cooking

Cooking Toolkit – Soy Sauce

by

We’re all familiar with Soy Sauce, that delicious savory and salty condiment from Asia. It’s something we’re used to in assorted restaurants in bottles, packets, and the large amount of variations in any well-stocked supermarket.

Soy sauce is a wonderful substance, and something I use in many of my dishes. It’s not just a common condiment to use on your usual sushi and such, but an amazing substance that can enhance many cuisines.

Soy sauce itself is pretty simple. It’s a fermented paste of soybeans, wheat (except in gluten-free versions) and brine, squeezed to yield the famous brown liquid we all know. It actually comes in many varieties and different countries have different recipes and variants, if you wish to explore them.

(However, be careful. Some imports aren’t always reliably manufactured and you can get some real nastiness.)

Me, for my love of it, I’m pretty standard – I use Kikkoman’s Low Sodium. You can examine others as you need, but Kikkoman’s is reliable and tasty and, of course, safe as its brewed local.

But beyond the history of Soy Sauce, let’s talk about how you can use it, because it’s a miracle for a cook, especially a mostly-vegetarian like me.

Soy Sauce has a unique, salty, savory flavor, with the richness that fermentation usually brings to a food. Notice how it can transform something simple like rice into a crave able dish? Now think what it can do to even more complex fare.

Here’s what I’ve used.

  • Outright, the savory taste of soy means that it can add a kind of savory/meaty taste to dishes – which if you’re like me and don’t cook a lot of meat or “vegetarianize” dishes, it’s an instant way to get the flavors you want. Soy sauce is a prime ingredient in a lot of my “de-meated” dishes – and sometimes it’s all you need.
  • Soy sauce also is a great salt substitute for dishes as it brings in the other flavors. if you’ve got a dish that needs a kick, remove the salt and add Soy Sauce. I find 1/4 tsp of salt can be replaced with 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of Soy sauce. Just be careful because Soy Sauce, even the low-sodium version, is pretty powerful. One Tablespoon has the sodium of 1/2 tsp of salt.
  • Soy sauce plays well with a lot of spices. You’ll have to experiment, but I’ve used it in many dishes with different spice loads successfully. One of the most noteworthy combinations was I found it worked well with Oregano and Basil.
  • Soy sauce also works well with other savory flavors – especially tomatoes. So try it with tomatoes, meat, cheeses, and more.
  • Soy sauce also works good with other fermented ingredients. I’ve found it play well with Balsamic Vinegar (which also adds meaty flavor) and red wine in sauces and other dishes.
  • Soy sauce also works well with sours at times. For some reason I find dishes that use soy sauce also work well with lemon juice.
  • Soy sauce also can be good in dressings and sauces as well. Try it in place of vinegars.

What I’m saying is that pretty much for any cook willing to experiment that you want a bottle of good soy sauce on hand at all times. It’s well worth your time to get to know.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Your Ingredient Toolkit – Thyme

by

Thyme is one of the most unexpected ingredients in my “toolkit” of things that I use to tweak and improve recipes.

It’s a strange spice. It has a woody, somewhat bitter taste that reminds me a bit of bay leaves, and not something you’d think “man I need to add this to my food!” It’s not like pepper or garlic where you can say “yeah, that’ll work!” or “yeah, that won’t work.”

But the power of thyme isn’t in it’s taste per se – it’s how it works with other tastes.

Thyme has this strange ability to blend flavors together and enhance them – especially vegetable tastes. Time and again I’ve found that dishes that are vegetable-heavy but are missing “something” are improved by adding or increasing thyme. It seems to enhance or “turn up” the flavors.

I’ve found this is especially true in dishes with tomatoes in them. Thyme just makes things work when tomatoes are involved. If your tomato sauce or other dish needs a certain “oomph” consider some thyme.

It also plays well with other “leafy” spices – basil, oregano, rosemary, etc. If you’ve got a heavily spiced dish that’s not quite working, thyme may be what you need to tie it all together.

I usually find you don’t need more than 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of ground thyme to get the effects in an average-sized dish. So it’s not much effort to give it a whirl, though I think it’s taste could be overdone, so I’d start low just in case.

Next time you can’t get that dish right, give thyme a shot!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Cooking: Containers Are For Eating

by

OK, I know the image of eating a reheated meal out of a container is not exactly dignified. It conjures up imagines of someone who can’t cook, is too rushed, or just has no dignity.

I beg to differ.

See, I cook and freeze a lot of food. I live alone, I like to experiment with cooking, and I like to pace out what I eat so it’s not the same thing four days in a row. Needless to say a lot of what I eat spends its time in a glass container in the freezer.

In turn, that container may not be reheated at home. A lot of food I make is reheated at work, even though we have a great cafeteria (I’m a cheapskate also).

In all these cases, if I reheat food, unless I really need to (like, say, pouring out curry sauce) do I really want to reheat something then dump it into another dish or bowl? Hell, I just eat it out of what I reheated it in.

Why?

  • First, it’s faster. I don’t have to go around getting something else to eat out of.
  • Secondly, it dirties up less dishes. Like I really need to mess up the food container and another dish (or a paper one and waste it).
  • Third, I don’t have to pack or find other dining ware. I just use what I have.
  • Fourth, a good container is multi-use.  It’s not just for freezing – I use mine to store vegetables, side dishes, etc.  Saves me a plastic bag being thrown away.

Do I do this at home? Absolutely. I don’t need to make more of a mess. So yes, in stereotypical bachelor fashion, I eat out of the reheating container.

But as far as I’m concerned? It’s worth it. It’s simpler, faster, and neater. It’s not undignified – it’s precise.

(Besides, I think most of my food is pretty damn classy, thank you!)

If you shop around you can also find some great storage containers that make excellent dining ware. I myself favor the Ziplock glass containers, which come in multiple sizes, have nice-fitting lids, and are pretty sturdy. Also being glass they look a bit more dignified to eat out of.

So go on. Eat out of the container!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.