It was a hit! He liked the rice and stir fry. Whoo hoo!
Knife skills and Umami were the topics that I promised to address in this month’s cooking class. Naturally, making stir-fry together would help us gain a better understanding of both.
We started with short review of what we had discussed in our first lesson, then I asked Gayle what she thought might be a cook’s most important tool. Her thoughts were headed in the right direction, and her answer was pretty close to what I was looking for: your tongue.
Rather than inventing a completely new lesson on my own, I had printed out a post from the internet that would help guide our discussion. The Foodist Kitchen has a free sample lesson called The Art of Flavor. The paper proposes reasons for each of the taste senses (i.e. Salty foods help your body maintain water balance.). The author moves from taste to flavor. What is the difference, after all? you might ask.
Flavor is the art of combining these tastes with all of the other sensations that your brain can experience, such as aroma, texture, juiciness, mouthfeel and color.
We asked another question: “If I plug my nose, will I still sense sweetness?” Or better yet, “When your mom suggested that you pinch your nose if you didn’t like the taste of something she insisted you ate, did the method help?” We could have set up an experiment, but I was more interested in getting to the knife cutting exercises to prepare the stir-fry recipe. However, we did do some “blind” tasting.
The evening before, I had put examples of the basic tastes into portion cups; there was a letter and a number for each one, plus a few extras for umami (Trader Joe’s mushroom powder, Worcestershire sauce, grated Parmesan cheese, and MSG). Most of the samples were easy to guess.
The article said to think back to art class when your teacher introduced you to the color wheel. In the same way that there is a logic to which colors complement each other or contrast with one another, there is also a method to understanding a dish’s flavor profile. We agreed that fats complement sweetness and that salt complements acidity. Also, both of those pairs contrast each other.
As in art, you use these complements and contrasts differently, depending on your goal. If you want something exciting, you will lean more towards contrast. If your aiming for something more comfortable and traditional, you’ll stick with the complementary flavors.
Instead of applying what we had read in the printed blog post, we moved on to basic knife skills. Gayle had printed a guide for using a chef’s knife and had read that ahead of time. We read definitions which gave measurements to some vocabulary (chop, dice, mince, etc.). Then we looked at a photo and discussed when you might use different cuts. “Why would you choose to dice your carrots instead of slicing them oblong?” “What things do you choose to shred? to grate?” We had to look up the answer to this one: “What is the difference between ‘peel’ and ‘pare’?”
Next, we took out our recipe and highlighted the descriptors we would need to understand. Then, we read through the entire recipe and made sure we had all the ingredients. I showed Gayle how to drag her knife’s blade through the gadget in order to get a sharp edge, then we washed our hands and got started.
Since her husband is interested in eating more carefully, Gayle wasn’t at first sure that rice would be a good thing. They were used to Minute Rice but thinking about switching over to brown. My husband really doesn’t like the chewiness of brown rice, so I haven’t developed a taste for it. Instead, we like Jasmine or Basmati. Recently, I found out that the Basmati variety actually has some nutritional benefits, so Gayle agreed to purchase some for this lesson. Funny thing is, when we tasted the finished product it was obvious that we had brown rice. Yes, it was Basmati, but not the tender grain I was expecting. The bag clearly stated “Organic Brown Basmati Rice”. Oh well.
Most of the stir-fry ingredients were familiar: frozen peas, frozen green beans, baby carrots, yellow onion. Fresh ginger and minced garlic in a jar were new to Gayle’s kitchen. The raw chicken breast was a lot easier to cut into strips with the newly-sharpened knife. The size and shape of baby carrots make it a little more difficult to handle, but Gayle did a good job of producing relatively uniform orange slices. We didn’t cry over the onion, and peeling (paring?) the knob of ginger and mincing it wasn’t a hard task.
We heated the large pan before adding oil, then cooked our ingredients in stages: first, aromatics; second, vegetables beginning with carrots then adding the frozen peas and green beans; third, the marinated chicken strips. Finally, we combined everything and added a soy-water-cornstarch mixture to create just enough of a gravy to glaze the stir-fry.
When we tasted a spoonful, it didn’t taste like anything! No worries: a splash of soy sauce was the solution (We also think that we shouldn’t have been afraid of using the entire 1-inch knob of fresh ginger.).
We put away the extra ingredients and wiped down the counter before sitting back down to talk about what we might like to tackle in next month’s lesson. First, she thought that roasting vegetables could be interesting. But then we decided that we want to know more about basic herbs and spices. I’m going to think about how to present which herbs and spices pair with which fruits and vegetables. Of course, we’ll have to put it into practice. We shall see what recipes will be good for this next chapter in our adventure.
For now, here’s the recipe we followed in our second cooking class.
Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry
Yields 4-6 servings
Ingredients
ο· 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
ο· ΒΌ of an onion saute sliced
ο· 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and minced
ο· 2 cloves garlic, chopped
ο· 1/2 cup frozen peas thawed
ο· 1/2cup green beans or snow peas cut small on bias– optional
ο· baby carrots, cut on bias
ο· 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins, cut into 1/2β strips
ο· 3 tablespoons soy sauce
ο· 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup cold water or broth
Directions
Cut chicken into 1/2 inch strips; place in a resealable plastic bag. Add cornstarch and toss to coat.
Combine soy sauce, ginger, and garlic powder; add to bag and shake well.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
1. Hot Pan: Heat a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Cold Oil: When it is hot, pour in 2 Tablespoons of the oil.
3. Aromatics: Add the aromatics: scallions, ginger, and garlic;
stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
4. Veggies Tender Crisp: Stir in the peas and carrots (all veggies),
cook for about 2 minutes, still crisp. Transfer the contents to a large bowl.
5. Protien: Add 1 T. of oil to wok, stirfry chicken until no longer pink, about 3-5 minutes.
6. Add the veggie and aromatic mixture back into the wok and stir everything together for 1 minute.
7. Seasoning/Sauce: Add the soy sauce, cornstarch, and water/or broth. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.
8. Taste for seasoning.
KZ Kitchen 