I’ve long wanted to write an article about the importance of sour flavors in cooking. Nearly everything we eat has a pH of less than 7, so we’re all sour freaks to some extent. I’m more so than average, and Iris beats me handily: she will happily eat a slice of lemon. In fact, once, before I could stop her, she ate a slice of lemon including the peel.
Now I don’t have to write that article, because Dara Moskowitz already did, for the Minneapolis CityPages: Pucker Power:
> So why is it that restaurant chefs use so much more sour than home cooks do? Go to a Thai restaurant and you might find lemon juice, lime juice, and vinegar in a single sauce, and the resulting sauce doesn’t make you gag, it makes you smile and ask for more.
It was reprinted in Best Food Writing 2005.
The timing was perfect, because last night we had waffles for dinner, and our waffles are unabashedly sour, a result of letting the yeast batter ferment all day (or overnight) at room temperature. Cook’s Illustrated did a raised waffle recipe a while ago, and they recommended fermenting in the refrigerator. They rigged up a Consumer Reports-style test in which the gas from the fermenting batter inflated a balloon, and showed how the room temperature batter resulted in a sad, flaccid balloon. I took this personally.
The waffle recipe I make, which I’ve written about before, is a Fannie Farmer recipe that I found in the book A Real American Breakfast. The batter ferments until a creamy head forms on top, and then you stir in some beaten egg whites. This seems dumb: why did you go to all the trouble of making a yeast batter, only to leaven it with egg whites after it collapses? For a while, I felt guilty about this, like I was using dough conditioner or something similarly embarrassing.
Then I remembered something from Michael Ruhlman’s book, Charcuterie. In the intro, or maybe the flap copy, Ruhlman wonders why we still make cured meats, even though we no longer need them, now that everyone has a refrigerator. He puts the question to a chef, who answers with a single word: “Flavor.”
We made the rest of the waffles for breakfast (the batter keeps for a day in the fridge), and they were even more sour and delicious. While we were eating, Laurie noticed that waffles require far more syrup than French toast, partly because they’re drier and partly because of the waffle indentations.
This leads me to another shameful confession: I like “pancake syrup,” the stuff made from corn syrup and fenugreek, better than real maple syrup. I will choose $3 Kroger syrup over artisan-made Vermont maple of whatever grade. I’ve tried to acquire the taste of the real stuff, but it won’t take; I’m not just not Canadian enough, or something.
Does anyone else have a preference like this, where you honestly like the ersatz version of something better than the real one?
Mmm, by coincidence I tried maple syrup the other day – but I preferred a home-made sugarless apple jam in the end. The syrup was good when mixed with water to make some type of juice.
David is spluttering over this. the availability of real maple syrup is possibly the only thing about America he wholeheartedly approves of.
I’m embarrassed to like artificial “green apple” flavored stuff better than actual apples. Maybe it’s another side of the whole “sour” issue.
I really like this blog, Mamster! Keep it up!
I don’t even know where to start. Perhaps with my preference for Chef Boyardee ravioli over any ravioli I’ve had in Italy, though I’ve gotten less passionate about it over the years. I would have said Kraft mac n cheese over homemade, but I got a recipe recently that turned the tide.
I sent my parents a bottle of real maple syrup once, and while my mother was really excited to receive it, after they tried it they were… polite.
Although I do like the Grade B Pure Maple Syrup from Trader Joe’s (but it’s fairly expensive), I do admit to loving the Butter Flavored Lite Aunt Jemima’s syrup too!
L.G., have you had Green Apple flavor Jones Soda? It rules.
Sure does! :-) I’ve been tempted to try the “Love Potion #6” they’ve got out now, even though the packaging is just a little too cute.
I feel the same way about syrup…but I also insist on the fake Butter Flavor syrup, I’m afraid. My other thing is mac and cheese…I can make killer homemade mac and cheese, but I adore powdered Kraft, and not just for quickness.
I’m a recent real-maple convert, but the real question is should it be warmed up. (The answer is yes, definitely.)
OK, now I don’t have to feel self-concious about liking that super-sweet fudge in Vancouver anymore…
Prefering fake syrup to the real deal is a close second on my list to my friend who likes canned green beans better than fresh….yowza
I like frozen green beans.
I have that Breakfast book, and I like the pictures a lot. Hm, I think I like American gnocchi better than the stuff I had in Italy. Is that the same?
What’s the difference between American and Italian gnocchi? (I’m awaiting a punchline involving the Pope.)