Herbivoracious – Vegetarian Recipe Blog – Easy Vegetarian Recipes, Vegetarian Cookbook, Kosher Recipes, Meatless Recipes

So I came home with some kumquats, and, in the mood to just play with a fun ingredient, set about creating an .  I never meant it to be part of this series, but that’s how it worked out.

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Salt
Acid
Fat
Crunch
A Telling Failure

If you aren’t familiar with them, an amuse is just what it sounds …

Stringozzi con funghi (pasta with mushrooms)

Living in Seattle, we get some of the best wild mushrooms in the country at our markets, often within hours of being foraged. The bounty of morels, chanterelles, porcini, maitake, and dozens of other varieties is astonishing. Sometimes I forget how delicious cultivated button mushrooms can be.

This bag …

I’m not the first person to observe that Americans have a crazy, conflicted relationship to fat. We love it, and eat far more of it than probably just about any other country in the world. God knows we have the obesity epidemic to show for it. At the same time, we fear it mightily, speaking …

Brussels sprouts are such a trendy ingredient, and we've all learned how terrific they are roasted or sauteed at high heat until caramelized and nutty-tasting. Still, sometimes it is good to look back to a more traditional technique. Dare I say it: French technique. Enter the gratin.

A gratin is basically anything (usually a vegetable) baked …

This was my dish for the MasterChef auditions that took Seattle by storm last weekend. I guess it must have been ok, it earned me a callback for a second round interview. There were no cooking facilities for the audition, so the judges made allowances if your food was intended to be served …

When cooks talk about “acidity”, what they mean is simply sourness. Scientifically, they are the same thing. The sour taste buds fire when an acid meets water and releases hydrogen ions in your mouth. End of chemistry class.

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Salt
Acid
Fat
Crunch
A Telling Failure

At least in America, acidity is a quality frequently missing from home-cooked meals, …

I didn’t have a definite plan when I picked up these gorgeous little eggplants, I just knew they had to come home with me. I ended up rubbing them with spices and roasting, then serving them in a sweet-tart tamarind curry. Later I realized that I’d made a little joke – they were kind …

Ask a professional chef to taste and evaluate a dish, and odds are that if they think it needs something, that something will be salt, acid, fat, or crunch.

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Salt
Acid
Fat
Crunch
A Telling Failure

Why? Because these are fundamental elements that make food pop. They aren’t going to turn undercooked eggplant into a silk purse, …