Salt to Taste: The Key to Confident, Delicious Cooking: A Cookbook

by Marco Canora, Cathy Young

Overview

The key to confident cooking lies not in learning to follow intricate recipes but rather in mastering a select handful of truly appealing yet straightforward dishes that invite experimentation and improvisation to reflect the seasons and the cook's own palate.

In Salt to Taste, Chef Marco Canora presents a tempting repertoire of 100 soulful recipes that embody this philosophy perfectly: food that is comforting and familiar but with a depth of flavor and timeless appeal that mark the dishes as true essentials of the contemporary table. Each meticulously written recipe offers insightful lessons drawn both from memories of his mother's cooking and his years as one of New York's most respected chefs, guiding the way to a delicious dish every time. Extensive chef's notes suggest ways to streamline the process and enhance the savory results, marrying the precision of the professional kitchen with the warmth of home cooking.

Those looking to elevate their cooking from merely good to truly spectacular will find much here to inspire them, while those in need of culinary coaching will learn that creating greatness is within reach. With a little forethought, care, practice, and observation, any cook can quickly gain the confidence to "salt to taste."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605293219
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale
Publication date:	10/13/2009
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Marco Canora is the co-owner and executive chef of New York's James Beard-nominated Hearth, Insieme (the recipient of a Michelin star), and Terroir restaurants, and, prior to striking out on his own, held various positions in such highly regarded kitchens as Grammercy Tavern and the famed Cibreo in Florence, Italy. He was the original chef of Craft restaurant, which won a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant during his tenure there, and oversaw the menus of Craftbar and Craftsteak in Las Vegas.

Catherine Young, a former editor at Saveur magazine, is a food writer who has worked on a number of award-winning cookbooks and contributed articles and recipes to many food publications.

Read an Excerpt

stocking the shelves

cooking food at home every day doesn't have to be stressful. No small part of success is having the right ingredients on hand, and by ingredients I don't mean just the meat and vegetables but also the spices, herbs, and condiments that make things taste good and simplify your work. When I was growing up, our pantry was always filled with canned tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, vinegar, bread crumbs, flour, pasta, rice, olives, anchovies, capers, dried herbs, spices, garlic, and beans. Our refrigerator was stocked with milk, eggs, cheese, and fresh herbs, not to mention onions, carrots, celery, and other vegetables that keep well. When my mother got home, she could make a veal cutlet with a quick pan sauce, or even simpler still, penne with Parmesan cheese, sage, and black pepper with a salad, and have dinner on the table in 30 minutes.

Years of restaurant work have taught me to take things a step further. Having brodo (meat broth--Easter Broth, page 8) and soffritto (aromatic flavoring base, page 10) on hand as well as marinated peppers, cooked beans, pickled onions, salsa verde, and lemon confit allows you to elevate everyday cooking without investing any extra time.

Start by going to the store and getting the basics. The list below covers a few essentials that I thought worth a few words. It's not intended as a complete shopping list, just a place to begin. Start here and fill your refrigerator, freezer, and cupboards wisely, and I think you'll find yourself cooking more easily and eating good food more often.

Salt I am not a salt connoisseur. Truth is I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt both at home and in the restaurant. It's really all you need. If you want to get fancy, splurge on fleur de sel for finishing salads and sprinkling over grilled and roasted meat.

Pepper I am finicky about pepper. It must be freshly ground. Buy a pepper mill and use it.

Nutmeg Another spice you should always buy whole is nutmeg. I use freshly grated nutmeg in pasta fillings and polpettone (page 13), and it makes all the difference.

Peperoncini Peperoncini are small, very hot dried Italian peppers that I use a lot. They have intense heat and complex flavor. Usually I mince peperoncini before I use them (mixing in a drop of oil as you chop makes the job easier and neater). If you can't find peperoncini locally, they are available by mail.

Oregano Sicilian oregano is my choice. It's available by mail and at gourmet stores. This seasoning lends an authentically Italian flavor to many dishes. The oregano buds come dried on the stem. You can either crumble them off as needed (rubbing the buds in your fingers releases their flavor) or take a few minutes and crumble the whole package and store the oregano ready for use in a sealed container.

Tomatoes Canned San Marzano tomatoes are what I reach for all year long, except at the height of our local tomato season. They are harvested when perfectly ripe and are very flavorful.

Anchovies I always have salted anchovies packed in oil in my cupboard. I like to buy the jars,because once you open them you can twist the top back on and keep them in the refrigerator more or less forever. Tubes of anchovy paste are more expensive, but they are compact and tidy and again they keep.

Capers I like smallish capers packed in brine and always have an open container to dip into in my refrigerator to add to pastas, salads, and sandwiches as well as a backup in the pantry.

Olives Nicoise olives are tasty and salty but not overwhelming. I use them a lot to flavor sauces and braises. If you prefer other black olives, such as Kalamata, keep those on hand instead.

Pasta When I am at the supermarket, I buy De Cecco or Barilla. At the restaurant, I like to use a few harder-to-find brands: Setaro, Rustichella d'Abruzzo, and Martelli.

Olive Oil The flavors of olive oils vary depending on where they come from. Tuscan and Umbrian oils are grassy and peppery, while southern Italian oils are fruitier and softer on the palate. I tend to prefer Tuscan oil because that is what I grew up with, but personal taste should be your guide. You need a nice bottle of extra virgin to pour over food just before serving; use a less expensive extra virgin oil for sauteing. Virgin olive oil comes from the second press, pure olive oil from the third, and pommace from the fourth. When you are frying, oil from later presses is fine. A blend of olive oil and vegetable oil is a good way to go for deep-frying. Keep in mind that the flavor of olive oil fades with age, so young oil is more vibrant.

Vinegar I use red and white wine vinegars, sherry vinegar, and occasionally distilled vinegar. While I don't think you have to buy fancy wine vinegar, I do think it is essential to buy real aged balsamic. Avoid supermarket varieties; they are sweetened, artificially colored impostors at worst and young, commercially prepared knockoffs at best. Real aged balsamic is amazing stuff. It is sweet and tart, not sour, and should generally be drizzled on meats, salads, or fruit just before serving.

Parmigiano-Reggiano This is the one cheese you must have. It is the MSG of the Italian kitchen. It tastes nutty and salty and melts evenly, binding sauces and flavoring meatballs. A cow's milk cheese made in Emilia-Romagna, Parmigiano is aged a minimum of 12 months. Young cheese is fine for cooking, but look for cheese that is aged at least 3 years for grating over pasta or eating in chunks with a glass of wine.

Bread Crumbs Making bread crumbs is easy and the perfect way to use up old baguettes and loaves of country-style bread. Just break the stale bread into smallish pieces, then pulse them in a food processor. Store the bread crumbs in a sealed container in a dry place.

Broth Having good broth on hand is one of the best ways I know to lift up your cooking. Not only useful in soups, broth is an important ingredient in braises and many sauces. Easter Broth (page 8), a rich meat broth, is what I recommend. Good homemade chicken broth can be substituted. A little lighter tasting, homemade chicken broth will work even in recipes like Stracciatella (page 83), where the broth is the star. Commercial broth won't work in these featured roles, but good canned broth can be substituted in most braises and ragus. My favorite canned broth is Health Valley Low Fat Chicken Broth.

Fresh Eggs The white of a fresh egg is thick and firm, the yolk a deep golden yellow, and the taste rich and wonderful. It is worth the trouble to seek out fresh eggs at a farmers' market.

pantry recipe:

eggs with tomato on toast

4 eggs

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon thinly sliced garlic

Small pinch of minced peperoncini or red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Sicilian

5 canned tomatoes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

4 slices country white bread--whatever you have, toasted

Separate the eggs, reserving each yolk in its shell and combining 2 whites in a cup. Refrigerate the remaining 2 whites for another use.

In a cold medium skillet, combine the oil, garlic, peperoncini, and oregano. Turn on the heat and warm over medium-high heat until the garlic begins to fry (without browning) and the mixture becomes fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Raise the heat to high, then use your hands to crush each tomato into the pan, allowing the juice to fall into the skillet. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Fry the tomatoes, continuing to break them up with the fork. Cook until they concentrate and no longer look watery, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the basil.

Lower the heat to medium and stir in the egg whites. Cook until the whites become opaque and firm, thickening the tomato sauce, about 1 minute.

Turn off the heat. Using the back of a spoon, make 4 indentations in the sauce, allowing a few inches around each. Slip an egg yolk into each indentation. Draw the sauce in from the edges of the pan around each of the yolks. Cover the skillet and leave it on the stove, heat off, until the yolks are just warmed through and beginning to set, about 3 minutes for runny yolks.

Gently spoon some sauce and a yolk onto each piece of toast and serve immediately. I find rubbing some olive oil on the spoon helps prevent breaking the yolk.

SERVES 4

equipment

I don't think you need a fancy stove to cook great meals, but I do think the right pots and a few essential tools really help. Opposite are some of the tools I have at home, none of them too fancy or expensive.

the building blocks: broth and soffritto

When I think about telling people how to cook the way I grew up eating, I always wind up coming back to a few preparations that serve as building blocks. Brodo, Italian meat broth, is among the most important. Easter Broth , as we called it, is a rich concentrated liquid made from simmering a pot full of mixed meats. It's the foundation for many of the soups, braises, and pastas I make today.

Brodo is not stock, but broth. Stock is made from simmering bones, and broth is made from simmering meat. The practical difference is that stock contains more gelatin and is therefore an easier starting place for sauces. Because broths are made with whole pieces of meat and poultry rather than bones, they usually have deeper, more complex flavor. Broths also tend to be less cloudy--the protein in the meats in the pot acts as a filter that clarifies the broth as it simmers, leaving you with a beautifully clear liquid. French cuisine relies heavily on stock, while Italian depends much more on broth.

So why did we call it Easter Broth? Although brodo is made before all holiday meals in my family, it plays a featured role at Easter. Stracciatella, Italian egg drop soup (page 83), is always the first course of Easter dinner. And stracciatella always begins with brodo. For me, the name and the taste just stuck.

brodo

Brodo is easy to make with ingredients from the supermarket. Start with a chicken. Put it whole in the pot, then add 2 £ds of beef stew meat on the bone and a turkey drumstick (or two wings). Cover the meat by about 4 inches with water (you'll need about 7 quarts in all) and bring it to a boil over high heat.

As soon as the broth boils, begin to "clarify" it, lowering the heat to medium and pulling the pot to one side of the burner so it's partially off the burner. This forces the broth to boil in an oval circuit from top to bottom, circulating all the liquid over and around the meat. As the broth circulates, the fat and other impurities in the broth float to the surface. What will you see when you look into the pot? The broth will bubble along one side of the pot. The rest of the surface will look active but not be bubbling. Fat and scum will rise with the bubbles and settle on the top.

Skim every 5 minutes or so. Be finicky about how you do this. Dip the ladle into the broth near the center of the pot just deep enough to barely submerge the front edge. Then keep it still. A thin stream of fat and foamy broth will be drawn into the ladle. Do this a couple of times, then wait another 5 minutes and do it again, continuing until the brodo looks clear, about half an hour.

Once the broth is clear, add aromatic vegetables. Chop and then add 2 onions, 1/2 bunch of celery, and 3 carrots. Add a 12-ounce can of tomatoes, 1 teaspoon peppercorns, and 1/2 bunch of flat-leaf parsley and simmer the broth until it's flavorful, about 2 hours.

Strain the broth and discard the vegetables but not the meat. (In my mind, brodo is forever linked with polpettone, the fried morsels of minced meat that, in my family, give a second life to the chicken, beef, and turkey used to make the broth. For a recipe, see page 13.) You'll wind up with about 31/2 quarts of broth that can be refrigerated or frozen.

Soffritto, aromatics minced and cooked in olive oil, is the foundation of Tuscan cooking. The deep, round flavors of Italian braises, stews, and sauces are born as the vegetables fry in a generous amount of oil. Like good broth, soffritto is an old-school Italian ingredient that's essential to my cooking today.

I divide the universe of soffritto in three: blond, amber, and dark--a reflection of how deeply the vegetables are browned--carrots, onions, and to a lesser extent celery are full of natural sugars that caramelize as they cook. The longer you cook the soffritto, the darker it becomes. Generally, mild dishes rely on a blond soffritto--vegetables cooked to the color of straw. For moderately assertive dishes, you'll want to use amber soffritto--vegetables cooked to the color of cream soda, and for rich meaty dishes, you'll want to begin with dark soffritto--vegetables cooked to the color of good chocolate.

The ratio of onions to celery and carrots (or fennel when you're working with seafood--see the recipe for Cacciucco on page 182) is always 2:1:1. Beyond that, there are few hard-and-fast rules. What you're making determines which additional flavorings are added to the soffritto. Dried hot peppers, oregano, and tomatoes are frequent additions, together and separately, as are rosemary, garlic, and wine. This flexibility may seem intimidating at first, but with a very little bit of experience, you'll see it's what makes cooking fun--and what you cook more varied and interesting.

I use blond soffritto as the base, altered as necessary, for a variety of dishes. Whether you make a lot or a little, you have to cut the vegetables small; the smaller the vegetables are cut, the better the soffritto's flavor. I mince the celery and carrots (or fennel) in a food processor, but unless your food processor blade is very sharp, get out the knife for the onions or they will become a juicy mess. When cooking soffritto, you must fry the vegetables, not sweat them. You need good strong heat, medium-high to high, and you need to adjust it as you cook so the oil is always sizzling and the liquids the vegetables release evaporate almost instantly.

blond soffritto base