3 (and a half) Things That Will Make Your Meals Better

BY JIM MATHIS

One of the shows I find myself watching too often is Beat Bobby Flay. If you’re not familiar with it, the premise is pretty simple. The titular Iron Chef gives two chef-contestants 20 minutes to create a dish using an ingredient he chooses. The winner then challenges Bobby with their signature dish. Spoiler alert: Bobby wins more than he loses. If the contestant is a pastry chef or cooks something Bobby’s not familiar with, they have a chance. But most of the time Bobby prevails.

What does he do that makes him win so often? Well, aside from the fact that he’s a great chef and thinks well on his feet, he tends to lean on a few simple tricks. And the more I’ve watched the show, the more I’ve learned from his winning techniques. I swear, these three things will make your food taste better whether you’re cooking fresh lobster and filet mignon or a box of Hamburger Helper. Give them a shot, and if you find yourself challenging Bobby Flay to a Hamburger Helper battle, all I ask is that you give me a little shout out when you win.

A Splash of Acid!

One of the things the judges frequently praise in the winning dishes is balance. The chefs balance fat with acid, and heat with sweet. The acid can come in any number of forms, a simple squeeze of lemon juice, a few drops of vinegar, a few pickled vegetables or maybe some citrus zest. A couple of pickles on a hamburger help to cut through the fat and add balance to the flavor. What makes a bahn mi so good? Pickled vegetables. And a Cuban sandwich without mustard and pickles is just a boring pork sandwich. Classic fish and chips, about as fatty a dish as you can find, comes to life with a splash of malt vinegar.

One of my favorite side dishes is collard greens, cooked for a long time with a generous amount of smoked pork in the pot. But the greens I cooked at home weren’t as good as I had in the south, until a southern cook shared his secret — two tablespoons of white vinegar added to the two quarts of water the greens are braising in. Boom. My greens now taste like they were cooked by someone’s grandmother from Alabama.

As you’re working on your next meal, give it a taste and ask if a little acid could help. The answer is probably yes.

A Little Sauce!

One thing missing from many dishes that home cooks make is a sauce. Or if there is a sauce, it comes out of a bottle that says ketchup, A.1. or Hidden Valley Ranch. But go to a nice restaurant and your meal will likely include a sauce of some kind, and the better the restaurant, the better the sauce!

Think about a plate of steamed broccoli. Not very exciting, is it? But drizzle on a little Hollandaise sauce and it goes from bland to fancy. Hollandaise has a reputation for being hard to make, but it is really just three ingredients: egg yolk, lemon juice, and melted butter. The lemon balances the butter, and the egg helps bind it together.

With a steak at a nice restaurant, you’ll often be offered a variety of sauces: hunter, a house-made steak sauce or au poivre. Ah… that au poivre sounds fancy and time consuming to make, which makes it worthy of a hefty upcharge. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s cream, brandy, and pepper (some recipes add shallots or Dijon) on a pepper crusted steak. You can do it at home. Your friends will be impressed, and if anyone’s watching you cook and they see the brandy flare up, they’ll be really blown away.

One of my beloved’s favorites is pork chops with a simple pan sauce. When the chops come out of the pan, I add a small finely diced shallot, some minced garlic and sauté until softened, then add a couple tablespoons of sherry and an equal amount of grainy Dijon mustard. Stir it together and spoon over the pork chops. Easy and delicious.

A Little Texture!

One trick Bobby Flay often has up his sleeve is adding texture to dishes that might otherwise be kind of, well, mushy. You’ll see this when he’s making rice dishes. He cools the rice down so it’s cooked correctly, then adds some, or even all, of it to a screaming hot castiron pan so it will crisp up. “Develop a nice socarrat” he will say. Socarrat (sounds like so-kah-raht) is the wonderful, caramelized bottom layer of a perfect paella when the rice is done, and the liquid is absorbed. But it’s not just paella Bobby adds socarrat to, just about anything he cooks with rice, he’ll add this crispy trick. The other night he put crispy rice in a burrito. He won.

Another of his devilish tricks is so simple it’s embarrassing. Toasted breadcrumbs. Yep, one of the world’s most renowned chefs will grab a box of panko breadcrumbs, toast them in a pan with a little butter and garlic, et voila! He is praised for the little crunch on top. Try it, it’s crazy, but it works. I swear, if you make a box of Kraft mac and cheese and sprinkle garlic-toasted panko on top, it will be ten times better.

And a Half

So now that you’re armed with Bobby Flay’s secrets to winning dishes, how do you make them even better yet? Double down. Take that broccoli with Hollandaise and add some toasted breadcrumbs. Good just got better. Add some lemon zest to the breadcrumbs and now you’ve got a little acid and some texture. You’re kicking it up two notches!

Now here’s Bobby’s big trick when he knows he needs to pull out all the stops to get a win: Anchovy & Garlic Toasted Breadcrumbs with Lemon Zest, Parsley, and Parmesan. This isn’t hard to make, and it is awesome. Wait, are you scared off by the anchovy? Hold on and bear with me. It really is good. Don’t let a tiny little fish scare you off.

Here’s what you do. Start by mincing a small clove of garlic and roughly chopping two anchovy filets. You can buy a small jar at the co-op so if you hate it, you won’t be wasting much; but trust me, it’s worth it. Sauté the garlic and anchovy in a pat of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. The anchovy will melt right into the fat, and you’ll forget it’s even there. Then add about a half a cup of panko and stir until it turns a nice toasty golden brown. Transfer to a small bowl and grate the zest of about half a lemon and then add a couple tablespoons of both freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano and fresh chopped parsley into the bowl and mix it up. You can sprinkle this concoction on just about anything. I’ve used it on lamb chops and polenta (see photo), all sorts of pasta and it even makes a boring grilled chicken breast taste great. The first time I made it my beloved declared “Where has this been all my life?!” It’s that good. Why? It adds salt (which most of us under-season our food), texture and acid. Then the parsley adds freshness. And the anchovy? You won’t taste “fishy”, but it will add seasoning, richness and a depth of flavor that is hard to describe. I think yummy may be the best word for it. Seriously, if you heat up a can of Chef Boyardee Beefaroni and sprinkle these breadcrumbs on top, it will taste good.

There you have it, three and half tricks from an Iron Chef, passed on by a guy who’s just a home cook who watches too much TV. As you’re making dinner tonight, think about adding a little acid, a little sauce, a little texture or, maybe, all of the above. Do yourself a favor, eat something good today.

Lamb chops, roasted carrots and creamy polenta with Anchovy & Garlic Toasted Breadcrumbs with Lemon Zest, Parsley and Parmesan

Jim is an old advertising guy; founder of ADwërks and an avid home cook who dreams of beating Bobby Flay.