bulk, including several types of smoked salt.
Michael Chiarello’s NapaStyle
stores and catalog also offer a number of specialty salts packed in interesting and attractive boxes.
Special ingredients such as
Maggi Seasoning sauce
or
Bragg Liquid Aminos
can be an inexpensive way to add sodium and flavor to your soups and might be considered good replacements for ingredients such as beef or chicken stock. Maggi Seasoning sauce is a dark, hydrolyzed-vegetable protein-based sauce that is very similar to soy sauce but does not contain soy. It was originally developed in the 1880s as an easy way to improve the nutritional intake of German workers. Maggi is a staple seasoning in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and it can be purchased in many shops here in the United States. Bragg Liquid Aminos was developed by Dr.
Paul Bragg
in the 1930s as a seasoning with nutritional value. It is a nonfermented soy product, similar to soy sauce, that breaks down the soy proteins so that they are more bioavailable to the body.
Good, thrifty Italian cooks often add the hard
rinds
from
Parmesan cheese
to soups and sauces as they cook. The rinds are just the hardened surface of the cheese, so they will either puff up and get spongy (in which case you can fish them out of the soup before serving) or they will disintegrate into the soup. Either way, they give a wonderful flavor boost to soups. I keep a small plastic bag in the freezer for storing the rinds from Parmesan cheese until I need them. And at last check, my local
Whole Foods
store was actually selling the rinds of Parmigiano-Reggiano (the preeminent style of Parmesan cheese) as well as the cheese itself. Amounts are unspecified in those recipes that call for Parmesan rinds so that you can use what you have on hand. And in general, the more rinds, the more flavor!
When it comes to
spices
, I love to grind mine fresh just before adding them to a dish. This may sound formidable, but it is actually very easy and adds an extra dimension to your soups, since spices quickly lose their flavor when exposed to air, light, and heat. I buy
spices from Penzeys
, a wonderful online source for herbs and spices that has good prices, large volume, and rapid turnover, ensuring that your spices are flavorful and fresh. I store them in the freezer, then take out just the amount needed for any given recipe and grind it in a spice mill or electric coffee grinder just before using. It probably takes me no more than five minutes to gather spices and mill them for a recipe.
I also like to keep a healthy supply of fresh herb plants in my garden so that when I need a nip of rosemary, mint, thyme, or tarragon, I have only to step outside the kitchen door with a pair of scissors in hand.
Fresh herbs
I generally add at the last minute to retain their color, texture, and flavors.
Many of the recipes in this book call for
ghee
, or
clarified butter
. Because all of the milk solids have been removed, ghee can withstand cooking temperatures up to 485°F without smoking, so it is especially useful for sautéing and cooking. Buy it at any health food store or Indian market.
And last but not least, as any good lover of soups or stews knows, soup often tastes better the day after you make it. Somehow, the flavors seem to meld and gain depth when they sit overnight in the refrigerator. It’s almost as if the dish, like a good wine, ripens over time.
A Word about Beans
Although many authors, experts, and cooks soak
beans
before cooking them, I never do.
Soaking them may reduce your cooking time, and it may help rid the soup of the polysaccharides that give some individuals gas, but by and large, soaking beans is not necessary.
Bean cooking times may vary, sometimes greatly, in accordance with the condition of the beans themselves. Beans that have recently been harvested, for instance, are likely to be in good condition and will hydrate fairly quickly; beans that have been sitting on the shelf for a long time may take a
Michael Chiarello’s NapaStyle
stores and catalog also offer a number of specialty salts packed in interesting and attractive boxes.
Special ingredients such as
Maggi Seasoning sauce
or
Bragg Liquid Aminos
can be an inexpensive way to add sodium and flavor to your soups and might be considered good replacements for ingredients such as beef or chicken stock. Maggi Seasoning sauce is a dark, hydrolyzed-vegetable protein-based sauce that is very similar to soy sauce but does not contain soy. It was originally developed in the 1880s as an easy way to improve the nutritional intake of German workers. Maggi is a staple seasoning in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and it can be purchased in many shops here in the United States. Bragg Liquid Aminos was developed by Dr.
Paul Bragg
in the 1930s as a seasoning with nutritional value. It is a nonfermented soy product, similar to soy sauce, that breaks down the soy proteins so that they are more bioavailable to the body.
Good, thrifty Italian cooks often add the hard
rinds
from
Parmesan cheese
to soups and sauces as they cook. The rinds are just the hardened surface of the cheese, so they will either puff up and get spongy (in which case you can fish them out of the soup before serving) or they will disintegrate into the soup. Either way, they give a wonderful flavor boost to soups. I keep a small plastic bag in the freezer for storing the rinds from Parmesan cheese until I need them. And at last check, my local
Whole Foods
store was actually selling the rinds of Parmigiano-Reggiano (the preeminent style of Parmesan cheese) as well as the cheese itself. Amounts are unspecified in those recipes that call for Parmesan rinds so that you can use what you have on hand. And in general, the more rinds, the more flavor!
When it comes to
spices
, I love to grind mine fresh just before adding them to a dish. This may sound formidable, but it is actually very easy and adds an extra dimension to your soups, since spices quickly lose their flavor when exposed to air, light, and heat. I buy
spices from Penzeys
, a wonderful online source for herbs and spices that has good prices, large volume, and rapid turnover, ensuring that your spices are flavorful and fresh. I store them in the freezer, then take out just the amount needed for any given recipe and grind it in a spice mill or electric coffee grinder just before using. It probably takes me no more than five minutes to gather spices and mill them for a recipe.
I also like to keep a healthy supply of fresh herb plants in my garden so that when I need a nip of rosemary, mint, thyme, or tarragon, I have only to step outside the kitchen door with a pair of scissors in hand.
Fresh herbs
I generally add at the last minute to retain their color, texture, and flavors.
Many of the recipes in this book call for
ghee
, or
clarified butter
. Because all of the milk solids have been removed, ghee can withstand cooking temperatures up to 485°F without smoking, so it is especially useful for sautéing and cooking. Buy it at any health food store or Indian market.
And last but not least, as any good lover of soups or stews knows, soup often tastes better the day after you make it. Somehow, the flavors seem to meld and gain depth when they sit overnight in the refrigerator. It’s almost as if the dish, like a good wine, ripens over time.
A Word about Beans
Although many authors, experts, and cooks soak
beans
before cooking them, I never do.
Soaking them may reduce your cooking time, and it may help rid the soup of the polysaccharides that give some individuals gas, but by and large, soaking beans is not necessary.
Bean cooking times may vary, sometimes greatly, in accordance with the condition of the beans themselves. Beans that have recently been harvested, for instance, are likely to be in good condition and will hydrate fairly quickly; beans that have been sitting on the shelf for a long time may take a
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