물이 더 맛있는 수프의 열쇠가 될 수 있을 때

 

 

Take a gander down the potato chip aisle at your nearest grocery store, and it’s obvious that Americans aren’t ones to shy away from flavor. We’ve become a nation that injects, sprinkles, and douses everything we eat with flavor enhancers: hot sauce, Dorito dust, everything bagel seasoning, and beyond. But what often separates mediocre cooks from the really excellent ones is that, instead of looking for something to dash on top of an ingredient, they understand and respect the flavor of the ingredient itself. They seek to enhance it, amplify it, complement it—but never cover it up.

That's where water comes in. Stay with me: "This idea of embracing water as an ingredient is as old as time," says Julia Turshen, author of Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home-Cooking Triumphs. "It's the story of stone soup." That story is, of course, that a cook started with a pot of water and a stone, and through the generosity of others, ingredients were added one by one, and the end result was a delicious and satisfying meal. There's a subtle difference between layering flavors and covering them up, and starting with water leaves you no other direction to go in.

Turshen was reminded of the simple genius of this idea while working with Jody Williams on Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food. "We talked a lot about using water to carry flavor," she says. In Small Victories, Turshen goes further and counts embracing water as an ingredient as one of her "small victories." She writes that "when you use it as your cooking medium, the flavors of whatever you're cooking in it come through in a way that's so totally honest and straightforward. There's no hiding behind chicken stock." And while there's a time and a place for rich, savory chicken stock, subtle flavors—like those of floral spring peas or fresh parsley—can get muddied or lost.

The key to successfully using water as an ingredient is to remember its nature as a solvent. Water is, in fact, the “universal solvent,” called such for its remarkable ability to break down and dissolve flavorful compounds. Heating the water increases its solvency, and thus becomes a vehicle for carrying those flavors and dispersing them throughout a dish.

 

 

가장 가까운 식료품점에서 감자칩 통로를 한 번 훑어보면 미국인들이 맛을 꺼리는 사람이 아니라는 것은 분명하다. 우리는 매운 소스, 도리토 먼지, 베이글 양념 등 우리가 먹는 모든 것을 향미 증진제로 주입하고, 뿌리고, 뿌리는 나라가 되었다. 하지만 평범한 요리사들과 정말 훌륭한 요리사들을 종종 구분짓는 것은, 재료 위에 달려들 무언가를 찾는 대신, 재료 자체의 맛을 이해하고 존중한다는 것입니다. 이를 개선하고 증폭하며 보완하려고 하지만 결코 은폐하지 않습니다.

거기서 물이 들어온다. 소승의 저자 줄리아 터센은 "물을 재료로 삼는 이 생각은 시간만큼 오래되었다"고 말한다. 레시피, 조언, 수백 가지 아이디어로 가정 요리의 성공을 기원합니다. "돌국 이야기입니다." 그 이야기는 물론 요리사가 물 한 주전자와 돌멩이부터 시작해서 다른 사람들의 너그러움을 통해 재료들이 하나씩 추가되었고, 그 결과 맛있고 만족스러운 식사가 되었다는 것이다. 맛을 겹겹이 쌓는 것과 덮는 것 사이에는 미묘한 차이가 있으며, 물로 시작하는 것은 다른 방향으로 들어갈 수 없습니다.

터슨은 부벳에서 조디 윌리엄스와 함께 일하면서 이 아이디어의 단순한 천재성을 떠올렸다. '좋은 음식의 즐거움' "우리는 맛을 전달하기 위해 물을 사용하는 것에 대해 많은 이야기를 나누었습니다."라고 그녀는 말합니다. 스몰 빅토리즈에서 투르셴은 더 나아가 물을 받아들이는 것을 그녀의 "작은 승리" 중 하나로 간주한다. 그녀는 "당신이 그것을 당신의 요리 매체로 사용할 때, 당신이 그 안에서 무엇을 요리하든 간에, 그 맛은 매우 정직하고 간단한 방식으로 전달된다. 닭고기 육수 뒤에 숨는 건 없어요." 그리고 풍부하고 고소한 닭 육수를 위한 시간과 장소가 있는 동안, 꽃 봄 완두콩이나 신선한 파슬리와 같은 미묘한 맛은 진흙이 죽거나 없어질 수 있다.

물을 성분으로 성공적으로 사용하는 비결은 용제로서의 본질을 기억하는 것이다. 사실 물은 "보편적인 용매"로, 풍미 있는 화합물을 분해하고 녹이는 놀라운 능력으로 그렇게 불린다. 물을 가열하는 것은 용해력을 증가시키며, 따라서 이러한 맛을 운반하고 접시 전체에 분산시키는 수단이 된다.



부추와 허브를 곁들인 봄 완두콩 수프
봄 완두콩의 신선한 맛은 부추, 파슬리, 민트, 그리고 바질을 뜨겁게 또는 차갑게 제공되는 훌륭한 활기찬 수프에 결합합니다. 부추와 허브를 곁들인 봄 완두콩 수프의 레시피를 알아보세요 »
그게 바로 그녀의 부추와 허브를 곁들인 봄 완두콩 수프에서 일어나고 있는 일이다. 허브의 줄기와 야채의 윗부분과 꼬리가 물의 맛을 내고, 이것이 수프의 밑바탕이 되어 각 재료의 가능한 모든 맛을 활용한다. 그것의 맛은 그것의 봄 녹색만큼이나 밝고, 겨울 미각에서 여전히 변화하고 있는 이상한 감각을 깨우기 위해 완벽하게 계절적인 것이다. 전체 요리는 거의 한 시간 만에 모이기 때문에 고기를 기반으로 한 육수를 계속 끓일 필요가 없으며 수프는 따뜻하거나 차갑게 제공될 수 있습니다. 맛을 보면 물부터 시작해서 맛을 추출하기 위해 사용하는 것이 실제로 요리에 강도를 더한다는 것을 알 수 있습니다. "물맛"이 전혀 없습니다.

이 조리법을 위해 물을 사용하는 것 또한 단번에 놀라운 일이 아니다: H2O를 주방의 주식으로 받아들이는 것은 추가적인 이점이 있다. 첫째, 진입점을 완화합니다. 당신이 요리하기 위해 해야 할 일은 수도꼭지를 여는 것뿐이다. Turshen은 매일 집에서 요리 연습을 하고, 물과 함께, 그녀는 항상 첫 번째 재료를 준비합니다. 다음으로, 저렴합니다. "지략이 풍부한 것은 경제적으로도 항상 마음에 걸린다"고 그녀는 말한다. "요리를 하기 위해 많은 돈을 쓸 필요는 없습니다." 완두콩 수프는 그러한 절약의 완벽한 예입니다: 보통 쓰레기통이나 퇴비통에 직접 던져지는 허브의 줄기, 야채의 윗부분과 껍질은 그것들을 물에 끓이는 간단한 행위를 통해 마법처럼 변형되어 맛의 필수적인 요소가 됩니다. 마지막으로, 물을 사용하는 것은 식탁에서 아무도 배제하지 않습니다. "저는 개인적으로 모든 것을 먹고 집에서 거의 모든 식사를 합니다. 하지만 제 삶에는 식이 제한을 받는 사람들이 많습니다."라고 그녀는 말합니다. "사려 깊고 포용적인 것이 중요하며, 저는 결코 따로 요리를 만들고 싶지 않았습니다. 저는 혼자 있는 것을 좋아하지 않고, 제 식탁에서나 제 요리에 있고 싶지도 않습니다. 나는 모든 사람이 자리를 갖기를 원한다." 물을 받아들인다는 것은 또한 채식주의자인 사람들도 콩 수프를 따라 자유롭게 갈 수 있다는 것을 의미한다.

물은 부엌에서 일하는 말이다. 쉽게 시작할 수 있도록 도와주며, 다른 재료에서 맛의 심장을 추출하고, 포괄적이며, 심지어 요리에도 도움을 줍니다. 맛있는 결과를 앞에 두고 맛깔스럽게 포장할 필요가 없습니다.