THE BASIC ELEMENTS
Samin Nosrat’s new book delves into the four “cardinal directions of cooking” in this week’s Cook This Book,
Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat should be approached as a learning experience instead of a collection of potential dishes to whip up at your next dinner party.
In her cookbook debut, the writer, teacher and chef, who first fell in love with cooking at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and has since been dubbed “the next Julia Child” by National Public Radio, delves into what she says are the four basic elements to making anything taste good: salt, acid, fat and heat.
Nosrat calls them the “cardinal directions of cooking” and her goal is to teach you how to master them.
In her two-part book, Nosrat first spends a chapter focusing on each of the four elements and then fills the second half with recipes, recommendations and lessons that build on the knowledge she opens with.
The last few pages are empty for your own notes.
From a wheel of sweet and savoury galette fillings to an avocado matrix, to a pie chart that breaks down fat sources by world region — there’s a ton of wisdom in here for anyone looking to take their cooking game up a notch or revisit the things they thought they already knew to make. The book: More like a resource guide or a textbook than a recipe collection, Nosrat spends 200 pages teaching technique before she even gets into recipes — and even those are more like loose guidelines. There are no photos, but colourful illustrations and substitution charts by Wendy MacNaughton accompany Nosrat’s words. The quote: “This book will change the way you think about cooking and eating, and help you find your bearings in any kitchen, with any ingredients, while cooking any meal. You’ll start using recipes, including the ones in this book, like professional cooks do — for the inspiration, context, and general guidance they offer, rather than by following them to the letter.” The tester: More into salads than sweets, though I’ve recently been on a quest to experiment with basics I’ve been making forever, realizing there are many ways even staples such as scrambled eggs and tomato sauce can be done better. Recipes I’m dying to make: Artichokes on the grill (because, I have no idea how to even cut these up), creamy herb dressing, cherry tomato confit, and Nekisia’s olive oil and sea salt granola
Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding
3 Star Tested My favourite dessert is ice cream and for me, the closest it’s-not-quite-warm-enough-yet option is chilled chocolate pudding. Nosrat’s recipe is a more salty modification of the one she’s come to love at San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery. As someone who always adds way more salt to my food than anyone else at the table, this version might have too much for some. So, we’ve cut it down here to start with a bit less.
4 oz (115 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped 3 eggs 3 cups (750 mL) half and half cream 3 tbsp (45 mL) cornstarch 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (155 mL) sugar 3 tbsp (45 mL) cocoa 1/2 tsp (2 mL) kosher salt
Place chocolate in heatproof bowl with mesh strainer on top, set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, add half and half cream. Heat until steam is visible and remove from heat before liquid boils.
In a medium size bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Whisk in warm cream. Add mixture back to saucepan.
Over medium-low heat, heat saucepan, stirring constantly until mixture becomes thicker (Nosrat says use your finger to draw a line in the pudding on the back of a spoon, if it’s ready, it should keep the line).
Add 2 cups (500 mL) of mixture to eggs. Whisk and add egg mixture to saucepan.
Lower heat to low and heat pudding, whisking constantly until it becomes thick or reaches 208 F (98 C) on a candy thermometer (we took ours off a bit before).
Pour mixture through strainer. Let it melt the chopped chocolate below. Stir together and blend with an emersion blender until smooth. Taste, add more salt if desired. Pour into 6 ramekins, tapping the bottom of each cup to burst air bubbles.
Let cool, serve at room temperature with Scented Cream (we tried Nosrat’s vanilla version — but she offers almost 20 flavour variations, so go nuts). Makes 6 servings.
Vanilla Scented Cream
3 Star Tested
1 cup (250 mL) heavy cream 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) sugar 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
Put metal mixing bowl and metal beaters or whisk in the freezer for 20 minutes. Once bowl is chilled, add all ingredients.
Whisk whip cream by hand or use electronic mixer on low (Nosrat recommends switching from a machine to hand-held whisk once the first peaks appear in the cream). Continue whisking until mixture forms soft, fluffy cream.
Chill until serving.