Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

by Samin Nosrat

  For creamy, custardy scrambled eggs, look back to page 147 for advice from Alice B. Toklas. Whatever you do, cook the eggs over the gentlest heat and turn off the flame 30 seconds before you think you’re done—let your courage carry you, and the eggs, to the finish line.

  And of course, a little courage won’t hurt when it comes to flipping Kuku Sabzi, the Persian answer to frittata.

  Kuku Sabzi Persian Herb and Greens Frittata

  Serves 6 to 8

  * * *

  The perfect light lunch or appetizer, kuku sabzi differs from a typical frittata in two important ways. To begin with, the ratio of greens to eggs is heavily skewed in favor of greens—in fact, I use just enough eggs to bind the greens together. And kuku isn’t kuku without a deeply browned crust to provide a textural and flavor contrast to its bright, custardy center. Eat kuku warm, at room temperature, or cold, with feta cheese, yogurt, or pickles to offer the balance of acidity.

  Washing, chopping, and cooking down all the greens for a kuku can be overwhelming if you’re not used to staring down a mountain of produce, so feel free to prep the greens a day in advance.

  2 bunches green chard, washed

  1 large leek

  Extra-virgin olive oil

  Salt

  6 tablespoons unsalted butter

  4 cups finely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems

  2 cups finely chopped dill leaves and tender stems

  8 to 9 large eggs

  Preheat the oven to 350°F if you do not want to flip your kuku partway through cooking. (See pages 307 and 308 for more on flipping.)

  Strip the chard leaves. Gripping at the base of each stem with one hand, pinch the stem with the other hand and pull upward to strip the leaf. Repeat with the remaining chard, reserving the stems.

  Remove the root and top inch of the leek, then quarter it lengthwise. Cut each quarter into 1/4-inch slices, place in a large bowl, and wash vigorously to remove dirt. Drain as much water as possible. Thinly slice the chard stems, discarding any tough bits at the base. Add to the washed leek and set aside.

  Gently heat a 10- or 12-inch cast iron or nonstick frying pan over medium heat and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chard leaves and season with a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leaves are wilted, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the chard from the pan, set aside, and allow to cool.

  Return the pan to the stove and heat over a medium flame and add 3 tablespoons butter. When the butter begins to foam, add the sliced leeks and chard stems, along with a pinch of salt. Cook until tender and translucent, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir from time to time, and if needed, add a splash of water, reduce the flame, or cover with a lid or a piece of parchment paper to entrap steam and keep color from developing.

  In the meantime, squeeze the cooked chard leaves dry, discard the liquid, then chop them coarsely. Combine in a large bowl with the cilantro and dill. When the leeks and chard stems are cooked, add them to the greens. Let the mixture cool a bit, then use your hands to mix everything up evenly. Taste and season generously with salt, knowing you’re about to add a bunch of eggs to the mixture.

  Add the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is just barely bound with egg—you might not need to use all 9 eggs, depending on how wet your greens were and how large your eggs are, but it should seem like a ridiculous amount of greens! I usually taste and adjust the mixture for salt at this point, but if you don’t want to taste raw egg, you can cook up a little test piece of kuku and adjust the salt if needed.

  Wipe out and reheat your pan over medium-high heat—this is an important step to prevent the kuku from sticking—and add 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil, then stir to combine. When the butter begins to foam, carefully pack the kuku mixture into the pan.

  To help the kuku cook evenly, in the first few minutes of cooking, use a rubber spatula to gently pull the edges of the mixture into the center as they set. After about 2 minutes of this, reduce the heat to medium and let the kuku continue to cook without touching it. You’ll know the pan is hot enough as long as the oil is gently bubbling up the sides of the kuku.

  Because this kuku is so thick, it’ll take a while for the center to set. The key here is not to let the crust burn before the center sets. Peek at the crust by lifting the kuku with a rubber spatula, and if it’s getting too dark too soon, reduce the heat. Rotate the pan a quarter turn every 3 or 4 minutes to ensure even browning.

  After about 10 minutes, when the mixture is set to the point of no longer running and the bottom is golden brown, gather all of your courage and prepare to flip the kuku. First, tip out as much of the cooking fat as you can into a bowl to prevent burning yourself, then flip the kuku onto a pizza pan or the back of a cookie sheet, or into another large frying pan. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil into the hot pan and slide the kuku back in to cook the second side. Cook for another 10 minutes, rotating the pan every 3 or 4 minutes.

  If something goes awry when you try to flip, don’t freak out! It’s only lunch. Just do your best to flip the kuku, add a little more oil into the pan, and get it back into the pan in one piece.

  If you prefer not to flip, then slip the whole pan into the oven and bake until the center is fully set, about 10 to 12 minutes. I like to cook it until it is just set. Check for doneness using a toothpick, or just shake the pan back and forth, looking for a slight jiggle at the top of the kuku. When it’s done, carefully flip it out of the pan onto a plate. Blot away the excess oil. Eat warm, at room temperature, or cold. Kuku makes for amazing leftovers!

  Variations

  • If you want to use up what’s in your fridge, substitute 1 1/2 pounds of any tender cooking greens for the chard. Wild nettles and spinach are both delicious, though you could also use escarole, lettuce, arugula, beet greens, or any other green you can think of.

  • For a hint of garlic, add 2 stalks thinly sliced green garlic to the leeks.

  • For an authentic Persian touch, add 1 cup lightly toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped, or 1/4 cup barberries to the mixture before cooking.

  • To make a frittata, as opposed to kuku, reverse the ratio of filling to eggs. While kuku is about packing in as much green as possible, a frittata is about its delightful eggy texture. Use 12 to 14 eggs and add 1/2 cup milk, cream, sour cream, or crème fraîche (page 113) to the egg base for a custardy texture. Stick to a six-ingredient limit: eggs, something sweet, something creamy or rich, something green, salt, and oil. Classic quiche or pizza topping combos are often good starting points, including mushroom and sausage, ham and cheese, spinach and ricotta. Or, as with all of your cooking, find frittata inspiration in produce at the peak of its season:

  Spring

  Asparagus, spring onion, and mint

  Artichoke Confit and chives

  Summer

  Cherry tomato, crumbled feta, and basil

  Roasted peppers, broccoli rabe, and crumbled, cooked sausage

  Autumn

  Wilted chard, dollops of fresh ricotta

  Brussels sprouts and cubes of cooked bacon

  Winter

  Roasted potato, caramelized onion, and Parmesan

  Roasted radicchio, fontina cheese, and parsley

  FISH

  Slow-Roasted Salmon

  Serves 6

  * * *

  This is my favorite way to cook salmon, mostly because the gentle heat makes it almost impossible to overcook the fish. While the method works particularly well with salmon because of its high fat content, you can absolutely try it with other types of fish, including steelhead trout and Alaskan halibut. And in the summer, turn your grill into a slow-cooking oven by placing the baking sheet on the grill grates over indirect heat and closing the lid. I have a feeling this’ll become your favorite way to cook salmon too.

  1 generous handful of fine herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, dill, or fennel fronds or 3 fig leaves

  1 2-pound salmon filet, skin removed

  Salt

&n
bsp; Extra-virgin olive oil

  Preheat the oven to 225°F. Make a bed of herbs, or if using fig leaves, lay them out in the center of a baking sheet. Set aside.

  Each side of salmon has a line of thin pin bones that reaches about two-thirds of the way down the filet. Using tweezers or needle-nosed pliers lay the filet skin-side down on a cutting board. Run your fingers lightly over the fish from head to tail to locate the bones, and coax their ends out of the flesh. Starting at the head end, pull out the bones one by one, tugging at them with your tweezers at the same angle at which they are lodged in the fish. Once you get the bone out, dip your tweezers in a glass of cold water to release the bone. When you’ve finished, run your fingers over the fish once more to make sure you’ve gotten all the bones. That’s it!

  Season both sides of the fish with salt and tuck it into the bed of herbs. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil onto the fish and rub it in evenly with your hands. Slide the pan into the oven.

  Roast for 40 to 50 minutes, until the fish begins to flake in the thickest part of the filet when you poke it with a knife or your finger. Because this method is so gentle on its proteins, the fish will appear translucent even when it’s cooked.

  Once the salmon is cooked, break it into large, rustic pieces and spoon Herb Salsa of any kind on top in generous amounts. Kumquat Salsa (page 363) and Meyer Lemon Salsa work particularly well here. Serve alongside white beans or potatoes and Shaved Fennel and Radishes.

  Variations

  • To make Soy-Glazed Salmon, reduce 1 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper in a saucepan over high heat until it’s the consistency of maple syrup. Add 1 clove pounded or finely grated garlic and 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger. Skip the bed of herbs, line the baking sheet with parchment paper, and brush the glaze onto a 2-pound filet of salmon immediately before cooking, basting every 15 minutes or so as it roasts.

  • For a bright Citrus Salmon, season the fish with salt, then rub the surface with 1 tablespoon finely grated citrus zest mixed with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Skip the bed of herbs. Instead, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the fish over a bed of thinly sliced blood oranges or Meyer lemons and roast as directed above. Serve in torn chunks atop an avocado and citrus salad (page 217).

  • For Indian-Spiced Salmon, toast 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, and 3 cloves in a dry skillet over medium-high heat and then grind finely with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder. Transfer to a small bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon turmeric, and a generous pinch of salt to the spice mixture, then add 2 tablespoons melted ghee or neutral-tasting oil and combine. Season the fish with salt, then rub the spice paste on both sides of the fish, and refrigerate covered, for 1 to 2 hours. Bring to room temperature, skip the bed of herbs, and bake as directed above.

  Beer-Battered Fish

  Serves 4 to 6

  * * *

  I clearly remember the first time I battered and fried fish; the way the batter puffed up when it hit the hot oil seemed like a miracle. Considering how frying had always intimidated me, the way the fish turned out—crisp and delicious—was an even bigger miracle. By the time I had frying down, about a decade into my frying career, I came across British chef Heston Blumenthal’s recipe for fried fish. By replacing some of the water in the batter with vodka, which is only about 60 percent water, he reduced the amount of water available to create gluten. As a result, the crust is unbelievably tender. By adding fizzy beer and baking powder to the batter, and keeping everything ice-cold, he tipped the scales even further in favor of lightness. As a result, the crust is even more unbelievably tender. Some might call it, you know, a miracle.

  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

  Salt

  1 1/2 pounds flaky white fish, such as halibut, sole, or rock cod, boned and trimmed

  6 cups grapeseed, peanut, or canola oil for frying

  1 1/4 cups vodka, ice-cold

  About 1 1/2 cups lager beer, ice-cold

  Optional: For extra crispness, substitute rice flour for half of the all-purpose flour

  In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and a generous pinch of salt. Place in the freezer.

  Cut the fish into 8 equal pieces on the diagonal, each about 1 by 3 inches long. Season generously with salt. Keep on ice, or in the refrigerator, until ready to cook.

  Place a wide, deep pan over medium heat. Add enough oil to reach a depth of 1 1/2 inches, and heat to 365°F.

  When the oil is hot, make the batter: add the vodka to the bowl of flour while slowly stirring with the fingertips of one hand. Then, gradually add enough beer to thin out the batter to about the same consistency as pancake batter—it should easily drip from your fingertips. Don’t overmix—the lumps will turn into a light, crisp crust when fried.

  Place half the fish in the bowl of batter. One at a time, completely coat the pieces of fish and then carefully lower them into the hot oil. Do not overpack the pot—at no time should there be more than a single layer of fish in the oil. As the pieces fry, use tongs to gently make sure they don’t stick together. After about 2 minutes, when the undersides are golden brown, flip the pieces and cook the second side. When the second side is golden, use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the fish from the oil. Season with salt and drain on a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

  Fry any remaining fish in the same way, letting the oil temperature return to 365°F between batches.

  Serve immediately with lemon wedges and Tartar Sauce.

  Variations

  • To make a Fritto Misto, use this batter to coat and fry a mixture of fish and shellfish, such as shrimp halved lengthwise, sliced squid, and soft-shell crab, along with colorful vegetables such as asparagus spears, green beans, bite-size pieces of broccoli or cauliflower, wedges of spring onion, squash blossoms, and raw kale leaves. Serve with lemon wedges and Aïoli.

  • For a crisp, Gluten-Free Batter, use 1 1/2 cups rice flour, 3 tablespoons potato starch, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt, 1 cup vodka, 1 cup chilled soda water. Follow the method as directed on the previous page.

  Tuna Confit

  Serves 4 to 6

  * * *

  This tuna will be a revelation for anyone who has spent her entire life eating tuna from a can, as I had when I first tasted it. Poached gently in olive oil, the tuna remains moist for days. Eat it at room temperature with a salad of white beans, parsley, and lemon, as the Italians do in their classic dish tonno e fagioli. Or wait for the peak of summer and make a juicy pan bagnat, the superlative Provençal tuna sandwich. Use the crustiest bread you can find and slather one side with Aïoli, then layer torn pieces of tuna confit, a sliced Ten-Minute Egg (page 304), ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, basil leaves, capers, and olive. Dip the top piece of bread in the tuna oil, and press the sandwich together. If eating this sandwich sounds like a messy endeavor, imagine making 700 of them for the summer party we threw every year at Eccolo!

  1 1/2 pounds fresh albacore or yellowfin tuna, cut into 1 1/2-inch-thick pieces

  Salt

  2 1/2 cups olive oil

  4 garlic cloves, peeled

  1 dried red pepper

  2 bay leaves

  2 1-inch strips of lemon zest

  1 teaspoon black peppercorns

  Season the tuna with salt about 30 minutes before you plan to cook it.

  To confit the tuna, place the oil, garlic, red pepper, bay leaves, lemon zest, and peppercorns in a Dutch oven or deep, heavy sauté pan. Heat to about 180°F—the oil should be warm to the touch, but not hot. Cook for about 15 minutes to infuse the oil with the aromatics and also to pasteurize everything to allow for a long shelf life.

  Slip the tuna into the warm oil in a single layer. The tuna mus
t be covered by oil, so add more if needed. You can also cook the fish in batches if necessary. Return the oil to about 150°F, or just until you see the fish emitting a bubble or two every few seconds. The precise temperature of the oil isn’t so important, and it will fluctuate as you turn the flame up and down and add and remove the fish. The important thing is to cook the fish slowly, so err on the low side if needed. After about 9 minutes, remove a piece from the oil and check for doneness. The fish should be barely medium-rare—still quite pink in the center—as heat will continue to carry over. If it’s too rare, return the fish to the oil and cook for another minute.

  Pull the cooked fish from the oil and allow to cool on a plate in a single layer, then place in a glass container and strain the cooled oil back over the fish. Serve at room temperature or chilled. The fish will keep in the fridge, covered in oil, for about 2 weeks.

  THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A CHICKEN

  Crispiest Spatchcocked Chicken

  Serves 4

  * * *

  Two tricks make this simple recipe the most extraordinary way I know to cook a whole chicken. First, spatchcocking. Spatchcocking is the term for removing a bird’s backbone and then splaying it so it lies flat, but I like to think of it as a way to increase surface area for browning while decreasing cooking time. (It’s also my favorite way to cook Thanksgiving turkey, cutting down cooking time by nearly half!)

  The second trick is one I stumbled on by mistake at Eccolo, when one of my cooks seasoned a few chickens and left them uncovered in the walk-in overnight. When I came in the next day, I was annoyed by his negligence. The constantly circulating air of the walk-in—like that of any refrigerator—had dried out the chicken skin, and the birds looked scarily fossilized. But I had no choice, so I cooked them anyway. The dried-out skin cooked up golden and glassy. It was the crispiest roast chicken skin I’d ever seen, even after the bird had rested.