though. Key to succes is to chop the vegetables as fine as you can. The vegetables displayed on the mirepoix wiki-page, for example, need some more chopping. Alas, without a good mezzaluna it really takes ages. If you really want to go this road, buy a good mezzaluna (the bigger, the faster).

 

[baboon2004]

I do. Always Italian-style (red onion, carrot, celery, parsil) and only for the dishes that need it, though. Key to succes is to chop the vegetables as fine as you can. The vegetables displayed on the mirepoix wiki-page, for example, need some more chopping. Alas, without a good mezzaluna it really takes ages. If you really want to go this road, buy a good mezzaluna (the bigger, the faster).

Thanks for this. Didn't know what a mezzaluna was until I just looked it up, so further knowledge there! May well invest...

 

[muser]

I really want one of those they make chopping fun, never knew they were called that

 

[baboon2004]

Another question re the mirepoix thingamijig - if you put parsley in it, does the parsely not lose flavour through being cooked for too long. I'm always reticent to put herbs (except woody stuff like thyme and rosemary) in to the cooking too early, in case this happens. Am I wrong? I know Iranian khoreshes and the like seem to cook fresh herbs for a long time, so maybe I'm just being too cautious...

 

[baboon2004]

Anyone have any suggestions for Mexican marinades to make really good tacos/quesadillas etc? I've found chili/oregano/cumin/lime juice to be fairly typical, and adding juniper too possibly...anyone have much experience with Mexican food, as may try to make a batch this weekend...?

 

[Mr. Tea]

Another question re the mirepoix thingamijig - if you put parsley in it, does the parsely not lose flavour through being cooked for too long. I'm always reticent to put herbs (except woody stuff like thyme and rosemary) in to the cooking too early, in case this happens. Am I wrong? I know Iranian khoreshes and the like seem to cook fresh herbs for a long time, so maybe I'm just being too cautious...

I guess it probably depends on whether you want the herbs to be very piquant and fresh-tasting (as in Thai food, for example) or just to add a warm background note to meat/vegetables (like in Moroccan food, maybe? and perhaps Iranian too, don't know a lot about it).

As a general rule I add dried herbs and spices fairly early on in the cooking so they have time to infuse into the sauce or whatever I'm making, and fresh herbs towards the end so as to preserve some of the freshness.

 

[DannyL]

Anyone have any suggestions for Mexican marinades to make really good tacos/quesadillas etc? I've found chili/oregano/cumin/lime juice to be fairly typical, and adding juniper too possibly...anyone have much experience with Mexican food, as may try to make a batch this weekend...?

A Mexican guy has just moved in next to my a friend, and they've been hanging out loads, and he's been cooking up a storm. Apparently he puts pork scratchings in a tomato sauce to rehydrate them and they (and the sauce) then taste UTTERLY AMAZING. I am so hot for these right now. Will post recipe details if I get them. Comes from the usage of cheap and tasty cuts of meat, driven by necessity.

I didn't know about this place until recently - http://www.casamexico.co.uk/

Just down the road from me!

 

[baboon2004]

@Tea - yeah, I go on similar principles, but have seen some recommend putting fresh parsley in certain recipes quite early, which goes against common sense for me, but may well work. Iranian is interesting - in one dish you fry mint/coriander/god knows what else at the beginning, and then make a kind of green herb stew.

@Danny - love those kind of cooking magic tips! Thanks. Ah yeah, posted in this thread about that Mexian supermarket actually! Gonna go there soon to get me some tomatillos and chipotle in adobe.

Two of my own tips I've picked up - putting carbonated water in batter for lighter pancakes/tempura etc...er, number two has gone straight out of my head...

i've gone all spice geek this week, and have been comparing all the different blends that some of these spice internet speciailists stock. Interesting to see how things compare across continents. Inspired to make berbere for some Eritrean food - coriander/cardamom/fenugreek/nutmeg/ajowan/ginger/allspice/cinnamon/cloves/paprika/cayenne, made into paste with garlic/onion./red wine/oil etc. Prob a million different variations, as always...

 

[mistersloane]

I looked in the Mexican /New Mexico books we've got and can't find any specifically for marinades - sorry! - it tends to be quite 'clean' meat for Mexican/derivatives from what I learned today, on our stuff anyway (ortiz and a New mexico one we picked up)

 

[baboon2004]

http://www.los-dos.com/recipes/index.php this has a few very decent recipes on it. lovely site.

 

[Slothrop]

I've recently become kind of obsessed with a sort of southeast asian style cold noodle salad. I had it originally in some fairly nondescript vietnamese cafe thing in soho when I needed a quick lunch, and have rinsing variations on the concept ever since.

The basic arrangement is egg ribbon noodles, cooked and then rinsed in cold water, possibly piled on top of some salad leaves or possibly just in a bowl. On top of that you get seperate little piles of grated carrot, coriander leaves, grated cucumber (I leave it out because I hate cucumber, but I can see why it makes sense as a flavour combination), beansprouts (I often leave these out too because they're phenomenally boring in most other contexts and I don't want to have a bag sitting around going watery), and some sort of lightly spiced coconutty fried meat or fish or meat substitute - this latter is the only bit that's warm. On top of that you put some chopped peanuts if you want and then liberally squirt srichacha chilli sauce over the whole thing.

I think the srichacha is the key part, most of the rest of it could be omitted provided that's in there. No doubt Luka will be along soon to say (quite correctly) that the mass produced american srichacha that he assumes (again, correctly) that I'm using is nothing like the authentic thai version that his aussie thai mates use, but frankly the chilli / garlic / sugar / MSG combo it packs is good enough that I don't care.

 

[baboon2004]

I had some amazing food in Cambodia that I wouldn't even have the first clue how to recreate....some of it was vaguely similar to what you're decribing. All of it seemed to be highly lemongrassy, is as close as I got...galangal too, i think.

 

[baboon2004]

OK, the fruits of my Mexican research:

Marinade chicken in cumin/oregano/juniper (I used 6-7 berries for 2 servings)/lime juice/a little red wine vinegar/ancho chillies/raw garlic/a little paprika/a few stronger dried red chillies/some sugar/neutral oil.

Serve in tacos with roasted tomato/roasted and crushed red chili/roasted garlic sauce, and sour cream. Bloody marvellous.

 

[Slothrop]

You know those tomato-based recipes that are meant to be AMAZING if you've got lovely sweet flavourful sun-kissed cherry tomatoes fresh from a tuscan hillside but which never seem that inspiring when you're consider paying £17 for a little punnet of snooker balls in sainsburys?

Well, the tomato plants in our sun-kissed Cambridgeshire garden are going great guns at the moment, so if anyone could suggest a few of those recipes it'd be great...

 

[baboon2004]

You know those tomato-based recipes that are meant to be AMAZING if you've got lovely sweet flavourful sun-kissed cherry tomatoes fresh from a tuscan hillside but which never seem that inspiring when you're consider paying £17 for a little punnet of snooker balls in sainsburys?

Well, the tomato plants in our sun-kissed Cambridgeshire garden are going great guns at the moment, so if anyone could suggest a few of those recipes it'd be great...

Brilliant to have fresh tomatoes, but not sure if you even need them tbh. I made a really rich tomato sauce yesterday with: canned tomatoes, doppio pomodoro taste, sugar, bit of soy, bit of pomegranate molasses, chili, sweated onions, bit of garlic....i reckon the tomato paste is the key - both the ones I got were Italian brands, but Turkish brands are also exceptionally good.

If you have fresh, personally I'd roast them to make the very most of the flavour, but since I've neevr had decent tomatoes in this country yet, haven't had chance to try that out!

 

[mistersloane]

Does anyone make sofrito/mirepoix etc etc vegetable bases before cooking their meals, like what European restaurants (apparently) do?

I sort of do a version of it sometimes, but starting to think I should make it a rule to get better results.

mirepoix = onion/carrots/celery diced, sweated for 10 mins
sofrito = garlic/onion/tomatoes, or lots of variations
holy trinity (cajun version) = onions/bell peppers/celery

Puerto Rican sofrito is the bomb :

http://gopuertorico.about.com/od/puertoricofood/r/SofritoRecipe.htm

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of achiote grains, or annatto seeds, cleaned
1/2 pound of cooking ham, cubed
2 pounds of green peppers
1/2 pound ajíes dulces, or sweet peppers
2 pounds of onions
1/4 pound of garlic
1 bunch of recao or culantro
1 bunch of culantrillo
2 tablespoons of dried oregano

For Recao or Culantro (can't get in UK, or I can't find ) double the amount of coriander and for ajes dulces, use on one hot Turkish pepper, those long ones, or one of those long hot red ones from Italy. You can get achiote seeds from the Mexican places.

Alot of recipes leave out the ham and the oregano, and me too.

Freezer bags are your friend.

 

[mistersloane]

You know those tomato-based recipes that are meant to be AMAZING if you've got lovely sweet flavourful sun-kissed cherry tomatoes fresh from a tuscan hillside but which never seem that inspiring when you're consider paying £17 for a little punnet of snooker balls in sainsburys?

Well, the tomato plants in our sun-kissed Cambridgeshire garden are going great guns at the moment, so if anyone could suggest a few of those recipes it'd be great...

To be honest I'd just eat the little ones raw without nothing else, they'll be so great, or if you got a real glut make the best ever gazpacho, just strain the skins out instead of peeling. I'm jealous.

 

[nochexxx]

You know those tomato-based recipes that are meant to be AMAZING if you've got lovely sweet flavourful sun-kissed cherry tomatoes fresh from a tuscan hillside but which never seem that inspiring when you're consider paying £17 for a little punnet of snooker balls in sainsburys?

Well, the tomato plants in our sun-kissed Cambridgeshire garden are going great guns at the moment, so if anyone could suggest a few of those recipes it'd be great...

i'm sure you already know this but making an orderve with tomato, mozarella and basil is a match made heaven.

 

[baboon2004]

Tomatoes go well with anise too. So tarragon or fennel or something similar...