Morsel Musings: Letting Produce Be Produce

Hey Everyone,

David here. In the last Morsel Musings I talked about how I wanted to venture down a path of vegetable exploration. And once again, I found myself down another rabbit hole! This rabbit hole has consisted of:

• reading books / blogs about vegetables
• listening to food podcasts
• talking with farmers at local markets
• tasting new vegetables
• and preparing familiar vegetables in different ways

Through those experiences I feel like a new core belief has seeded (get it?) itself in my cooking mind.

I started my culinary journey being excited about additions I can make to a dish in order to enhance the overall flavor (after all, Tavleen does mean spice!). I applied this belief to all ingredients equally: grains, produce, proteins, etc. While in this veggie rabbit hole, I continuously heard a version of this idea: “let produce express itself”. This is the notion that farmers, not chefs, are the creators of flavor. And chefs are in fact tasked with how to best bring out those natural flavors in a dish. This has opened my mind to a whole new way of preparing produce. Now, when I taste a piece of lettuce or a root vegetable, my first thought isn't what herb to pair it with, but instead pausing to consider if any additions are needed at all.

So as I climb out of this rabbit hole, I am committing to developing a more nuanced understanding of how to heighten produces’ inherent flavor, and appreciate that letting produce express itself can be a sign of flavor creation in and of itself. I am not getting rid of grated parm and a shallot vinaigrette on my roasted broccoli every week. I am, however, taking the opportunity to consider how to best showcase the flavor of produce when cooking.

What has been the best expression of produce you have experienced recently? Seriously, I want to know. Reply to this email! 

-David

This is usually what I am cooking in my kitchen, though it may sometimes include things I experience outside as well (a new bar, a cooking class, etc.).

• Mushrooms: I was trying to think of a good fungi (read: fun guy) joke, but maybe we can pretend I made a really good one? These past couple of months have consisted of testing various forms of mushrooms, including stocks, crispy trumpet mushroom “bacon”, sautéed mushrooms, pickled mushrooms, and liquor infusions. The umami profile of mushrooms comes in many varieties and can be prepared in infinite ways–making them a super versatile ingredient. I find myself during grocery runs lately, thinking: “why should I not buy some type of mushroom this week?”.
  • Current Take: A game changer for me has been mushroom stocks. Many great recipes for a base stock exist out there, and since landing on one I’ve been using a mushroom stock as the base for as many sauces as I can. My recipe is generally 3lb of your favorite mushroom roasted at 350 degrees for 20min, then placing them in a pot with 6 cups of water, crushed garlic, chopped celery, chopped white onion, your favorite herbs (bay leaf for me) and simmering for 90min. Strain and then you have mushroom stock!

A larder is a place for storing food. The act of “larder-ing” means taking a few minutes here and there to prepare ingredients that can elevate any future dishes by acting as "layers of flavor". To me, great dishes often have layered flavor and I’ve found there’s no better place to keep these “layers” than on-hand in your larder.

• Compound Butter: When I think about what to “larder”, I am usually thinking about what can serve as a flavor-packed layer in a dish (see a note on layering flavor in the section description). Like that one surprise ingredient you have on hand to make a dish stupid good. Compound butter (a.k.a. soft butter mixed with tasty ingredients) is one of those fun, flavor-packed layers in my larder currently. I say fun, because I think compound butters can be both a base layer (used at the outset of making a dish) and also a finishing layer (used at the final stages of making a dish to make it pop) in a dish. 
  • Current Takes: I’ve been larder-ing two types of butter recently, one as a base layer and the other as a finishing layer:
    • Vadouvan butter (base) has been finding its way into my soups, where I use an onion/garlic/masala-inspired butter, instead of unsalted butter, to sauté veggies with more depth of flavor.
    • Calabrian butter (finishing) is what I have been pairing with a slice of country loaf, taking a simple bread dish a step further. A friend replied to one of the questions in the Mind Grapes section of the last Morsel Musings, recounting the still undefeated combination of good butter, freshly baked bread and salt. Good Bread + Good Butter = Stupid Good. 

What I am hearing, reading, seeing, or tasting.

• Sauces: I am testing an emulsified mushroom stock-based sauce that’s 🚀 rocked my world 🚀. It’s not like I didn’t know the magic of a good sauce beforehand (where are my In-N-Out Special Sauce lovers at), but I never focused much time and energy on creating a single sauce before. Now, I still only know a fraction of what I don’t know about sauces, and I’m stoked to dig into them more with the book Sauces, recommended by a Chicago-based private dining company. Looking forward to sharing more!
• Ototo and Sake: Unfortunately, my initial exposure to sake was at a subpar, all you can eat and drink sushi restaurant on the Lower East Side of New York (iykyk). Since moving to the East Side of LA, I’ve been eyeing local spots to check out. After listening to an LA Food Podcast with the cofounders of Ototo, I prioritized a solo-date this month to check it out and start my pursuit of understanding and loving excellent sake. Ototo has one of the most extensive rotating sake lists in LA, approachable sake education within the menu, and super friendly staff that is focused on acclimating guests to the world of sake. For now, I still don’t know enough to recommend anything in particular outside of generally encouraging a visit and ordering some of the small bites!

Fresh or intriguing finds at local farmers’ markets.

• Final Winter Treasures and Early Summer Glory: At the market these past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to snag as many things before they go out of season as well as getting some summer sneak peaks. Right now, a final winter treasure I am focused on is colorful cauliflower, which are a fun twist both in appearance and flavor profile. My version of early summer glory has 1000% been strawberries. When feeling cheeky at a farmers’ market I am stretching for any varietal of Harry’s Berries strawberries (found at many LA-based local markets, pic below is from Santa Monica).

A big part of this newsletter is creating opportunities to have a conversation with people receiving it. Below are questions on my food brain and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

• What is your favorite sauce and what is it usually served with?
• What is the one dish–food, or drink—that screams summer to you?
• Other Morsels: In response to the last Morsel Musings, another friend mentioned a dish that featured parmesan rinds as part of a gorgonzola, pumpkin, and squash risotto (honestly, all sounds delicious, no edits).