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What even is "umami" anyways?
Crispy wings 3 ways, croque madam, & cashew queso
Ethan Chlebowski & Keith McBrayer
January 01, 2023
Happy New Years.
If you make the Sunday Cooking Club newsletter a part of your weekly 2023 rhythms — we’ll make it worth your while. If you have any ideas for the email or channel, just shoot us a reply (we always respond back).
Our goal is to get your cooking juices flowing and inspire you to try new meals so that you’ll never be stumped for a 2023 Sunday grocery run again.
As always, a full grocery shopping list in Notion is linked at the end of this email.
In This Week’s Edition
Try Something New 🤯 — Home Wings (3 ways + 3 sauces)
Throwback Time 🍳 — Croque Madam
The Leftover Shelf 🥡 — Cashew Queso
Extra Helpings 🍽 — What is Umami?
Try Something New 🤯
If you’re looking to recreate those wings you had at last night’s New Year’s party, or maybe even improve them, we’re giving you three bulletproof options for amazing home wings.
Crispy Wings (3 ways), + 3 Sauce Options
Wings
Chicken wings
Kosher salt: (1% of chicken weight)
Baking powder & corn starch, if using: (1% of chicken weight, each)
Equipment: Baking sheet w/ wire rack
Method 1 - Dry Brine
The easiest way to get a crispy oven wing is to salt & dry brine your wings in the fridge overnight. The salt will draw out moisture from the skin, and also ensure the meat gets seasoned and stays juicy during baking.
Toss the wings with 1% kosher salt by weight, and then arrange them on a wire rack. Let them dry out uncovered in the fridge overnight.
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown & crispy, checking every 20 minutes to flip them or rotate the pan (Though you might not need to if your wire rack gets sufficient airflow and/or you have the convection setting on).
Method 2 - Baking Powder & Cornstarch
Baking powder lowers the PH of the chicken skin for better browning, and corn starch will gel with any moisture that will crisp up when baked. This is a great shortcut to golden, crispy wings if you didn’t get a chance to dry brine wings in advance.
Disclaimer: Don’t accidentally use baking soda unless you want your wings to taste like soap. We learned the hard way.
Toss the wings with 1% kosher salt, 1% corn starch, and 1% baking powder by weight, and then arrange them on a wire rack. If you have time, you can dry brine uncovered in the fridge overnight too!
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown & crispy, checking every 20 minutes to flip them or rotate the pan (Though you might not need to if your wire rack gets sufficient airflow and/or you have the convection setting on.).
Method 3 - Confit/Double Fry
If you want the ultimate contrast between a juicy interior and a shatter-level crisp exterior, the confit / double fry method is the way to go. This requires deep frying, but you can do half the frying in advance and even bulk freeze wings to be easily finished later.
Instructions:
Prepare wings with your method of choice above.
Toss warm with the ingredients of your sauce option choice below until the wings are well coated, then serve.
Sauce Options:
1) Home buffalo
1 part butter
2 parts hot sauce (like Franks)
2) Lemon Pepper
2 parts butter
1 part lemon juice
1 part lemon zest
1 part freshly ground black pepper
3) Caesar Parmesan
Use the dressing recipe from the 11/13 newsletter, and toss with additional parmesan!
Throwback Time 🍳
Can the traditional French Croque Madame be improved? (This written recipe or video might do exactly that.)
If your New Year’s Resolution is to upgrade your sad lunch sandwiches, the Croque Madame is like an upscale, adult ham & cheese that can make for a really filling meal.
We’ll admit this is an indulgent recipe, however. If your 2023 goals are more focused on reducing calories and cheese intake, we still got you.
Instead of showing you how to make leftovers this week, here’s an ingredient and technique we often turn to when looking to reduce dairy and fat in a recipe: Cashews!
The Leftover Healthier Shelf 🥡
Here’s a great recipe to start learning how to substitute ingredients, like using nut blends to make creamy condiments.
This week’s move:
Alternative to cheese sauce? → Cashew Chili con Queso (happens to be vegan!)
Components
150 g (~1 cup) raw cashews
1 clove of garlic
6 g (1 tsp) nutritional yeast
6 g (1 tsp) chili powder
3 g (1/2 tsp) ground cumin
3 g (1/2 tsp) salt, plus more to taste
15 g (1 tbsp) harissa (or sub hot salsa, hot sauce, Ro-Tel, or 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, plus more for garnish)
Hot water, for blending
To assemble:
Add all ingredients to a small blender (starting with a small amount of water) and blend until creamy, adding more water as needed. Add just enough water to achieve a smooth, pourable queso. If it gets too thin, thicken it with additional raw cashews.
Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more nutritional yeast for cheesiness, salt to taste, cumin for smokiness, chili powder or harissa for heat, or garlic for zing. It should be quite flavorful, so don’t hold back.
Leftovers: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat in the microwave or in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add more water as needed when reheating.
Looking for a dairy-free yogurt recipe? Try fermented cashew yogurt: blend cashews and water until creamy, and leave uncovered overnight or until sour & tangy, then refrigerate.
Extra Helpings 🍽
🚀 Viral Eats
The latest cooking trends explained.
Q: Is corn cob & grape jelly an acceptable combination?
A: While this trend wouldn’t be our first choice for preparing corn, we can make an argument for why it works on a culinary level.
Some dishes work by pitting flavors against each other (think sweet and sour), but other dishes work by amplifying the predominant flavor category with supporting ingredients.
You might have had sweet potato casserole over Thanksgiving — this is an example of celebrating the natural sweetness of the yams with brown sugar, nuts, and marshmallows. That’s why people add maple syrup to roasted butternut squash or drizzle honey over carrots.
Jelly on sweet corn is also a case of complimenting & compounding flavors. Corn is naturally packed with sugar, and the added jelly bolsters the overall sweetness of the dish.
However, the acidic element of the grape jelly provides just enough contrast to cut through the otherwise cloying amount of carbs and melted butter.
Another theory is that people find the trend pleasant because it’s reminiscent of jelly & butter on warm toast (but instead of bread, the corn is the starch base).
Do our theories make sense? Or is the TikTok trend still an abomination? Reply and let us know your thoughts.
🤔 Reader Q&A
Q: What is “umami”? I’ve been hearing the term in a lot of cooking videos online! — Lindsey J.
A: Umami is a Japanese term that translates to “savoriness” or “deliciousness.”
It has gained popularity in cooking lingo over the past decade partially because it’s now officially recognized as the 5th taste category human tongues can register. It turns out that umami is a different taste profile from sweet, sour, bitter, or salty flavors.
Just like sugar registers as a sweet taste, and salt makes things salty, glutamates are responsible for the umami flavor. Highly savory foods such as anchovies, mushrooms, soy sauce, and Parmigiano Reggiano are all high in glutamates, which make them taste not just salty, but umami. A tortilla chip is salty, but a seared steak is savory, thanks to the umami-rich amino acids (glutamates) in the meat.
While umami is often associated with high-protein foods, it’s naturally present in many plant-based ingredients as well. Tomatoes, mushrooms, and fermented goods (e.g. soy sauces) contain glutamates. Coconut aminos and nutritional yeast are umami bombs that add so much savoriness to dishes yet are completely vegan, as in the case of the cashew queso recipe above.
Powdered MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) is perhaps the easiest (and most well-known) way to add umami to your cooking, as practiced in many Asian cuisines. Despite its controversial past, the FDA now recognizes MSG as safe.
🏆 Dinner Winner! Reader Photo Submission Contest
Reply with a picture of the best meal you’ve made at home for a chance to be featured in a future email. We’ve loved all the submissions so far…keep ‘em coming!
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