cooking @ home

What makes for great cooking? Two simple things: How it’s cooked and what’s in it. And when it comes to the latter, we need to look at the concepts of complimenting and contrasting.

Whether it’s making a single dish or the entire meal “go up another notch” lies in the complimenting and contrasting. Let’s bring this down further. Complimenting is comparatively easy, contrasting isn’t. And of the two, it’s the more important element. And that’s what we’ll be concentrating on.

My favorite definition for “contrasting” I’ve found is “to set in opposition in order to show or emphasize differences”. When it comes to cooking, then, make that: “to showcase or emphasize flavors”.

There’s no way not to for a moment go “zen” on you here. Because this is definitely one of those cases of what is called “yin and yang”. Out of curiosity I took a look at what Wikipedia had to say about “yin and yang” (which was a ton) but two defining phrases stood out among the rest: “complementary opposites rather than absolutes” and “combining to create a unity of opposites“. These are totally perfect definitions when applying this concept to the art of cooking.

In the ingredients of a single dish

Let’s start out by examining something that almost everybody is familiar with, a substance which contains a large amount of ingredients, with complex and contrasting tastes, high notes of robustness and low notes of subtly, and can vary greatly from one cook’s recipe to anothers: namely, barbeque sauce.

For me, I usually start with a ketchup base, then some worcestershire, then some dijon mustard (mild hotness, lots of tang), a bit of cayenne for true hotness, some honey to offset with sweetness, cumin for a more neutral base with a natural smoky component, ginger to add sweetness and tang and smidge of heat; soy sauce to both calm it down and introduce the element of saltiness … Getting the idea? It’s the balanced harmony of these contrasts.

Speaking of BBQ, another recipe pops into mind, last year put together basically a rub and mixed in a little oil making a thick dark strong paste and covered it all over these eight boneless chicken thigh pieces, let them marinate a little then placed them on the grill. Juicy on the inside, crust on the outside, quite seasoned and lots of “zing”.

I served them on potato rolls with mayo and tomato. Very very simple, but you see how everything else counter-balanced the heat of the main component of the chicken: the tangy and sweet freshness of the tomato, the wet coolness of the mayo and even the sweetness of the bun. Big thumbs up all around from my guests! (And hey, dark meat, very flavorful and yet price-wise we’re talking cheap eats, too!)

In the meal, between the various dishes

Here’s some simpler examples. Ever have buffalo chicken wings? Essentially these hot wings are almost always accompanied with a side of blue cheese dressing and some celery to provide a coolness factor. Another example is the basic vinagrette for salad. The two main ingredients are the oil and the acid; the former usually from olive oil, the second from either vinger, citrus (often lemon, lime, or orange juice) or alcohol. And then there are the rest of the ingredients (which could include salt, pepper, honey, dijon, basil) again adding some contrast. And speaking of salad, in a restaurant what often comes with one but bread or breadsticks. Why? To offer a more neutral component to balance out the salad. Salad is zesty; bread is crunchy, perhaps a little buttery. That’s why they often go so well together.

My mother got me to love apple sauce as much as she does. (Btw, we’re not talking bland super-pureed apple sauce, btw, we buy the big plastic jar that has “natural” and “chunky” on it. We also get the one that has some cinnamon added.) Often when I serve something hot like my spanish rice dish, apple sauce provides a welcome cool down on the side. Sometimes when I can’t think of something else to go with a zesty tomatoey pasta dish, again apple sauce provides a welcome change for the palette. Same reason garlic bread marries so well with pasta.

Even with the accompanying beverage

I bring this concept of contrasts not only to a single dish or meal on the plate but whenever possible to the accompanying beverage itself. If I’m having something hot and “basic” — chicken wings, hot nachos — I might go with something like a light beer.

If it’s spicy but a bit more complex such as say gumbo or a spicy rice concoction or a curry, I’ll again usually go “opposite” with a contrasting light, sweeter wine such as White Zinfindel or maybe a fruity Rheinhessen with it; if I’m in the mood for something non-alocholic then a glass of ginger ale or lemony iced tea goes well.

On the other hand if I’m having something more meaty and robust, let’s say a thick steak or pork chop, I tend to go more for something complimentary instead, such as a deep red Merlot or an amber lager such as Yuengling. (If you don’t know Yuengling, try it. It’s much better in my opinon than Sam Adams, which gives too much of an over-hops bitter after taste; Yuengling doesn’t. Alas, it’s sold in only ten eastern states currently. On the west coast, I suggest Anchor Steam.)

To the next level

Funny how folks look at things differently. Often if someone sees a recipe for something like a mango or pineapple salsa, first thing they say is “yuck, why put that hot stuff with that nice sweet fruit?” When (to me, at least) the idea is 180 degrees: let’s add some sweet fruit to that hot salsa. Either way, it’s a more interesting and a more complex taste. Very often the same folks who initially heard that and thought it would be terrible, change their minds when they are actually taste these “conflicting” combinations together and go “yum”.

What we’re talking about above is doing something where the average person doesn’t expect it to work together. Everything says to them that’s not right; but then they taste and the tongue tells them otherwise.

Even big time chefs can be fooled at times. I love it when I’m watching some sort of cooking competition on television and this happens. Every once in a great while you’ll have a couple of food judges say “I really didn’t think the X would play off the Y, but it works. This is amazingly good.” And the next judge agrees, saying “It was a total surprise to me too. I would have thought the X would have overwhelmed, or bounced off the Y, instead it actually brings out a more robust component of the Y.” In short, even in the land of haute cuisine, one chef can come across a food combination that is so opposite to another, yet together work so well, that even other experienced chefs or foodies can be blown away by it.

Anyways, I think when it comes to complimenting most people have that down pretty well — baked beans go with hot dogs; mashed potatoes are a must with meat loaf;, etc — without going into to it at all. It’s the yin and yang, the contrast, the balancing of textures and the playing flavors off each other that most cooks need to work on. And when you bring these different tastes into harmony, into that “unity of opposites” that’s when you’ve taken normal cooking up to a much higher level.