A few tricks to better food

I'm currently waiting for some saltpork to finish, uh, salting. It's sitting in its little tub of salt as I type. But I want to give you all a few "weird tricks" to better cooking. They are the closest things I have to "secret ingredients" and if you learn to wield them intelligently, you'll be able to crank out food that is "restaurant quality" and even better with way less work than you think. Try em out and you'll see.

1. Gelatin

Probably the easiest of these tips to incorporate: put powdered gelatin in everything. Sauces are an obvious one (tomato sauce, bolognese, even pan sauces. You could probably also add it to e.g. custard but I've never tried), but you can also add it to meatballs or ANYTHING that involves ground meat. I worked under a chef who would put so much gelatin into the stock for his meatballs that you could "bounce them off the floor." Or add to the milk and breadcrumbs for meatloaf. 

Also try adding it to eggs for scrambled eggs or omelettes, or stewed fruit. A great topping for oatmeal or icecream (or meal in itself) is frozen fruit cooked with water, sugar, and gelatin. If you're feeling chilly, add a little coconut oil to this concoction and you will feel RENEWED! I call it compote. Go forth and conquer.

2. Alcohol

Most things taste better with a little cooked-off liquor in them. I keep a bottle of sherry next to the stove and add a splash whenever I feel a dish needs a little extra something. It's great in stock too (Fergus Henderson's recipe for trotter stock uses half a bottle of madeira). But really any alcohol works, wine, beer, rum, even vodka. The ethanol provides another medium, in addition to the typical fat and water, for tasty stuff to dissolve into. So even though there are only trace amounts at the end of the cooking process the whole dish will taste more alive. Use your nose and your sense! You'll know when it's cooked off and you can always add more if there isn't enough.

One more note: If you're braising something in liquor, like wine or beer, try adding a little splash of it a the end when you're finishing the sauce. A lot of the sharper, more lively flavors in any liquor will get mellowed out over long simmering, so this is a good way to get those flavors back in there and round out the dish without it becoming too "hot."

3. Liver

This really only applies to savory dishes, but you can usually add an ounce or so of finely grated liver to meat-based dishes and they'll taste a lot better. I keep a hunk of liver in my freezer for this reason. No one will taste the liver unless you go overboard or fry it it fat for too long, so I add it to the pot after everything else has been added or right before deglazing. Maybe this also makes it more nutritious or nutrient-dense. But the flavor!

4. Sugar

Maybe a little played out but trust me, so many sauces and dishes improve with just a little bit of sweetness. Sugar, jam, jelly, honey, etc are all good choices. You only need a bit! Over time, maybe your tastes will adjust and you'll come to appreciate truly sweet and savory sauces, but start slow.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll see you all soon with some salt pork.

picture of the author enjoying himself as he waits for his pork to cure