sauce
ZINE
By Jeremy Forman
*
vodka (or whatever) sauce
These days it feels like everyone, including celebrities, has a vodka sauce recipe. But almost none emphasize the two notable things about the sauce. Vodka is a neutral deglazing liquid that cooks off quickly and the deglazing only makes sense when tomato is used to create a fond in the pan. It doesn’t make sense to take the time to cook down whole tomatoes to the point that they would develop a fond. It also doesn’t make sense to just make a creamy tomato sauce and pour vodka in it. You don’t even need to use vodka, you can use water. This is my most comprehensive and studied recipe, meant to be compared to other vodka (or whatever) sauces out there.
ingredients
½ pound of pasta
½ a small white onion
2-4 cloves garlic
1.5 tsp crushed Calabrian chili (or to taste)
1.5 oz tomato paste
½ a Roma tomato (optional)
¾ cup of cream
40 grams of Parmigiano Reggiano
a sprig of basil
good olive oil
salt
1-2 tbsp of butter
1-2 oz vodka or other deglazing liquid
mise-en-place
Dice onion
Mince Garlic
Measure out the cream and let it sit at room temp while cooking to temper
Grate parm
Start boiling a pot of salted water for pasta
cooking
- Set stove to medium-low heat adding olive oil or neutral cooking oil and onions to a stainless steel pan.
- Once onions are starting to become translucent, add garlic and Calabrian chili.
- After briefly frying off the garlic and chili, add tomato paste and stir until the onions and such are incorporated into it.
- Ensure this mixture covers a decent amount of the pan’s surface to maximize browning. Develop a brown fond on the bottom of the pan
- Pour vodka or other deglazing liquid into the pan, scraping the fond off the bottom with a wooden spoon
- Once the liquid is cooked out of the mixture, turn the heat off and give the pan a moment to cool down slightly.
- Add cream, preferably tempered by sitting out.
- Mix cream and deglazed tomato paste/garlic/chili mixture
- Add basil stalk and chopped fresh tomato
- Stir and let sit on low/no heat while the pasta boils.
- Strain the cooked pasta, saving about half a cup of pasta water.
- Remove the sprig of basil, and add the parm.
- Add pasta gradually to ensure adequate sauce coverage, stir on low heat, adding a little pasta water to loosen things up.
- When everything is incorporated, stir in butter.
- Serve with a drizzle of good finishing olive oil, freshly grated parm, a ⅛ tsp dollop of Calabrian chili, and torn fresh basil.
blackcurrant dressing
I first became interested in blackcurrants when I found out they were banned in the United States for about a century and were a common flavor in other countries. They have a unique deep berry and citrus flavor. when added to a vinaigrette, they add a profile that meshes well with sturdy greens, fresh produce, and pistachio for an endlessly adaptable salad
ingredients (I only kinda measure these)
- 1 part white wine or apple cider vinegar and 2-3 parts olive oil totalling 1/2 cup
- 1 tsp blackcurrant preserves (jam can be too sweet)
- 1/2 tsp smooth dijon mustard
- salt (to taste)
- pepper
- minced shallot (optional, macerate in vinegar) preparation
- mix everything, making sure that the mustard can emulsify ingredients.
- alter amounts to taste
my salad
- baby lettuce
- fresh fruit (stone fruit, strawberry, thinly sliced pear)
- pistachios
- goat cheese
tamago kake gohan (mod)
TKG, or raw egg over rice, is a a classic Japanese comfort dish that some people stick their nose up at because of the use of raw egg. While I’m not trying to appease these people, I do love fried eggs. These were merged into a fried egg with a lacy edge and runny yolk which mixed into the rice to form the same sticky eggy rice as traditional TKG. With leftover rice this dish can some together in litterally a few minutes. This dish is great at any time of day under any circumstance.
ingredients
- 1 egg
- small bowl of leftover rice
- soy sauce
- nori komi and/or katsuo fumi furikake, get the good ones from your local asian grocery preparation
- warm leftover rice in a bowl in the microwave
- heat pan with neutral oil
- mix soy sauce and furikake into rice
- fry egg sunny side up or over easy, ideally get a crispy lacy edge and runny yolk.
- remove egg from the pan and puncture it to mix the yolk into your rice.
- add egg bottom side up, sprinking a little furikake on top (bonus) make it into extravagant breakfast
- marinate a salmon filet in miso and cook it
- serve rice with salmon and extra egg/yolk
ras el hanout sprouts
Ras el Hanout is a Moroccan spice blend that is used on a wide variety of food such as stews, grilled meats, fish, tagines, couscous, and veggies (so everything basically). When I want to eat veggies I often reach for brussels sprouts. However, a lot of brussels sprout recipes are unexciting, eurocentric, or fail to honor the sprout. Ras el Hanout on a crispy sprout adds classic roast veggie flavors with exciting mediterranean influence.
ingredients
- 1/2 pounds sprouts
- 3 cloves (not super finely) minced garlic
- about 1.5 tsp ras el hanout (or to taste)
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- dried sumac preparation
- halve brussels sprouts
- add garlic, ras el hanout, pepper, or maybe even hot sauce
- add olive oil until sprouts are coated, making sure there isn’t much excess.
- lay out sprouts cut side down on parchment-lined baking sheet
- roast at about 425° for around 25 mins. They should have crispy leaves (bordering on or arriving at burnt), a thoroughly browned cut side, and a creamy center.
- pull from oven and sprinkly with sumac, providing brightness without compromising crispiness.
oysters
The raw oyster on the half-shell has been one of my favorite foods since I first ate one on the West Coast of Ireland. When I added my hot sauce to it, I felt like the hot sauce had been made for the oyster all along. I’ve figured out that while unique toppings can be nice, I usually like to keep it to lemon and hot sauce. I feel insufferable when I bring my hot sauce to oyster bars/ restaurants/farms. Luckily, oysters are nice to prepare at home as an appetizer.
ingredients
- oysters (consuming raw or undercooked seafood may increase your risk of foodborne illness)
- crushed ice
- lemon
- Jeremy’s Hot Sauce (001) preparation
- shuck oysters, retaining as much brine as you can, setting them on a tray with crushed ice as you go
- slice a lemon
- add hot sauce and lemon, chew the oyster, don’t slurp
I’m aware that’s barely a recipe. I’m still gonna count it because this is my recipe zine. I am going to continue talking about oysters. I had to check a bag coming back from Seattle because I got oyster knives from Taylor Shellfish Farms and Pike Place Fish Market and couldn’t carry them on. I had oysters 4 separate times that trip and ate like 20 at the oyster farm. I know that because I have logged the date, quantity, and variety of every oyster I’ve ever eaten in my notes app on my phone. One time an old man tried to hit on me at the oyster bar and I didn’t notice because I was so focused on the oysters then my dad was like “you know that guy was hitting on you right?” Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I didn’t even notice. I gotta be one of the most ridiculous people alive. -Jeremy
*I am known for my hot sauce but I have to eat other things too. These are a few recipes that are important to me and that I have either created or put my own spin on and can claim as my own.
This does not include the recipes to any of my hot sauces. It would be foolish of me to give those out.
Try your hand at each recipe. Try them a few times. Try them a lot of times. Make them staples in your diet. Make them for someone you care about. Make them so much you get bored, then expand on them.
-Jeremy(Hot Sauce Test Subject, Jack of a Paralyzing Amount of Trades)
Forman
2023 @JeremysHotSauce