Salt to Taste: The Key to Confident, Delicious Cooking
The key to confident cooking lies not in learning to follow intricate recipes but rather in mastering a select handful of truly appealing yet straightforward dishes that invite experimentation and improvisation to reflect the seasons and the cook’s own palate.\ In Salt to Taste, Chef Marco Canora presents a tempting repertoire of 100 soulful recipes that embody this philosophy perfectly: food that is comforting and familiar but with a depth of flavor and timeless appeal that mark the dishes...
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The key to confident cooking lies not in learning to follow intricate recipes but rather in mastering a select handful of truly appealing yet straightforward dishes that invite experimentation and improvisation to reflect the seasons and the cook’s own palate. In Salt to Taste, Chef Marco Canora presents a tempting repertoire of 100 soulful recipes that embody this philosophy perfectly: food that is comforting and familiar but with a depth of flavor and timeless appeal that mark the dishes as true essentials of the contemporary table. Each meticulously written recipe offers insightful lessons drawn both from memories of his mother’s cooking and his years as one of New York’s most respected chefs, guiding the way to a delicious dish every time. Extensive chef’s notes suggest ways to streamline the process and enhance the savory results, marrying the precision of the professional kitchen with the warmth of home cooking.Those looking to elevate their cooking from merely good to truly spectacular will find much here to inspire them, while those in need of culinary coaching will learn that creating greatness is within reach. With a little forethought, care, practice, and observation, any cook can quickly gain the confidence to "salt to taste." The Barnes & Noble Review Marco Canora, who works magic on traditional Tuscan-based cuisine in his sophisticated New York City restaurants, Hearth and Insieme, offers pointers that even seasoned cooks will find useful in his mouthwatering, instructional first cookbook, Salt to Taste. Canora is generous not just with salt and other seasonings, but with tips from both his restaurants and home, clearly delineating what works best in which kind of kitchen (e.g., don't try making eggless pastas at home "unless you enjoy a challenge," because the dough is hard to work with and requires special equipment). I never knew that a key to great pasta is to finish cooking the noodles in the sauce. You do this by lifting the pasta with tongs or a slotted spoon while it's still undercooked directly from the water into the sauce, taking some of the cooking water with it. No colander. Nor did I know that you can store soffrito -- a basic building block of many sauces and soups, made from finely chopped onions, carrots, and celery sautéed in olive oil -- for months in the fridge if covered with oil. Or -- a trick more crucial in restaurants than at home, Canora thinks -- spreading par-cooked risotto on baking sheets to arrest the cooking until you're ready to finish it to order back in the pot just before serving. There are lots of keepers in this lovely, edifying book, including an easy skate with pomegranate vinaigrette and a delicious ribolitta, the classic hearty Tuscan soup made with finely minced black cabbage (a.k.a. dinosaur kale) and puréed and whole cannellini beans. Less successful was my attempt at homemade "maionese," which I obviously need to work on: mine came out lurid and gloppy, like alien goop. --Heller McAlpin
