Tag: comfort food

Lion’s Share

Lion’s mane are the Swiss army knives of mushrooms. What other fungi can more seamlessly blur the line between plant matter and animal flesh, encompassing both chicken and beef? Pressed and seared, they morph into fillets worthy of a high-end steakhouse, almost infuriatingly rich and juicy. Battered and fried, they’re equally compelling as crispy morsels of popcorn chicken. Given their commensurately luxurious pricing, I’m forever torn on how best to prepare them. Of course, after intense debate, I realized there’s no need to choose when you can have both.

Combining the two ideas has already proven wildly successful for the classic Southern comfort food, chicken fried steak. That is, traditionally, steak prepared in the manner of fried chicken, first seared and then battered and fried to a crispy, crave-worthy finish. Despite having neither meat nor poultry involved, the procedure is almost exactly the same.

When working with lion’s mane mushrooms destined for beefy glory, the key is to first sear them off plain, pressing HARD on both sides. Don’t be shy, don’t worry about hurting their feelings; you need to lean in with all your weight like they owe you money. It takes real pure brute strength to transform the fibrous fungus into something genuinely meaty. Unlike the original animal-based prep, they benefit from a long, slow marinade at this point to amplify the inherently umami flavors.

Cream gravy is essential for a properly composed plate. Flecked with coarsely ground pepper, you can whip it up in minutes, before the steaks even think of cooling down. Deeply bronzed, tender at the core, and clad in that signature craggy, golden armor, they can withstand a drenching ladleful, or two, of the velvety sauce. The seared interior maintains a dense, hearty chew, while the fried exterior shatters away in delicate flakes. It’s indulgent, a little excessive, and completely justifiable.

The beauty of lion’s mane isn’t just in how convincingly it imitates meat, but in the way it refuses to be limited by it. Why settle for chicken or beef, when one mushroom can do both, often in the same bite?

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Hannah (BitterSweet)11 Comments

From Rags To Riches

Some recipes can start your mouth watering and stomach growling just from the title alone. Entire classes devoted to food writing dive deep into the fine points of manipulating the reader with descriptions carefully woven together that illicit nostalgia, connect the dots to familiar flavors, and simultaneously stir up excitement over the promises of a new, novel eating experience. Ropa vieja is not like that.

Don’t Judge a Book Based on Its Title

Translating directly as “old clothes,” it refers to the shredded, ragged texture of the dish. If you’re expecting a mouthful of ratty cloth, though, you’ll be happily surprised by the smoky umami bomb that meets your tongue instead.

Marvelous Mushrooms

Meaty, tender, yet toothsome shredded oyster mushrooms stand in for overcooked strands of steak, both shortening the cooking time and unlocking even greater umami depth. The name along may not do it justice, but this is one instance where tasting is believing.

Fast, Real Food; Not Fast Food

This is an adaptation of the Enoki Mushroom Ropa Vieja from my cookbook, Real Food, Really Fast. You can genuinely use any type of shredded or sliced mushroom, or even a combination of fungi if you’re feeling especially flush. It can be enjoyed all by itself as a one-pot stew, on top of rice, alongside fried plantains, or with thick slices of crusty bread.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)9 Comments

Bespoke Beoseot

Believe it or not, it’s almost impossible to overcook mushrooms. Aside from burning them, because anything is flammable if you try hard enough, hours-long braises won’t make fungi tough nor mushy. Their unique structural properties are unlike either vegetables or protein. While meat toughens and vegetables disintegrate, mushrooms contain chitin, a heat-stable polymer in their cell walls that maintains their toothsome, bouncy bite, no matter how long they’re in the hot seat.

Such resiliency makes them ideal candidates for heavy-duty braises the world over. Korean cuisine especially has perfected this technique, designed to coax deep, robust flavors into every fiber of any given ingredient.

The Art of the Jjim

Jjim are dishes simmered in a potent sauce until the liquid reduces into a glossy, concentrated glaze. Usually, this method is reserved for the tough cuts of short ribs or bone-in poultry which demand exceptional time and patience to tenderize.

However, the uncanny ability of mushrooms to withstand heat while acting as a literal flavor sponges opens the door to innovation. You get all the depth of a slow-simmered stew without having to babysit a pot for hours, only to have your dinner turn into savory dental floss.

Inspired by jjimdak, or dak jjim, depending on who you ask, we’re keeping the braise (jjim) and losing the chicken (dak) in favor of mushrooms (beoseot).

Braise without the Baggage

Beyond the fact that it’s a one-pot, “set it and forget it” dream, Beoseot Jjim has become a fast favorite because it solves the fundamental problem of the braise. Usually, a braise is a trade-off: to achieve a rich, layered, and nuanced sauce, you have to sacrifice the integrity of the ingredients. Using mushrooms means making no compromises.

  • Umami Synergy: Simmering mushrooms in a soy-based glaze sets the stage for a high-level meeting of savory molecules. The glutamates in the fungi shake hands with the fermented soybeans, creating a flavor that tastes unbelievably meaty despite its plant-based origins.
  • Chickened Out: Shredded oyster mushrooms, torn into long, irregular strips, mimic the fibrous grain of pulled chicken so effectively you might find yourself checking for bones.
  • Send Noodz: Although it’s not technically considered a conventional noodle dish, it wouldn’t be a jjim without dangmyeon (sweet potato starch noodles). These translucent threads are a remarkably efficient delivery system, soaking up the spicy, syrupy reduction, not a drop left behind.

Fungi are the Future

Perfectly exemplifying the iconic Korean sweet-salty-spicy trifecta, every bite punches above its weight. You get a dark, glossy glaze that clings to every shred of mushroom, punctuated by the sharp, clean heat of chilies. Without animal fat clouding the palate, the aromatics of ginger and garlic hit even harder.

It’s the kind of meal that feels indulgent and hearty, but since you’re eating a mountain of fungi instead of gristle and grease, you won’t leave the table immediately needing a nap. Get all the soul of the original dish, with none of the high-maintenance drama. In the face of fungi, chicken never stood a chance.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)8 Comments

Mad Macs

No matter how many recipes you have for mac and cheese, I’m willing to bet you can make room for another. One of humankind’s greatest culinary achievements, it’s both hard to mess up and hard to improve. Even mediocre mac usually makes for an acceptable meal. While I never set out to make “the best” or even a “better” vegan mac and cheese, I think that quite accidentally, that’s exactly what I did. For that, I have one giant container of Naked Pea protein powder to thank, or curse.

Protein Profusion

The danger of having a five-pound tub of pure pea protein at your disposal is that there’s no boundaries that it can’t cross. At some point, it becomes a challenge: just how much protein can I add into one meal? If one scoop is good, how about two? My goal, of course, is always to put flavor first, so this game has necessary limits. Fortunately, the losses have been few, and the spoils of victory are great.

Naked Pea, Candid Comforts

Naked Pea unflavored, unsweetened protein is ripe for innovation. The base itself, that single ingredient foundation, provides all the inspiration I need to dream up a thousand different directions to explore. Last time, we went all-in on green peas, which make another appearance here, but the real star of the show are yellow split peas. If you think classic stove top-style mac and cheese has nothing to do with beans, think again. At the heart of this stunningly gooey, silky-smooth, umami cheese sauce, the legumes add body to the easily blended pure protein infusion. Cashews come in with natural richness, allowing the blend to be unbelievably oil-free, too.

Proteinmaxxing Your Mac

To maximize the nutritional profile of this dish, the choice of noodles is key. Standard semolina pasta is surprisingly high in protein, but we can take it one step further by using a chickpea- or lentil-based pasta, which has the added benefit of being gluten-free, for all our celiac friends to enjoy. These noodles range from 7 to 15 grams of protein per 2-ounce serving, so if you’re serious about optimizing your macros, choose your fighter wisely. You’ll find a similar set of options for soymilk; while any non-dairy milk will do, soy will always deliver the strongest protein punch, with brands weighing in at 7 to 12 grams of protein per cup.

Just the Cheese, Please?

A good plant-based cheese sauce is absolutely indispensable. One that’s as healthy as it is tasty is worth its weight in nutritional yeast, transforming everything it touches into pure comfort with a buttery, golden glow. You may think this recipe makes way too much sauce, and it certainly would be an ample blanket to smother your noodles, there’s a million other ways to enjoy it, should you choose to hold some back.

  • Vegan Queso: Add diced pickled jalapeños, fire-roasted tomatoes, green chilies, and/or a dash of chipotle powder for a smoky, spicy dip, worthy of a bottomless basket of tortilla chips.
  • Loaded Baked Potatoes: Pour it over baked potatoes or sweet potatoes and finish with steamed broccoli, scallions, shiitake bacon, or black beans for an effortless dinner.
  • Cheesy Vegetable Gratin: Toss with roasted cauliflower or broccoli and rice or sliced potatoes before baking until bubbling and lightly browned on top.
  • Creamy Soup Starter: Thin with vegetable broth to create an instant cheddar-style soup base for broccoli cheddar, corn chowder, or beer cheese soup.
  • Deluxe Tofu Scramble: Fold into scrambled tofu and enjoy straight up, or wrap it in a tortilla to make breakfast burritos for a savory morning upgrade.

Saucy Hot Take

Between you and me, and the entire internet, because I’m not shy about making my opinions known, 99% of foods do not need more protein added to them and suffer for the attempt. This sauce, this freaking sauce, is obscenely good. Infuriatingly good. I found myself licking utensils mid-photo shoot, then surreptitiously slicing crudité to help “clean” the sides of blenders and bowls. It’s so good that it makes me angry that anyone would heedlessly toil through a lesser bowl of dairy-free mac and cheese, regardless of nutritional stats.

Protein with a Purpose

When it has to be high in protein, it has to be worth eating, too. Start with whole foods, building on ingredients that bring genuine flavor and substance to the table, and the numbers tend to work themselves out naturally. Creamy split peas, rich cashews, savory nutritional yeast, and a generous scoop of Naked Pea come together as the foundation for something truly crave-worthy. Every forkful delivers the sort of comfort that will have you coming back for seconds, long after the macros stop mattering.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)8 Comments

Crowd Control

I can’t lie: I’m a sucker for a good pun. My sense of humor vacillates between dad jokes and caustic wit, but I can never resist a solid groaner. That brings me to the obvious need to turn crowder beans into chowder. The moment I started cooking with them, I knew that Crowder Chowder was inevitable, if only for the irresistible name.

Don’t worry, it’s more than just a fun rhyme. As with any proper chowder, the base is thick and creamy, making for a hearty bowl-in-one type of meal. Packed with potatoes and sweet corn, the crowder beans contribute an earthy meatiness, to say nothing of all their protein and fiber, without a single clam in sight.

Plenty of chowder recipes employ beans, especially white beans for their fairly neutral flavor, so it’s not like I’m breaking any new ground here. Crowder peas, however, may take some eaters by surprise this unconventional setting. Since they usually show up in straightforward company, simmered with onions, maybe a hunk of cornbread nearby, seeing them in more composed recipes could turn some heads. Lack of mainstream recognition further limits their range, unfairly, if you ask me. Anything white beans can do, the humble field pea can do, too.

Fully validated by the success of this experiment inspired by word play, Crowder Chowder is exactly the sort of recipe that makes a terrible pun feel justified. The name might make you roll your eyes at first, but one spoonful quickly changes the tone of the conversation. Sometimes the best ideas just sound silly on paper.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)7 Comments

Don’t Mess With Tex-Mex

As a youngster hailing from New England, I was woefully uninformed about the fine nuances of Tex-Mex cuisine. Hell, to my greatest shame, I once pronounced publicly that I “generally wasn’t a fan of Mexican food,” which still haunts me to this day. It’s still buried somewhere in the archives if you dig deep enough. Mexican food, itself a fusion of indigenous ingredients, Spanish influence, and regional variations that span all of Central America, gained a new accent when Tejanos took to the kitchen.

I once scoffed at Tex-Mex as being a watered-down version of Mexican cuisine, leaning toward milder seasonings, white flour tortillas, and a heavy hand with cheese, and I was wrong about this too. This is also an equally valid, equally delicious approach, bringing to life different flavors that aren’t trying to replicate anything else. Tex-Mex is American, bold, sometimes brash, and unapologetic.

Given the considerable overlap, it can be difficult to tease the two apart. Many of basic staples, the sides and sauces that are the building blocks of bigger dishes, look the same, no matter who’s table they’re destined for. I realize now, with age and greater perspective, that my disdain was rooted in the fallacy of “authenticity,” a concept I’ve railed against vehemently and yet failed to see how it applied here. Tex-Mex cuisine is authentic to Texan cooks, following time-honored recipes that, like any others, subtly change and adapt to individual tastes. When I learned to stop judging it, I learned there was so much to love. I haven’t looked back.

Maybe there’s a greater lesson to be learned here, beyond the meal at hand. For now, though, I’ll leave you with that food for thought, and a list of my current twenty best vegan Tex-Mex recipes. Que aproveche.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)8 Comments