In This Week’s Edition:

Try Something New 🤯 — Bulgogi (w/ Frozen Sliced Steak)

Throwback Time 🍳 — Slicing Onions Orbitally vs. Root to Stem

The Leftover Shelf 🥡 — Caramelized Onion Condiment

Extra Helpings 🤤 — Fermenting Fads, Substituting Meat, & More

Shopping List ✅ — Sorted Ingredients for Easy Shopping!

Try Something New 🤯

Learn a new flavor profile.

Weeknight (10 Min) Bulgogi

While you can marinade in advance, this dish is also a perfect candidate for using thinly sliced steak straight from the freezer, with no advanced preparations.

Any steak cut will work if it’s sliced thin and/or across the grain: try ribeye, NY strip, flank, skirt, or even chuck roast.

Bulgogi Components

• 1 lb (450 g) steak, previously thinly sliced and frozen

Marinade Sauce

• 2 parts salty: 30 g (2 tbsp) soy sauce

• 1 part sweet: 15 g (1 tbsp) brown sugar

• 1 part aromatic: 10 g (2 tsp) minced garlic & ginger, + 5 g (1 tsp) sesame oil

• Optional adjusters: 5 g (1 tsp) gochujang or Korean chili flake for spice, 2 g (1/2 tsp) baking powder for tenderization*

Serving Options

• Kimchi and/or steamed rice,

• Scallions & sesame seeds for garnish

• In a bibimbap bowl

*Bulgogi is often marinated with pureed Asian pear, which has enzymes that tenderize the meat. The baking powder achieves a similar effect since this version isn’t marinated in advance.

Instructions

1. Sear: Add the steak slices (frozen or fresh) straight to a ripping hot pan. Let them sear on one side to achieve browning, then flip.

2. Mix & add sauce: Mix together all Sauce ingredients. When the steak has color on each side and is starting to cook through, add the sauce over the steak. Toss and reduce/simmer until the sauce has thickened into a light glaze and is coating each piece.

3. Serve: Remove from the pan and serve hot with your sides and garnishes of choice.

Leftover Frozen Steak Slices? - Make Costra Tacos with the same freezer-to-pan technique.

Throwback Time 🍳

How you slice an onion changes the texture, flavor, and how much you cry while cutting. For example:

Slicing pole-to-pole (root to stem) instead of orbitally ruptures fewer onion cells which leads to fewer tears and firmer onion slices in salads, cooking, and pickling applications. For these reasons, it’s generally the preferred option.

Check out the video for all the details. Grab a couple of onions and try different slicing orientations for yourself.

Then, take all your onion slices and make this condiment:

The Leftover Shelf 🥡

Leftovers are back in style…if you know how to use them.

This week’s move:

Leftover Onion Slices→ Caramelized Onion Condiment

Use the jammy, savory caramelized onions over eggs, toast, sandwiches, salads, grilled meat, or for instant French onion soup! Make a big batch and keep it in your fridge.

Components

• Sliced onions

• Cooking oil or butter

• Salt

• Optional flavor adjusters: vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, herbs de Provence, Balsamic vinegar

To make:

Slowly cook down the onions with a bit of oil or butter and a sprinkling of salt. This may take an hour or more to fully caramelize.

• Deglazing with a splash of water occasionally can help prevent burning if the pan gets too hot, and speed up the process by steaming the onions.

Once the onions have reached your desired color, optionally add a flavor adjuster to your preference.

Extra Helpings 🤤

🚀 Viral Eats

Food trends explained.

Q: Is it just me or are fermented foods more popular?

A: Fermented foods have become increasingly popular over the past decade. While many cuisines have long used fermented foods, their popularity in Western culture has been boosted by social media and renowned chefs such as Rene Redzepi of noma, as documented in his book The Noma Guide to Fermentation.

Foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, and kombucha contain probiotics with live microorganisms that can restore balance to the digestive system. In addition to being gut-friendly themselves, fermented foods also contain digestive enzymes that aid in the breakdown of other foods.

In short, fermentation is 🔥. Reply to let us know if you want more fermented recipes or frameworks in the future.

🧠 Reader Q&A

Q: I love your recipes but I’m vegetarian. How do you think about substituting meat with other proteins? — Kent S.

A: You can think about going meatless in a few different ways:

1) Determine the role of the meat, then match:

In any given recipe, the meat is often just adding texture, flavor, or nutrients. Replace it with an alternative. For example:

• Ground meat in a ragu may just be adding texture and flavor. Can it be replaced with diced carrots and mushrooms?

• Diced chicken in a pasta salad is there for protein & chew. Why not swap in chickpeas or fava beans?

2) Omit altogether:

Sometimes, you just won’t miss the meat. For example:

• An egg fried rice is already savory when seasoned with an umami source, like soy sauce.

• A ramen can be super satisfying with a dashi broth and mushroom garnish — more meat isn’t necessary for umami.

3) Just pick a meatless dish in the first place:

Instead of trying to make up for meat, just look to cuisines that don’t depend on it in the first place. For example:

• Indian curries, lentils, or cauliflower dishes like Aloo Gobi​

• Latin American bean & masa based dishes like pupusas​

• Mediterranean mezze platters for lunch​

🌎 Join the Cooking Community

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🏆 Dinner Winner! Reader Photo Submission of the Week

This week’s dinner winner is Tansee M., who made a mouthwatering harissa spiced whole chicken served with blistered tomatoes, garlic confit, homemade pita bread, homemade hummus, and feta. Beautifully done, Tansee!

Reply with a picture of the best meal you made this week for a chance to be featured in a future email.

🍽 More Yummy Content

A Read: The Apple Almanac​

In a Minute or Less: Diablo Sauce​

What We’re Watching: Is Milk All A Lie? (Johnny Harris)​

Food Science: Why Cooking Chicken Breast Is So Difficult​

Upgrade Your Feeds: Connect with Ethan everywhere​

Ready to shop? 🛒

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