Soy sauce is a salty liquid made from fermented soy beans, roasted wheat, water and salt. Packed with umami, soy sauce is used as a condiment and seasoning in Asian cuisines.
Soy sauce comes in many subtle variations, but is generally broken down into dark and light varieties. Light soy sauce is generally saltier and thinner than dark soy and does not stain food while cooking. Chinese black soy has added molasses that colors dishes as it cooks. The whole soy beans used to make quality soy sauce lend it a dark color, but cheaper brands using soy protein may cheat by adding caramel coloring.
The Japanese use soy sauce as a dipping sauce for sashimi or to season tofu, grilled meat and vegetable dishes. The Chinese use soy sauce mainly for marinades. In Indonesia, it is used mostly as a table condiment (called kecap, which comes in sweet and salty variations).
Be warned: though Japanese tamari (a slightly thicker and complex soy sauce made from more soybeans than most) is generally wheat-free, other commercial brands of soy sauce do contain gluten, so if you are trying to cook gluten-free, check the labels carefully.
What's the difference between white rice and brown rice?
What's the difference between white rice and brown rice?
Brown rice and white rice are the same grain. White rice is brown rice that has been stripped of its fibrous layers of bran and then polished smooth and white. Those outer layers contain most of the fiber and nutrients of the grain. (They also give brown rice a nuttier, chewier flavor and texture.)
So, which is better?
It depends on what you're in the mood for. We enjoy the complexity and wholesomeness of brown rice. But we also appreciate a simple, soothing bowl of white rice, which cooks faster and has a light, fluffy texture that balances acidic and spicy dishes, like a stir-fry or vindaloo. And while brown rice is great for the heart, white rice is easier on the stomach, making it a suitable base for comforting Greek Lemon-Egg Soup.
Fish sauce is a pungent liquid flavoring made from salted, fermented fish. A staple of Southeast Asian cuisines, most varieties are made with anchovies, salt and sugar.
You can usually find fish sauce on the international aisle at the grocery store. If not, you'll certainly find several varieties at any Asian market. (Chinese fish sauce may be labeled fish gravy.) Store fish sauce in the pantry, not in the refrigerator -- the cold air will cause salt crystals to form.
In a pinch, or if you want to make a dish vegetarian, you can substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. Substituting fish sauce for soy sauce is a riskier move. Plenty of people do it, but if you're a casual user of or newcomer to fish sauce, proceed with caution: it's potent.
It takes 10-15 pounds of fish to make 1 liter of fish sauce, so it's not surprising that the dark liquid smells intensely fishy. The flavor, however, is not so much fishy as it is salty, tangy and vinegary. Paired with lime juice and broth, fish sauce creates a bold base for this soups.
Recipe: Broiled Thai Shrimp (Coothink)
Recipe: Beef Pho (Cookthink)
Recipe: Thai Shrimp, Coconut And Mushroom Soup (Cookthink)
Reference: Why is it called Worcestershire sauce? (Cookthink)
How to tell when a pineapple is ripe?
How to tell when a pineapple is ripe?
When choosing a fresh pineapple, sniff first. Choose one that smells pineapple-y but not too much so (too much perfume and it's likely overripe).
Look for a firm, heavy fruit that has yellow-orange coloring around the base; that's a sign of ripeness (being able to easily pull a leaf out of the pineapple's crown is not).
And some believe that the prickly eyes of the pineapple should be the same size, a sign that the fruit has reached its full mature sweetness.
When you want a dish to have quintessential garlic flavor that permeates each bite, mince it. You can mince with a knife, or a garlic press.
Either way, you need to free the individual cloves. To do that, press down on the head with the heel of your palm. Apply firm, even pressure so the cloves don't fly all over the place.
To peel an individual clove, cut of the hard stem end where the clove attached to the bulb. Either stop the cut just short of the skin on the other side and peel the skin around to remove it, or make the cut all the way through and squeeze out the clove. The older the clove, the easier the skin releases.
You can also peel it by setting the side of your knife blade on the clove and pressing down until you feel the skin release, though not hard enough to pulverize it, or the skin will get mixed in with the garlic.
To mince with a knife, smash the peeled clove with the side of the knife. Then just run your knife back and forth across the smashed clove, chopping as you go until it's as fine as you like.
If you don't want individual little pieces of garlic and have a press, just put the whole peeled clove (or cloves, if you can fit them) in the press and squeeze. Use your knife to trim away any clinging garlic.
You can leave basil leaves whole and add them to salads and hot dishes toward the end of cooking, tear them into pieces for more capricious basil flavor, or thinly slice them. To avoid bruising the basil, slide a sharp knife down and across the basil with a deliberate, smooth stroke. A clean cut will darken the leaves less than a pounding cut.
To slice basil, first stack the leaves together.
You can either roll them up like a cigar and slice through them to make a chiffonade, or just slice away at them as they are.
what you should know
Columbus was the first European to feast on pineapple. In 1493, while looking for fresh water in the Caribbean, he docked at Guadeloupe and found this prickly, sweet titan instead. It looked like a pine cone, so he called it piña. And the rest is history.
divide & conquer When you buy cut pineapple rings, you pay a premium for the in-store work. Prepping a fresh pineapple takes just a few minutes and gets you more and juicier fruit.
sniff & poke When choosing a fresh pineapple, sniff first. Choose one that smells pineapple-y but not too much so. Look for a firm one that has yellow-orange coloring around the base; that's a sign of ripeness. Being able to easily pull a leaf out of the pineapple's crown is not an indicator of ripeness. (It's an indicator of being able to pull a leaf out of the crown.)
fat patrol Pineapples contain an enzyme called protease that helps break down proteins. This makes the fruit risky to use in marinades.
aloha There's a great book in the story of Lana'i, Hawaii's smallest island. James Doles bought the entire island in the 1920s and began converting it into a plantation that would eventually supply 90% of the world's pineapple. Hawaii's pineapple era has tapered in favor of tourism.
what you need
We're fine just using a sharp knife, but tons of people swear by this pineapple easy slicer. If you eat a lot of fresh pineapple and you've got $10 you're itching to get rid of, knock yourself out.
If you belong to the pineapple-on-pizza school (as we do), you'll love this Batali pizza peel with a wood handle and stainless steel plate.
Frederick Exley, the author of one of Chip's favorites books, lived on the old pineapple plantation of Lana'i for a while while writing his last book.
what you do
All the taste buds are stoked in this classic ham, pineapple and mushroom pizza.
Browned pineapple adds some rich, tropical sweetness to this savory stir-fry of shrimp and bok choy.
You could broil or grill these mushroom, pineapple, tomato and beef kebabs. It's a beautiful dish either way.
No balance of sweet and salt in these delicious pineapple rings with buttered rum sauce. They're hardcore sugar bombs but they're worth every cavity they produce.
Featured recipe: The pineapple fried rice recipe comes from reader Missy Frederick and is the featured recipe for this week's Root Source Challenge.
What do we mean by shimmering oil?
What do we mean by shimmering oil?
Shimmering oil is hot oil that is nearing its smoke point.
At room temperature, common cooking oils like vegetable and olive oil seem fairly thick. Put them in a pan and heat them though, and they thin out when you swirl the pan. As they get hotter, they tend to "flow" and coat the pan more easily.
In the right light, when you look at oil that's at a good temperature for sautéing -- nice and hot, but not yet smoking -- it shimmers. It forms "tines" like those on a wine glass. It looks colorful, iridescent even.
Shimmering oil is good for sautéing because it increases the chances that the food won't stick. Hot oil immediately seals the bottom of food, creating a natural barrier between it and the bottom of the pan.
Chopping is probably the most common way to prep an onion. Chopped onions show up in anything that needs the basic, earthy pungent flavor that onions give. Chop them larger for longer-cooking dishes like stews and rustic soups, and smaller (call it a dice if you like) for anything from salsas to sauces to ragouts.
To start, cut the onion in half through the root. The root itself will help keep the onion together for chopping
Rotate the onion 90 degrees and cut off the papery end (not the root end). This will make the skin easy to peel away and discard.
Peel back the onion's papery skin. It's often easiest to peel away the first layer of the onion along with the skin.
Make a series of diagonal cuts (roughly 45 degrees) into the side of the onion. Keep more space between the slices for a large chop. Make the cuts closer together for a small chop or a dice.
Now make a series of horizontal cuts to finish shaping the chop or dice.
Finally, rotate the onion again and slice crosswise against the checkerboard pattern you made in the onion. The chopped pieces will fall away from the onion.
