How to Cook Without a Book

One of my cooking goals this year has been to cook more without using recipes. I do love cookbooks. I browse through them frequently and use them to come up with new ideas. I also enjoy challenging myself with difficult or new recipes when I have the time, usually on the weekends.

But during the week, when time is at a premium and energy is often at a low, I find it’s easier to cook without consulting a cookbook. I started seriously teaching myself how to cook about three years ago, and now I’ve reached the stage where I feel very comfortable winging it. Here are the keys to success that I have learned along the way.

The first is to learn some basic cooking techniques. While books on techniques are readily available, I’ve found that cookbooks that contain a lot of simple recipes are the best teachers. I highly recommend Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and Cooks’ Illustrated The New Basic Recipe, especially for learning basic methods of cooking meats and vegetables.

But don’t try to memorize every possible cooking technique. Sure, there are 101 one ways to cook chicken, but you don’t have to know them all. Instead, after sampling a few different ways of cooking a particular ingredient, pick one or two that you like best for the ingredients you cook most frequently. For instance, I like asparagus pan-roasted. I’m probably not going to bother steaming it, although that’s a fine way to cook it. For ingredients like chicken, I have 3 or 4 techniques in my repertoire, depending on whether I’m cooking bone-in pieces, boneless breasts or cutlets.

I keep a cooking notebook, where I list all the ingredients I usually buy, plus notes I’ve collected about them — including my favorite techniques for cooking that ingredient. This is also a good place to record notes on storage, freezing and any special prep required for that ingredient.

Next, develop a repertoire of key recipes, what I call master recipes. These should be recipes that you really like, which cook quickly and can adapt to whatever you have on hand. In my repertoire are a few soups, a handful of pasta recipes, an easy fish dish, and some one-dish meals like a stew, risotto, burritos and frittata. Although I prefer simply cooked vegetables or one-pot entrees, I also have a few side dishes in my roster, including some basic salads, a couple of potato dishes and a vegetable gratin.

Even though these recipes are easy to memorize, I record them in my recipe notebook in case I need to review the details. I rotate through them depending on what I have on hand to cook with, but I always make sure I have the foundations for my master recipes in my pantry.

The third key is to understand what flavors go together, especially when seasoning the dish. The Flavor Bible is a terrific reference. It lists pretty much every possible ingredient and the foods, herbs and seasonings that go best with it. You can pick and choose based on what you have and what you like.

Cooking this way makes grocery shopping a lot easier. I no longer make a list composed of what’s called for in the recipe, regardless of whether it’s in season or way too expensive. Instead, I look for produce that’s high-quality, in season and therefore usually cheaper. And I know that I need to replenish any foundation foods, dairy, eggs and meat when we’re running low and stock up when they’re on sale. I also treat myself to one or two cheeses — usually on sale — that will go well in salads or for snacking.

On the weekends, I spend some time making foods that will make it easier to cook during the week. For instance, I prep produce: washing, peeling, slicing. I also make a batch of chicken stock, a bottle of salad dressing and a loaf of bread or some pizza dough. I may make a sauce or pesto if I need to use up some surplus. This helps me avoid buying the packaged versions of these foods.

So I may not be posting as many recipes on this blog, since I am not cooking as many recipes anymore. Please share your tips for cooking without a book in the comments.

Not buying packaged foods = not buying bogus health claims

This morning I read a rant on Michael Ruhlman’s blog about corn syrup hidden in his fat-free half-and-half. (Ruhlman also rightly pointed out that there’s no such thing as fat-free half-and-half; one of the “halfs” refers to cream, and what’s the point without the fat?)

This led me to a New York Times editorial about misleading food labels making all kinds of claims, from boosting immunity to preventing cancer. That reminded me of this article, which described the bad-tasting results when unhealthy salt levels are reduced in processed foods.

Once again, I am reminded of Michael Pollan‘s tenet not to believe any health claims made on food packaging, even claims that the food is healthier because it’s low in fat or salt. The best way to ignore these health claims is to buy food with no packaging at all. I’m talking about whole fruits and vegetables, foods sold in bulk, meats butchered and packaged at the store. I even buy my milk products in label-less glass bottles; it comes from a local dairy farm, no corn syrup included.

Of course, this strategy isn’t possible for all foods, but it is available for more foods than you might think. And some of the packaged foods you can probably live without. So don’t buy into the bogus health claims. Don’t buy them at all.

Misleading Food Labels (Michael Ruhlman)
Snake Oil for Breakfast (New York Times)
The War on the Cheez-It (National Review Online)

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Keeping Kitchen Staples Fresh

Here’s a useful article from Cooks Illustrated: Keeping Kitchen Staples Fresh. Advice on how to store and when to throw out staples like flour, sugar, oils, leaveners and nuts.

Speaking of Cooks Illustrated, I stopped getting their magazine but some of their special issues are very useful indeed. I just picked up a copy of Make-Ahead Recipes (check the magazine stand), which is just what it sounds like. The batch of freezer biscuits I made from their recipe was terrific, and it’s very convenient to have a dozen or more biscuits ready to go from freezer to oven without having bought any packaged foods.

Hacks for Snacking Better

Image via Wikipedia

Ever since I limited myself from buying packaged foods, which include chips and crackers, I have been trying to eat more nutritious snacks made from whole foods. My sense is that not only are these foods better for me, but I actually snack less and am more satisfied, which keeps my weight stable.

Here are a few tips I’ve worked out to help me snack better:

• Put out fruit on the counter, especially nibbles like grapes and berries. When I see them, I want to eat them. (I used to have this trigger effect with candy and chips, but they aren’t allowed in my house anymore.)
• Always keep nuts and dried fruit in the house. A handful makes for a quick and filling snack if intense hunger strikes, usually in the late afternoon.
• Indulge in a block of good cheese. It tastes better eaten alone or with homemade bread (since there are no more crackers), and it’s also very filling. I try to vary it from week to week.
• Indulge my sweet tooth once a week or so with a homemade treat. This week I think I’ll make banana bread.

What tips do you have for snacking better? Please leave them in the comments.

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Some Thoughts on Diets

Image via Wikipedia

I get frustrated by nutrition and diet recommendations coming from the news media and even official bodies like doctors and government organizations. The recommendations constantly contradict each other, and no one seems to agree on what you should or should not eat. Foods that were once bad for you, like eggs, are now fine. Foods that were once healthful, like margarine, are now deadly. Now the thinking seems to be shifting from the best diet being one that is low in fat and skimpy on meat to one that is low in carbohydrates and high in protein.

The only thing everyone seems to agree on is that we need to eat more vegetables and cut back on sugar. This advice makes sense, and I can certainly get behind it. But I don’t want to live my life constantly worried about what I am eating or restricting myself from eating any particular food. A life without bread or cookies doesn’t seem worth it somehow. Food should be about taking care of yourself and taking pleasure in life, in my opinion.

Regardless of what you eat, I have found that the real key to losing or maintaining weight is how much you eat. In our efforts to get ourselves to a weight we feel comfortable with, my husband and I have had the most success not when we’ve restricted what we eat but when we control portion sizes. The basic rule is this: Instead of eating everything on the plate, or filling the plate, eat half. Don’t eat to busting, but leave the table still feeling a little hungry. (It generally takes a half-hour after eating to feel satisfaction.) Only eat when truly hungry; no mindless snacking.

When you’re eating less, you naturally cut back on carbs and sweet treats, and start eating more proteins with fat like nuts, cheese and eggs. That’s because protein and fat are naturally more satiating. It’s easier to fuel yourself on less food when they make up more of the diet. But that doesn’t mean that carbohydrates or even the occasional sweet are no longer on the table.

It may seem restrictive, but not allowing yourself processed or packaged foods helps a lot. Treats like cookies, crackers and chips are still allowed, but only if you make them yourself. I’ve even cut way back on bread since I stopped allowing myself to buy processed bread and rolls. (I still allow locally baked loaves, but I’m not buying as much, as I’m challenging myself to bake more of my own bread.)

When it comes to official recommendations on what we should or shouldn’t eat, I tend to discount 99 percent of what I hear. I believe that we don’t really know what’s best for us or what’s harmful, but a little of any one food is not likely to hurt you. When it comes to losing weight or keeping it off, moderation seems to be the key. And if you’re actually enjoying what you do eat, I think you’ll be satisfied eating less of it.

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How to Make Mayonnaise

I think I’ve finally found the best formula for homemade mayonnaise. Just in time, too, because as part of my no-packaged-foods challenge, I won’t be buying commercially prepared mayonnaise anymore. The jar that is currently in my fridge will be my last.

Fortunately, mayonnaise is simple to make. I think the troubles I had before were due to incorrect proportions of egg to oil. This latest batch is the best I have made to date.

I also got better results by using my immersion blender with the whisk attachment. Whisking by hand also works well, but takes longer, of course. Either method works better than the food processor for creating the proper emulsion, though.

Here’s my basic method for making mayonnaise.

Bring 1 egg to room temperature. Combine the full egg or just the egg yolk with ½ tsp. prepared mustard and 1 tsp. kosher salt. Whisk until well blended, about 30 seconds.

Add 2 tsp. lemon juice (about ½ lemon’s worth). Whisk another 30 seconds.

You will need 1 cup canola or vegetable oil. Begin by adding the oil a teaspoonful at a time while whisking, until the mixture starts to thicken and the emulsion begins to form. Then you can slowly pour in the remainder of the oil, whisking constantly, until the mixture turns thick and creamy and looks like mayonnaise.

Most recipes say you can store mayonnaise in the fridge for a few days. This makes 1 cup of mayonnaise, which is a lot, so I plan to store it at least a week. So far, I’ve used it in coleslaw and on turkey sandwiches. Yum, yum!

Mayonnaise is like a blank palette. You can flavor it up many ways. Tried and true flavor combinations result in aioli, tartar sauce, Russian dressing, Thousand Island dressing and remoulade sauce. Recipes for these abound. But it’s also fun to experiment.

Try mixing in to the emulsion:

• chopped garlic, onion, scallions or shallots
• minced tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chiles or pimientos
• minced capers or pickles
• chopped nuts
• fresh herbs
• ginger, horseradish, wasabi, chili sauce or hot sauce
• honey
• anchovy paste or Worcestershire sauce
• soy sauce and/or sesame oil
• Parmesan
• cayenne, paprika or a seasoning mix

Homemade Crackers + Chicken Braised in Honey

Cover via Amazon

As part of my initiative to reduce my dependence on packaged foods, I recently bought a copy of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, which is full of recipes for pantry staples like mayonnaise, mustard, lemon curd and even butter. It is a beautiful book, with well-written recipes that detail exactly what you will need and how long the recipe will take and gorgeous photos. One of the first recipes I made was the crackers, because I really have been missing having a box or two of crackers in my pantry. The homemade crackers were very simple to make and didn’t take long at all. There were lots of ideas for how to vary the recipe by adding different flavors or making breadsticks or flatbreads. I can tell already that this recipe, and this cookbook, is going to become a staple in my kitchen.

For dinner, I had some chicken tenders on hand. I tried braising them in a mixture of spices, sauteed onion and honey. I browned the chicken first, then added the honey and let it cook down until it thinned out a bit. Then I added water and finished braising the chicken until it was cooked through. The flavor was very nice, just a little sweet but not overwhelmingly so. I served it with a green salad and some pan-roasted mushrooms.

School Doesn’t Allow Processed Foods

A grade school in Arizona doesn’t allow kids to bring any processed foods for lunch, including products made with refined sugar and white flour. Are they going too far? Perhaps their restrictions are a little strict; a home-baked treat every once in a while is not a bad thing. On the other hand, they do allow Fritos as a whole-grain snack, which I would still define as a processed food.

I have to applaud the school’s effort on this, especially when we see public schools giving kids frozen pizza, strawberry milk, and french fries as vegetables, and calling it a healthy lunch (as shown on Jamie Oliver‘s Food Revolution). A school’s mission is to teach, and lunchtime presents a great opportunity to teach young kids about nutrition, good food choices and how to enjoy a healthy, balanced diet. It provides parents a chance to learn how not to rely on the crutch of processed foods, as well.

However, it is healthy to give yourself a treat every now and then. No one needs to eat Oreos every day for lunch. But we also shouldn’t be such a slave to rules that we don’t allow ourselves to take pleasure in our food. I follow Michael Pollan‘s rule and make my own treats. That way, I know that I really deserve them!

No-Oreo Zone: Kids at school can’t bring processed foods

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Yes, High-Fructose Corn Syrup Is as Bad as We All Thought

Here’s another good reason to avoid packaged foods: getting high-fructose corn syrup out of your life. This high-calorie sweetener, subsidized by federal dollars, is in just about everything you can buy in a bottle, bag or box. But like partially hydrogenated oil before it, scientists are now producing evidence that this processed ingredient is actually much worse for you than good, old-fashioned fats and sugar.

From the Princeton University study findings:

Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet.

Also, the rats that ingested the high-fructose corn syrup gained more weight than rats that ate the equivalent amount of calories, but with access to table sugar instead. So if you really want to lose weight and stay healthy, you really need to eliminate this ingredient from your life.

Here are some tips for avoiding high-fructose corn syrup:

• You can assume that any sweetened beverage sold in the U.S. contains it. The best bet is to eliminate these entirely.
• Also avoid all fast food, since almost all of it contains HFCS.
• Foods labeled 100% organic cannot contain HFCS.
• As much as possible, buy whole ingredients and cook your food — especially snacks and sweets — yourself.

The Accidental Hedonist is creating a list of all foods that contain HFCS here.

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Notes on Avoiding Packaged Foods: Salads and Dried Fruit

Avoiding packaged (or processed) foods means suddenly having to do without a lot of snacks I previously took for granted, like crackers, cookies, chips and candy. I have been substituting nuts, fresh fruit and cheese (on my own homemade bread) instead.

Recently, I have started trying different kinds of dried fruits for snacks, which I can buy in bulk at my co-op. Dried fruit certainly satisfies a craving for sweet. Dried fruit is chewy and toothsome — and even though it is higher in calories than fresh fruit, a little goes a long way, I find. This week I’m sampling dried papaya spears, which are just as good as any candy I’ve had lately. If you have access, definitely give them a try.

Just a note: Be careful with dried apricots. They are known to have a laxative effect.

Recently, I posted about the contaminants found in packaged salads. After giving it a bit of thought, I’ve decided that all pre-packaged salad mixes count as processed foods, and are therefore on the “don’t buy” list. Unpackaged greens are readily available and cheaper, even if they do require a bit more work for washing and preparation. (My toddler loves to work the salad spinner, which saves me some time.) Once washed, they are safer than the packaged salads, which might be contaminated with bacteria, fecal matter or e coli.