Lemon zest adds a bright spark to a dish. There are lots of tools for zesting a lemon -- zester, a knife -- but it's hard to go wrong with a fine grater (such as the popular Microplane version), which makes a beautiful light zest that melds into a dish and gives great flavor.
To zest with the Microplane, just rub the lemon in one direction against the little blades. Turn the lemon as you go so you remove only the yellow part -- the zest. You don't want the white pith just beneath -- it's bitter.
If you use a traditional zester, which makes long, thin strands of zest, or a knife, be sure to finely chop the strands with a knife. The finer shrivels of zest will permeate the dish better than the strands.
To get the most flavor out of lemon zest, add it toward the end of cooking.
Recipe: Agnolotti With Eggplant, Tomatoes And Garlic (Cookthink)
Recipe: Broccoli With Fettuccine, Lemon Zest And Parmesan (Cookthink)
Recipe: Cremini Mushroom Risotto With Lemon Zest (Cookthink)
Reference: What is a Meyer lemon? (Cookthink)
A latke is a potato pancake. Most people think of the potato pancake as a Jewish dish, but potato pancakes of some sort exist in potato-eating cultures around the world.
Your basic latke is made by frying grated potatoes in oil until nicely browned on both sides, and seasoning them with salt and pepper. Some latke recipes add egg, chopped or grated onion, minced garlic, milk, melted butter or herbs and spices to the preparation.
Latkes can be eaten plain as a snack, with a side salad, topped with applesauce or sour cream, as an accompaniment to roasted meats, or with a fried egg on top. The French sometimes serve potato galettes with coq au vin. The Poles stuff them with goulash. Jews eat them during Hannukah, but only because they are fried, not because they play a special role in the religious holiday. The Swedes add grated potatoes to a pancake batter, while Germans and Austrians eat them with garlic, salt and butter.
Potato pancakes can also be made by simply dropping a pile of grated potatoes into hot oil and frying until browned and cooked through, then seasoning them with salt and pepper while they're still hot.
Related: Brys' Latkes With Fried Eggs And Caviar (Cookthink blog)
Video: How to make potato latkes (Handmade TV)
If you have the option, choose whole nutmeg over ground. Store the nutmeg in an air-tight container in a dark cupboard at room temperature. Heat, moisture and light will speed up the deterioration of the volatile oils that give nutmeg its distinctive flavor. When properly stored, nutmeg will be keep for at least a year.
Nutmeg is best when it's freshly grated. We prefer to use a microplane zester (like one of the ones shown above) to prep nutmeg. (There are all sorts of fine graters available for use with nutmeg; some of them are even designed specifically for that use.)
To prep nutmeg, simply rub the nut over the grater (being careful to keep your fingers away from the grater) into a small bowl. The outer skin is not as flavorful as the oily interior that it protects, but the outside grates easily and is fine to include.
The choice between ground nutmeg and whole nutmeg is an easy one: always go with the whole nut and freshly grate it as needed.
Ground nutmeg may smell and taste great the first time, but once the container is opened, the quality will start to deteriorate as the spice's volatile oils are exposed to oxygen. Whole nutmeg won't last forever, but properly stored you can squeeze a good year out of it with no noticeable loss of flavor.
The nutmeg that we use in the kitchen is the inner nut or seed of the nutmeg fruit.
The evergreen tree that produces the fruit is native to southern Asia and parts of the south Pacific. It produces both nutmeg and mace.
Here's how it happens: when the nutmeg fruit is ripe, it splits open to reveal mace-covered seed. The red or orange mace is removed and dried. The seed is then dried for a couple of months, until the nutmeg can be heard rattling around inside the shell. The seed is then cracked to produce the small egg-shaped nutmeg. Whole nutmegs will keep for months if properly stored in a cool, dark cupboard.
How do nutmeg and mace compare? Nutmeg has a stronger, more rounded flavor than mace, which is often likened to both cinnamon and pepper. In a pinch, you can substitute one for the other.
What can I substitute for nutmeg?
What can I substitute for nutmeg?
The best substitute for nutmeg is mace, the red membrane that surrounds nutmeg when harvested. Though it's a bit more delicate in flavor and lacks nutmeg's bittersweetness, mace will work in a pinch.
Cinnamon is brighter, sweeter and less woodsy than nutmeg, but it fills in nicely in smaller amounts. Allspice and garam masala are both reminiscent of several spices, and will also work in place of nutmeg in small amounts.
What's the difference between cinnamon and nutmeg?
What's the difference between cinnamon and nutmeg?
Nutmeg is the seed of a fruit and cinnamon is made from the bark of a tree. When purchased whole, both are easily identifiable as such. When ground, nutmeg is a speckled brown, coarse-grained powder, while cinnamon is usually finer in texture and a brighter rust color.
In terms of flavor, nutmeg is warm, aromatic and deeply woodsy with flavors of camphor and clove. Nutmeg often gives a subtle background lift to rich dishes like gratins and other rich, creamy dishes.
Cinnamon, while similarly aromatic with hints of clove, is more floral and sweeter than nutmeg. It has a brighter almost citrusy tinge. Cinnamon tends to stand out more than nutmeg in both sweet and savory dishes.
what you should know
A dead ringer for the pecan, the warm spice we know as nutmegis actually the seed of a far-flung evergreen tree.
Native to southern Asia and the South Pacific, nutmeg wascarried by colonial powers all over the globe. Today, its woodsy aroma plays a role in dishes as varied as jerk andcurry.
be whole The problem: ground nutmeg quickly loses its flavor and aroma. The solution: buy nutmeg whole and freshly grate it as you need it. (Use every bit, as the interior of the nutmeg tends to be the most intense part.)
keep it tight Stored in an airtight container, whole nutmeg can last a year or longer.
on background Like cinnamon, nutmeg is too often confined to sweet dishes. Used judiciously, nutmeg gives a background lift to savory dishes as well.
what you need
If you get your nutmeg whole, you'll have a good excuse to buy anotherMicroplane grater. Or, if you want to diversify, check out Norpro's dedicated nutmeg grater.
Be sure to store whole nutmeg in an airtight container.
Nutmeg often finds its way into cheese sauces. On that rare occasion when we break out the fondue set, we like to spike the pot with a little nutmeg.
All out of nutmeg? Mace is the best substitute. In a pinch, cinnamon, allspice or garam masala can add the same kind of warm, wintry spice as nutmeg.
what you do
Nutmeg gives some zip to this dense and fruity whole grain breakfast bread.
Béchamel, or basic white sauce, is one of the cornerstones of good cooking. The little bit of nutmeg heightens the rich, dairy flavor of the sauce.
Once you've made a batch of white sauce, use it in acauliflower gratin, classic potato gratin dauphinois or in that steakhouse staple,creamed spinach.
Got leftover cabbage from last week's experiments with sauerkraut? Use up the rest in this Sicilian cabbage with raisins and pine nuts.
Nutmeg is a key component of jerk, a centuries old Caribbean seasoning. Get in some winter grilling with this recipe for jerk chicken.
Featured recipe: Trade up from the traditional vanilla and cinnamon and make these bourbon nutmeg snickerdoodles instead.
Often called the poor man's caviar, bottarga (or botargo) is the Italian word for a dense cured fish roe made from tuna, gray mullet or swordfish.
To make bottarga, the roe pouch of the fish is massaged until its air pockets disappear. It is then dried and cured in sea salt, hardening into a dense tablet after a few weeks. The bottarga is then cut into logs and coated in beeswax, resembling a petrified sausage, a technique which has been traced back to the Phoenicians.
Bottarga has a highly salty taste that can be compared to dried anchovies, but with a silkier texture. It keeps well stored in the refrigerator and a little goes a long way. Often grated sparingly in the manner of truffles over an omelette or pasta, bottarga can also be cut into very small wedges, sprinkled with lemon juice and served as an appetizer.
Popular in Sicily and Sardinia, bottarga can be found throughout the Mediterranean, under the name of poutargue or boutargue in France or botarga in Spain. In Greece, avgotaraho is slightly smoked and made in summer to be preserved for Lent.
what you should know
For too long, pecorino has been Italy's other hard cheese.
Unlike Parmigiano-Reggiano, a cow's milk cheese made in northern Italy, pecorino cheeses are made with sheep's milk (pecora means "sheep") and they usually come from southern Italy and Sardinia, terrain too dry for mooing.
Most are grana: hard, aged, granular cheeses. But beyond that, "pecorino" can apply to any number of cheese styles. (Tasting notes at the blog.)
grate it yourself, sloth Most pecorino imported to the U.S. is sharp, "grating" cheese. In the time it has taken you to read this far, you could have grated 1/4 cup of pecorino. Unless you have to, don't buy grated pecorino. Seriously.
keep it under wraps When hard cheese is left out uncovered, the exposed surfaces oxidize and dry out. So unless you buy your pecorino by the wheel, it's best to store it in the crisper of the refrigerator. Pecorino is durable enough to tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Change the wrap every other day or so to let the cheese air out, but always rewrap it tightly. And for fullest flavor, let the cheese come to room temperature before using it.
try the rind Some pecorinos are brushed with olive oil. Others are rubbed with tomato paste. Others are wrapped in walnut leaves. And so on. Taste the rinds to get closer to the cheese. You may not like it, but at least you'll have tried.
what you need
The pungent graininess of Pecorino Romano and other hard grating pecs can be a lot to handle on its own. Try some shavings with a dollop of a spicy-sweet mostarda, the popular Italian fruit and mustard condiment.
I have one essential cheese tool: a Microplane grater. I use it almost daily. The Microplane's been so touted that it's almost not worth mentioning here. Almost.
If you don't live in New York, you should visit Murray's the next time you're there. In the meantime, get affineur Rob Kaufelt's new book, Murray's Cheese Handbook: A Guide to 300 of the World's Best Cheeses.
Rather buy American-made? Some of the best hard cheeses in the world are being produced in the U.S. My favorite monger, Boston's South End Formaggio, sells several pecorino-esque cheeses from Vermont: Woodcock Farm's Weston Wheel and Peaked Mountain Farm's Vermont Dandy.
what you do
Pecorino is classic for grating over pasta. It elevates already classic fusilli with sausage and broccoli raab.
Cold winter weather doesn't necessarily demand a comforting, warm dish. This fennel, orange and pecorino salad tastes bright and fresh -- just the thing when you've got the winter blues but don't feel like cooking.
Tangy Pecorino Toscano makes a perfect crown for a mild hors d'oeuvre of lentil bruschetta with basil.
