Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned having read Salt, Fat, Acid Heat, by Samin Nosrat. In 2017 and 2018, the book won more awards than I want to take the time to list. Since I can't stop talking about the book myself, instead of a recipe rabbit hole trip this week, I want to tell you about the book.

It was my friend Cathy who first told me about it after it was recommended to her by her cousin Michelle. I can't remember exactly how Cathy described the book, but it went something like, 'it's kind of kitchen chemistry but goes so deep that I'm beyond bored, and you'll probably love it'. The chemistry part was all I needed to hear and the book was loaded to my Kindle within hours of our conversation.

A cookbook on a Kindle? One might find that odd, but in my case I had literally just purged all but a few of my rather extensive cookbook collection. I hardly used them and was happy to give them to someone who would.

I did keep a handful of books like James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking, Jeff Smith's Frugal Gourmet, The Joy of Cooking, a couple of community fundraiser cookbooks that include some of my recipes and The Professional Chef, a publication of the Culinary Institute of America. Aside from the little ego trip that is seeing my recipes in print in the fundraiser cookbooks, all the others are essentially text books. Not really knowing much about Nosrat or her book, the last thing I wanted was another printed book that I would read and then stick on a shelf until the next purge. The best laid plans....

Anyway, back to Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat....

The book reduces pretty much anything you can cook to those four elements. Samin's mantra is 'Master these four elements, master the kitchen.'

At face value, at least for me, the thought of these four elements makes me think of the chemical reactions that happen in cooking like bread rising, sauces reducing, alcohol burning off, or how ceviche happens. Others describe their impact on flavor this way:

• salt enhances it

• fat carries it

• acid balances it

• heat amplifies it.

While the 4 elements play a part in all of the above, there is SO much more to it, and that's what hooked me! I have to also admit that it was reaffirming to learn that many of my kitchen practices are right in line with what she suggests. To sum it up.... use your taste buds to measure seasonings and achieve the texture or doneness you're looking for; embrace experimentation; be fearless because mistakes are our teacher.

Cultural Connects Us

Samin is Iranian - American born in San Diego after fleeing Iran in the 1970s. One of the things that was interesting to me was how her Persian heritage influences her cooking, and that while the most commonly used meats, spices, vegetables and breads are vastly different from those of my Italian heritage, the underlying culture of generational cooking and sharing food with loved ones is exactly the same.

Taking that 'same-ness' a step further, in the second half of the book, Samin shares some basic 'recipes' for salads, meats, and vegetables, etc. and includes ethnic variations for many of them. For each recipe, the base ingredients stay pretty much the same; it's the herbs, spices and aromatics that are the variables that essentially change the ethnicity of the dishes. At the core, the recipes are the same, just like people. Hmm, what a concept.

Lessons Learned

1. I should have bought the spiral-bound hard copy to have in my collection

2. My taste-as-you-go cooking methodology is encouraged -- at least by Ms. Nosrat

3. I'm not the only one who gets her jollies testing first-time experimental recipes when cooking for guests.

4. Layering

Layering?

After my first full read of the book (and I say first because I'm now in possession of that spiral bound hard copy), the most significant take-away is how layering can enhance your cooking. Sometimes layering refers to salt, fat, or acid, and other it refers to heat. In the case of heat, think about searing a roast on top of the stove before setting it in a low oven to cook the rest of the way.

Where salt is concerned, you may use a bit at the beginning of a saute to bring out the moisture in the ingredients, then later -- depending on what's cooking -- you may add salty ingredients like capers, olives, cheese etc.

The same is true of fat and acid, think of blistering tomatoes in olive oil in a skillet, there's round one of fat and acid. After a bit, you throw some bacon, guanciale, or pancetta to brown with the tomatoes as you create a nice ragu to adorn your pasta. That's round 2 of fat and round 1 of salt.

You cook the pasta for that sauce in well salted water to flavor the pasta and help reduce the starchy stickiness. That's round 2 of salt.

While the pasta is boiling, you taste that ragu and decide it should have some red wine added, round 2 of acid. Finally, you toss the pasta with the sauce, give it a taste and decide it needs some Parmesan -- round 3 of salt.

It would be almost impossible to add all those ingredients from the start and not need to adjust later. This is basic layering and it does get more involved than that, but this should give you what you need to do some experimenting yourself.

I'm almost certain that this post is not the last of what you'll all be hearing from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat as Samin includes do-at-home lesson and experiment ideas in the book and I may just share some of my escapades with you!