Coming of age during the late-1990s breakout of Food Network stars like Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray was a transformational time. My generation needed to know that cooking could be entertaining.
Watching Emeril yell, “Kick it up a notch!” with my dad encouraged my parents to get more adventurous in the kitchen, and it started teaching me the basics by the time I became a teenager. Starting with simple things, like browning ground beef and making rice, my cooking skills advanced by the time I was 16 and got my driver’s license. My parents gave me money to go grocery shopping and an allowance for cooking meals for them.
I was lucky enough to parlay my love of cooking and writing into a job as a restaurant writer with the Oklahoma Gazette until 2020. I’ve voted for the James Beard Awards and eaten at some of the nicest restaurants in Oklahoma City, but nothing makes me happier than a dish cooked with love at a mom-and-pop kitchen.
The more we learn about quantum mechanics (it is real and not just in a bad Marvel movie), the more I believe we’ll find that if you make something with love, people can feel it. That’s part of the reason I think music and food are so powerful.
To this point, I believe cooking with intention, love and a little bit of intuition that only comes with time spent in the kitchen is the key to making huge flavors with everyday ingredients. You can transform boring recipe ideas with a few cheap and widely available ingredients like dried chiles, mushrooms, nuts and fermented pastes and sauces like miso, fish sauce — and yes, even Worcestershire sauce.
Get chill with chiles
Nothing brings an extra depth of flavor to an otherwise ordinary soup like a few dried chiles or dried mushrooms. It’s a misconception to think all dried chiles are spicy. An ancho (dried poblano) isn’t very spicy to begin with and the smoking process only continues to mellow out the heat, while adding depth of flavor. The mulato is a darker version of the ancho, though some US grocers incorrectly market it as a “pasilla.” A budget pack of ramen or humble can of beans can be “kicked up a notch” by pairing a few different dried chiles reconstituted with some aromatics to create a flavorful broth.
Smaller, spicier dried chiles like chile de arbol or bird’s eye can be used to make an Asian-style chile crisp or a Latin-inspired salsa, like salsa macha or cacahuate (which combines roasted peanuts and dried peppers).
Asian-style “chile crisps” seem to be receiving the same nationwide push that chipotles got 20 years ago and Sriracha 10 years after that. It’s easy to see why the condiment is growing in popularity across the states. It’s a combination of everything I love: Chiles, mushrooms and nuts. But why spend $8 to 10 for a jarred version of a chile crisp that’s not going to taste as good as a homemade version that costs a few dollars per batch?
Funk it up
No pantry in Oklahoma City can be complete without a trip to Super Cao Nguyen on Classen Boulevard or the International Market on the southside. Dried shiitakes and wood ear mushrooms make a flavorful broth that helps all kinds of dishes and can even be a secret ingredient to a Texas-style chili. Super Cao’s mushroom powder is a natural flavor-enhancer that sells for a fraction of the fancy version of the same product at Trader Joe’s.
Fermented ingredients are another key to building flavor on a budget. A container of fermented soybean (doenjang) or chili paste (gochujang) will last for months in the refrigerator and create a more flavorful broth than a bullion cube.
Pretty much every culture has its version of fermented cabbage (think of Sauerkraut, kimchi, Central American curtido). Operating under the rule that every dish needs salt, fat, acid and heat to reach its full potential, adding kimchi or a quick-pickled veggie to a stir fry, noodle dish or even a hot dog can be the perfect missing ingredient. It’s also a great reminder that fermented items are good for your gut. There are even times pickled ginger helps more than a few Tums.
Nuts are what they’re cracked up to be
Walnuts and pecans are two of the highest-sources of many heart-healthy Omega-3s or healthy fats, and the raw options in the baking aisle provide a budget-conscious option compared to the snack aisle’s pre-roasted, flavored nuts.
Nuts contain a lot of oil, which means they can go rancid quickly. For best savings, buy in bulk and freeze until ready to use. Walnuts especially can be an excellent addition to a veggie “meatball” as well as a thickener in soups, but nothing beats a fresh, herby salad with fresh-roasted nuts to provide crunch and roasted flavors.
To put some of these tips together, here is an herby salad with roasted nuts and a tahini-pickle juice dressing. It’s a year-round salad that you can adapt with seasonal herbs and veggies. The keys are the roasted nuts and dressing.
Salad with herbs and tahini-pickle dressing
Ingredients:
- Salad greens of your choice
- ½ chopped fresh herbs, such as cilantro
- ½ raw rough-chopped walnuts or pecans
- ¼ fresh or dried fruit
- Approximately 1 ½ cup leftover pickle brine
- 1/3 cup tahini
- Olive oil
- ¼ cup chopped pickles (optional)
Mix chopped nuts with enough olive oil to coat, add salt and pepper. Next, add to a baking sheet lined with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until you can smell them. While nuts are roasting, combine leftover pickle juice (strain mixture first, if desired) with the tahini in a jar and shake until emulsified. Add pepper and additional olive oil to taste. Add chopped pickles into dressing, if desired.
Chop It Up is a monthly column from Jacob Threadgill, a “semi-retired” journalist in Oklahoma City, where he wrote for the alt-weekly Oklahoma Gazette for three years. Prior to the Gazette, he wrote music and lifestyle features for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.
Streetlight, previously BigIfTrue.org, is a nonprofit news site based in Oklahoma City. Our mission is to report stories that envision a more equitable world and energize our readers to improve their communities. Donate to support our work here.
