What components make a good meal?
Often when asked what we want for dinner, we focus on the center of the plate, chicken, beef, fish but just like a jazz band, all components must work in unison to produce beautiful music. A missed beat on the plate can turn a great concept into a lackluster final product. What is the thought process Chefs use in picking the right accompaniments to make a dish sing? How do you make the same steak that your competitor down the street is using more appealing and better tasting?
Persnickety side notes: Here the concept of the dish is only the first part, it still has to be executed to perfection. Color, flavor and texture need to be the first items considered. There are few things worse when going out to eat and getting a plate that looks like it was designed by a color blind five year old. When people are paying hard earned money for food, it should at least look like the kitchen cares about what they are doing. There is an old culinary school adage that “the first bite is in the eye.” Your eyes are the first sense that comes into contact with food and they should be pleased with what they see not begging to be instantaneously blinded.
I am a huge fan of Japanese cuisine, mainly for the light simple flavors and the way the food is aesthetically presented. The food is basic. Take sushi – raw fish and rice – but its presentation with color, usually rich, deep tones, looking soft and tender, is set against firm-to-the-bite white rice, simply steamed and seasoned. Add neon green wasabi and fluorescent pickled ginger and a simple bamboo platter and it can look like a canvas in the hands of Monet. And the flavors interplay fresh, slightly oily fishes with rice, moistened and sweetened with mirin plus the sinus clearing punch of wasabi, intensified by the pleasant saltiness of soy sauce and finished with the palate-cleansing bite of fresh ginger. Simple notes played well, make a symphony in the mouth.
But if you are a meat and potatoes kind of person and consider sushi bait, that does not mean you are confined to eating boring meals. Simple side dishes can be enhanced to make the main dish stand out.
Mashed potatoes are still popular on restaurant menus. Because of versatility, you can make one item and flavor it differently to enhance different meats or fish. Salmon, with either spicy or slightly green wasabi mash – the orange fleshed salmon and avocado green hued may sound like a 1970s color combination, but it works well with food not so well with refrigerators and shag carpeting – or with potatoes with corn black beans and roasted chilies for a southwestern flair. With beef, you can go with the now standard roasted garlic mashers. I like to go even stronger flavors with beef, depending on the cooking method. Braised beef-short ribs, for example, which have deep flavor and character need a potato worthy of them so add horseradish and aged white-cheddar cheese (the orange variety yields a jaundiced sickly colored final product) a few chopped scallions at the last minute and you have added depth of flavor that will make the main dish taste better. Roasted potatoes can be finished with rosemary and crumbled bleu cheeses for a sharpness that interplays well with beef.
Texture is important also, mash potatoes don’t work well with crab cakes; both items are soft in the mouth in addition to being white and bland on the plate. Anyone who has worked with me, knows I have fondness for rustic dishes and sides (ok borderline obsession) and I love hashes. (Insert Cheech and Chong joke here). Sweet potato hash works wonderfully with crab cakes, lightly roasted, then sautéed with fresh diced tomatoes and scallions. It adds dimension to the crab cakes and color to the plate and a little crunch and texture to the taste.
Take ordinary side dishes and tweak them a little. Instead of creamy coleslaw, use Napa cabbage and make Asian coleslaw for grilled or broiled fish dishes. Roast or grill vegetables to concentrate flavors instead of putting the flavor into the water that you throw out.
Until next month bon appétit.
