Good morning. Today’s trend section is a discussion on Jamón ibérico and higher end food products. We’re curious:

The deli salad blueprint

Everyone should understand how to make a deli-style salad, whether that be a chicken salad, egg salad, or tuna salad.

They are the ultimate, budget & time friendly meal for the home cook:

• Deli salads can be made in advance and enjoyed cold (perfect for work or school lunches).

• They upgrade plain, cheap proteins with just a few extra ingredients for satisfying texture and flavors (crunchy, creamy, salty, and sour).

• Can be enjoyed in many form factors that are all low effort (on its own, crackers, or sandwiches).

And, they are customizable once you understand the basic blueprint of putting one together:

Deli salad component ratios

• 2-3 parts protein: chicken, tuna, or hard-boiled eggs

• 1 part crunchy fresh aromatics, finely diced: try carrots, onions, and celery, but nuts, scallions, grapes, pickles, and herbs would also work

• 1/4 part creamy: mayo and/or olive oil

• 1/8 part acidic: mustard or a splash of vinegar/citrus

• Spices of choice to taste: try garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika

• Salt & black pepper to taste

Serving Options

• Crackers

• Lettuce wraps

• Sandwich bread + toppings and condiments of choice

To assemble:

Mix together all chicken salad components. Adjust with more mayo if desired, more mustard for acidity, and salt + spices to taste. Serve on whatever form factor you want.

Try our versions here:

• The chicken salad framework

• The egg salad framework

FOOD TRENDS 🚀

Jamon Iberico

Is Jamon Iberico the new wagyu?

Money talks, especially on short-form content where you can drive intrigue with a $500 wagyu steak, a $2000 wheel of parmigiano reggiano, or more recently, expensive legs of cured ham.

The pitfall of 60-second food videos is that genuinely incredible products get reduced down to a single price tag or a “worth it or not” judgment without honoring the makers, traditions, or long processes it takes to create these ingredients.

Though Jamon Iberico slices look like prosciutto, it’s not your average cured pork product:

• It’s DOP-certified, produced only in Spain or Portugal with strict regulations for raising, processing, and curing the pork.

• Black Iberico pigs have incredible genetics that, like a wagyu cow, allow them to fatten up and develop superior marbling in their meat.

• The highest grades are fed on a bellota (acorn) rich diet, which is said to define the ham with a sweet nutty earthiness.

• The 3-years-long curing process is compared to making fine wine that requires expert craftsmanship.

Can the U.S. adopt a widespread reverence for simple ingredients like Europe?

Just two decades ago, you couldn’t import this product to the U.S. Now the demand and shipping costs make this a luxury item to US bidders. By contrast, this is a staple in Spanish and Portuguese diets.

The bigger picture: Jamon Iberico points to an honoring relationship with animal products, care, and quality. Without a history of those traditions, it’s difficult for the U.S. to follow suit, but demand for these kinds of products is hopeful.

Excitingly, we’re seeing a trend of American farms offering American wagyu, Iberico, and even higher-end parmesan instead of just producing the cheapest goods possible.

READER Q&A 🧠

Bagel substitutions

Bagels are poached in a sweetened liquid to season the bagels, impart color, and most importantly, gelatinize the exterior layer of starch on the bagel. During baking, this gelatinized layer blisters and gets crispy.

Traditional recipes call for lye, but Ethan’s NYC bagel recipe uses baking soda instead, which changes the PH of the bagel and helps with dark, even browning.

Thus, any sweetener like molasses can be used in both the dough and boiling process, but it will slightly alter the flavor.

• For example, honey adds a mild sweetness, while molasses has a richer, more robust taste.

When used in the dough, molasses will create a darker and slightly less sweet bagel than the standard sugar, but it’s really just there for sweetness, so go for it!

As always on Cook Well recipes, we add flavor tags (like sweet or crispy) to denote what an ingredient is contributing to a recipe. That way, you can play with substitutions with what you have in the pantry, just like the molasses in this case.

Have a culinary question? Reply to send it in for a chance to be featured and get your question answered.

WINNING READER SUBMISSION 🏆

First place frittata

This week’s dinner winner is Elliot W., who prepared a bacon and brussels sprout frittata. Get frittata inspiration here.

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

EXTRA HELPINGS 🍽️

A read: How the Air Fryer Sparked a Frozen Food Revolution

In a minute or less: Skillet Chicken & Rice

What we’re watching: The Only Sourdough Recipe You Will Ever Need

Food science: Velveting marinade technique

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