Today was Day 1 of Cuisines of Asia with one of the most endearing, yet stern, ladies I know. Before we start cooking she lectures for the first hour of class about our food for the day. She goes over 4 areas for each dish: cooking method, tastes, special ingredients, and method. The tastes are crucial to our understanding of the dish. We are working our way through the continent of Asia, starting with China. Tonight we made Crispy Tangerine Chicken which was described as being sweet, salty, and spicy. "Now think about what that means," she coached later in the evening, "Sweet-- sugar. Salty--" "Soy Sauce!" a student called out. "And hot," she finished, "Hot bean paste, chilies. So now you can make this dish even without a recipe. Just think of the flavors, right?"
It's a neat way of thinking about a dish. Just pick out the tastes and then personalize the flavors. What is it that we love about Crispy Tangerine Chicken? Its sweet, salty, and spicy. That winning combination could easily be transferred to a beef, pork, noodle, veggie, or tofu dish. Instead of sugar, you could use honey, molasses, agave, brown sugar, maple syrup, or fruit. For salty you could use kosher salt, smoked sea salt, worcestershire sauce, or anchovies. For spicy you could use peppers, chilies, hot sauce, black pepper, or pepper flakes. We can take the combinations of tastes we know and love and create an endless possibility of dishes.
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