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fuzzyred, technoshaman, chanter1944, and my partner Doug. It also fills the "mentors" square in my 5-1-21 card for the Leaky Pipeline Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by zianuray. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."Sharp Sauce"
[Friday, September 25, 2015]
Shiv was glad that Gray had
decided to stick around for
a little while after the wedding.
Cook had asked for help with
a new problem, and Shiv wasn't
sure where to start, but Gray was
his cooking mentor so hopefully
he would have some ideas.
"Hey, Gray, you got some time
to fool around in the kitchen?"
Shiv asked, leaning toward him.
"Sure," Gray said. "What's up?"
"People have been bitching about
the menu options," Shiv explained.
"They say health food is boring and
tasteless. If you pin them down, though,
they can't point to a bad item, it's how
they feel in general. Turns out, just
trying to eat healthier makes them
enjoy the food less than usual."
"Wow, that sucks," Gray said.
"Yeah, it's dumb," Shiv said.
"There are plenty of healthy things
to eat that aren't tasteless, like
Cook's red beans and rice."
Gray snickered. "I dare
anyone to call vindaloo boring."
"Exactly!" Shiv said. "You just need
to spice things up -- or make sure you
buy the good stuff. I grew up eating out
of cans and freezers, so I thought a lot
of things were bad that are actually great
when fresh, especially heirloom varieties."
"So what are we playing around with
in the kitchen?" Gray asked him.
"I thought we could mix up
some different sauces for
comparison, you know, like
a taste flight?" Shiv said as
he began pulling spices
out of his cabinets. "I've
had those and they're fun."
"I like them too," Gray said.
Then he smirked. "Though
Ricasso has learned to ask
before eating things I make."
"Yeah, I heard about
the dessert roulette,"
Shiv said, giggling.
"You got recipes?"
"Plenty," Gray said.
"I know people who
love kinky food."
"Look for sauces
with different styles,
not just heat levels,"
Shiv suggested.
"Well, what kind of
fresh ingredients do
you have?" Gray said,
looking in the refrigerator.
"Onions, tomatoes, garlic,
ginger root, sweet and
hot peppers," Shiv said.
"If we need more, I can
always go bug Cook."
They checked the lists of
ingredients against what
Shiv had in his kitchen, and
only needed a few extra things.
Shiv learned quite a bit about
fresh compared to dry spices,
and different ways of grinding
or pureeing the ingredients.
Gray was a marvel to watch in
the kitchen, good at explaining things.
They made Sweet Heat Hot Sauce
with brown sugar, apple cider vinegar,
and several different types of peppers.
The Caribbean Hot Sauce had
a similar base, but hotter peppers
along with mango and pineapple.
Gray talked about how sweet and
sour ingredients affected the heat.
They chopped more onion for
the Garlic Hot Sauce, which was
spicier but had more vegetable notes.
The Chipotle Hot Sauce was smoky
with a burning, biting heat to it.
"That is some good shit,"
Shiv said, mopping off
his face which was wet
with sweat and tears.
"It's good," Gray agreed,
but it could use more --"
He flicked his hands in
an expansive gesture.
"More heat?" Shiv said.
"It's already pretty hot."
"Different kinds of heat,"
Gray said. "Remember how
a good curry recipe has between
one and two dozen spices?"
Shiv shook out his hands,
recalling the cramps from
grinding it all together.
"Oh yeah, I remember."
"So when you combine
all those chilies, ginger root,
garlic, onions, and peppercorns,
it makes layers," Gray said.
"Ohhhh," Shiv said, enlightened.
He looked at their hot sauces.
"These only have garlic, onions,
and whatever chili peppers. We
could add something else."
"True, but I think we'd need
a different base ingredient so
the spice isn't overwhelming,"
Gray said. "Like tomatoes
in curry sauces, or maybe --"
"Hummus," Shiv said suddenly.
"I've seen food trucks with a bunch
of different flavors. One of them
is roasted red pepper; it's good."
"Now that could work," Gray said.
"Hummus can hold a lot of flavors."
"Yeah, it's high in protein and fiber.
Red peppers have lots of vitamins A
and C," Shiv said. "We're trying to find
foods that have plenty of nutrients."
"Each spice has a different profile,
both in flavors and nutrients," said Gray.
"We just need to round out the flavors.
Hummus is a middle note. Add ginger
for a high note, and mixed peppercorns
kind of make a chord with different tastes."
"Try horseradish," Shiv suggested. "It
has that really low, earthy flavor."
"That could work, if we put in
just a tiny bit," Gray said. "Use
more peppercorns and ginger."
"No problem." Shiv brought out
a hand of ginger that was, in fact,
bigger than his hand even with
several knobs already missing.
He cut off a chunk and started
slicing it so Gray could add it.
Then he got the mixed peppercorns
and a bottle of horseradish powder.
Meanwhile Gray was halving
a red onion and two red peppers.
He put those on a baking sheet,
popped them into the oven,
and then set the timer.
They puttered around
the kitchen, cleaning up
the counters and packing
sauces into little containers.
Shiv bagged up some of
their testing dippers -- pretzels,
celery sticks, French bread,
and graham crackers -- so that
Cook could sample the sauces.
When the vegetables were roasted
with a good bit of char on the tops,
Gray pulled them out and crammed
all the ingredients into the blender.
The smell was roasty and zesty
over the buttery chickpea base.
As soon as the first blob went
into a bowl, Shiv grabbed some.
"WOW that's sharp!" he yelped.
"That's a good name for it,"
Gray agreed. "Sharp Sauce."
"I would put this on everything,"
Shiv said, licking his hand where
the sauce was dripping. "It would
make a great sandwich spread,
or salad dressing, or dip for things
like veggies or chips or fried chicken."
"Soup topping," Gray said thoughtfully.
"It would really make the flavors pop."
"Mmm, and popcorn," Shiv said.
He focused his willpower enough
to put some Sharp Sauce in a container.
It helped that he and Gray had been
tasting hot sauces for about an hour,
so Shiv was mostly full already.
They went downstairs with
the first flight of sauces,
the Sharp Sauce, and
things to dip in them.
"Hey, Cook, do you got
a few minutes?" Shiv said.
"I do if it's important,"
Cook said. "What do
you boys have for me?"
"So I was thinking over
what you said about people
complaining that healthy food
is boring," Shiv said. "We made
some hot sauces in different levels."
He set them out in a row from
the milder side to the hotter side.
Cook sampled them, then nodded.
"That's a good start," he said.
"The garlic sure stands out."
"Yeah, it's more different
than the others," Shiv said.
"What's the last one?" Cook said.
"Oh, well, we were just fooling around
a bit --" Shiv said, shuffling in place.
"Don't be shy," Gray said firmly.
"I suggested a layered flavor profile,
and Shiv hit on the idea of using
roasted red pepper hummus
as a base with extra spices."
Cook's eyebrows went up.
"Well, that does sound good."
"We uh, we call it Sharp Sauce,"
Shiv said. "I like it, Gray likes it,
but I dunno if it's actually marketable."
"Let's find out," Cook said, scooping up
a bite with a pretzel. "YOW! That bites!"
"Is it, did we make it too hot?" Shiv said.
"Naw, this is great," Cook said. "Do you
need this back, or can I have it? 'Cause
I'm a mind to grill some chicken with it."
"Keep it, we already ate like half a cup,"
Shiv said. "If it's good, we can make more."
"Yeah, you do that -- make a gallon or so,"
Cook said, pointing at the heavy-duty blender.
"We'll put it out as a special for tonight."
"You'll need to touch up the chalk menu,
Shiv," said Gray. "I saw that earlier."
"Yeah, with a title line that reads,
Guaranteed Not Boring!" Shiv laughed.
"That's what we're aiming for," Cook said.
* * *
Notes:
Dessert roulette is mentioned in "No Feeling of Being Alive."
A nutritionist visits Blues Moon in "Another Expression of Art."
Shiv and Gray discover Indian food in "The Mixture of Spices, the Subtle Flavors."
The wedding is "Dance in the Sun." Gray sticks around for a little while after the wedding.
Health food has a reputation for being nasty, tasteless, and boring. What's worse, just the attempt at healthier eating reduces the enjoyment that people get from food. Some studies show that describing food at delicious is more convincing than describing it as nutritious. Ideally, serve health food that actually does taste great.
Another problem is that modern food is often flavorless because it's made with other things in mind than taste and nutrition. To reduce this problem, choose grass-fed and pastured animal products, and heirloom fruits and vegetables.
Red Beans and Rice can be made with or without meat.
In culinary context, "a flight of" something, such as sauces, is a set of similar items different in flavors so you can compare and contrast them. Sauces in particular are often arranged from milder to hotter, but they can have different textures (like chunky vs. smooth salsa) or key ingredients (like red pepper vs. spinach hummus). This is a great way of adding interest to something with mild flavor, like grilled chicken.
Hot peppers have different heat levels and elements of spiciness. Learn how to make hot sauce and test its heat level. There are ways to adjust the heat level to make food less spicy or more spicy. This recipe for Buffalo Wing Sauce is adjustible.
The featured sauces include Sweet Heat Hot Sauce, Caribbean Hot Sauce, Garlic Hot Sauce, and Chipotle Hot Sauce.
There is a pungency scale for different types of hot spices. Each has its own flavor notes, and combining notes makes for more complex dishes.
Red bell peppers, chickpeas, and hummus are high in nutrients.
To make Sharp Sauce, start with a good recipe for red pepper hummus. Add 1 teaspoon freshly ground mixed peppercorns, 1/4 teaspoon horseradish powder, and a big knob of fresh ginger root. If you want it thinner, add olive oil or vinegar. The red pepper hummus is a middle note, mixed peppercorns a more diverse chord, horseradish a lower earthy note, and ginger very high and bright, for a complex fiery flavor. The hummus has protein, the red pepper plenty of vitamins A and C, and the other spices add nutrients too. It can be used as a sandwich spread, soup topping, salad dressing, or dip for things like vegetables, chips, or fried chicken.
There are many things to dip in hummus, and many ways to use hot sauce. You can also use hummus for grilling, and flavored hummus gives tasty results.
A powerful blender is good for making sauces.