Good morning. This edition covers different aromatic base combinations around the world.

• If you’re ever curious about which ingredients in a recipe provide the signature flavor to the dish, check out the Aroma Profile toggle on every Cook Well recipe, which highlights the aromatic ingredients.

CUISINE FEATURES 🍳

Aromatic bases of the world

Every country around the world has an aromatic base that many of its dishes begin with. “Mirepoix” is the most famous example — French cuisine’s base of celery, onion, and carrot. Here are some others to know:

Mediterranean/European

• Italian: celery, carrot, onion, olive oil + rosemary, fennel, parsley

• French: celery, carrot, onion, butter + thyme, tarragon, chives etc

• Spanish: onion, pepper, garlic, tomato, olive oil

Middle/Far Eastern

• Arabic: Garlic, onions, herbs like parsley or coriander

• Indian: red onion, ginger, garlic

Eastern

• Chinese: scallion, ginger, garlic

• Thai: shallot, garlic, lemongrass, galangal

Cajun/Southern US

• Bell pepper, onion, celery + garlic

Caribbean

• Jamaican: Scotch bonnet, scallion, thyme, allspice

NOTE: These are very general examples — each country has countless regional and cultural variations. And specific dishes within each cuisine might not apply the full aromatic base, or even at all.

• Dried spices drill down the aroma profile of a dish even further — next week we’ll cover those.

Why does this all matter?

Knowing how to build flavor in a dish starts with cooking an aromatic base:

1) By recognizing different patterns, you can transport your cooking to different places in the world just by switching one or two aromatic ingredients

2) Knowing different aromatic combinations will help you use up and cook with leftover ingredients.

• Example: Don’t have scallions but have celery or a bell pepper? Make a cajun dirty rice instead of a Cantonese-style fried rice.

3) Recipes will begin to make more sense to you. You begin to expect and parse through the components of a recipe and learn what is there for aroma — which lets you cater and change recipes to your own tastes or what you have in the fridge — especially when you can switch up the aroma profile of a dish.

Zoom Out: Restaurants do this all the time: Egyptian bbq, Chinese 5-spice wings, and kimchi loaded fries. You should feel the freedom to mix and match aroma profiles at home without having to cook the most “authentic” version of every dish!

RECIPE RECOMMENDATIONS ✅

Flavor profile practice

If you want to practice taking a dish and changing it’s aroma profile, try taking the base components of these recipes and then using whatever aromatic base you have on hand.

FOOD TRENDS 🚀

New croissant shapes

How far can a croissant shape shift and still be a croissant?

In 2013, legendary French pastry chef Dominique Ansel trademarked the Cronut — a donut made with the same laminated pastry layers found in a croissant.

From then on, people have been laminating desserts into almost every shape thinkable:

• The cruffin pushes laminated dough into muffin tins, and crookies combine laminated dough with chocolate chip batter.

• Flattened croissants were a Korean trend that exploded on TikTok, which resulted in endless sweet and savory recipes, even turning the squished pastry into sandwich bread.

• Cuboid and circular croissants followed, and bakeries capitalized. Lafayette in NYC named their hockey-puck-shaped version as the Supreme Croissant, stuffing and topping it into oblivion.

These new shapes are novel and fun, but are they better?

Not everyone thinks so. Jaya Saxena, a writer over at Eater, wrote a great opinion piece arguing that these geometric croissants often just end up greasy and dense, perhaps from the layers being formed against their will into a mold. The modern croissants have lost all of the airiness, lightness, and sophistication of their traditional counterparts, she argues.

Our take: We appreciate all laminated pastries, from delicate classic croissants to more heavy-handed cubes, which have a novel visual element and more distinct edges. That said, small differences in texture matter, which is why we’ve distinguished crunchy and crispy on Cook Well, as well as unctuous from creamy, to help you differentiate and strive for textures in your own cooking.

READER Q/A 🧠

Wooden vs plastic cutting boards

Even though plastic cutting boards can be thrown in the dishwasher or left in the sink, more and more home cooks are turning to wooden-made products instead. Why?

• Right now, there’s a lot of discussion about avoiding plastic materials that come in contact with food. In particular with plastic cutting boards, there is concern over micro-plastic shavings or particles coming off the prep surface and into ingredients.

• Plastic is prone to deep cuts & gauges that can harbor bacteria. Some people cite wood’s natural antimicrobial properties as being more sanitary than plastic.

We actually think wood is the superior material for cutting boards for several different reasons:

1. Keeps knives sharp — The exposed grain on wooden boards is friendlier on knife edges than bamboo, plastic, or glass, so you won't have to sharpen your knives as often.

2. Lifetime product — Unlike plastic, wood can be resanded and reconditioned to a smooth & like new surface. With maintenance, wood can last a lifetime, especially thicker boards that won’t warp or split.

3. Ample space — Wooden boards make prep more enjoyable. A large, sturdy board with a generous flat workspace allows for easy prep, and knifework, or dough kneading & rolling.

We’ve always recommended a large wooden cutting board as a foundational kitchen item. Over the past year, we’ve been designing our perfect wooden butcher block with an American, family-run wood shop in Vermont.

We only made a limited batch (thank you to all who’ve already bought). It combines all of our favorite aspects of wooden functionality & great aesthetics.

Learn more about our ideal wooden cutting board design and get one here:

WINNING READER SUBMISSION 🏆

The best birria tacos

This week’s dinner winner is Karishma S., who made these picture perfect birria tacos. Check out the birria framework here.

Reply with your best home-cooked food photos for a chance to win & be featured!

EXTRA HELPINGS 🍽️

A read: The Plain Croissant is Still the Best Croissant

In a minute or less: Yogurt Cake

What we’re watching: Alison Roman's Tomato Tart

Food science: Food reactions 101: Gelation

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