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,” referring 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)3 Comments

Goji À Go-Go

Goji berries bear a heavy burden. Always a “superfood” first, their natural charm beyond the realm of health and wellness is all too often overlooked. Antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals are the headlining features, as if the tiny red berries were merely pills found growing in shrubs. Set all that hype aside and they become far more interesting.

Without the nutritional resume leading the conversation, goji berries become a worthy staple for any recipe where you would reach for dried fruit. Gently sweet with a faint herbal edge and punchy, tart finish, cranberries would be the closest comparison, though that gap is considerable. Chewy and dense, a bit of baking helps reveal their softer side.

Folded into biscotti, they create small pockets of toothsome tartness that punctuate the crunchy cookie at random. That element of surprise is part of the appeal; for such a restrained, understated treat, anything to shake up the status quo is a welcome change of pace. Threads of fresh orange zest weave through the dough, playing off those tangy nightshades in a higher, harmonious pitch. Finally, each biscotto is dipped lightly, just enough to barely coat the bottom with a thin, crisp shell of dark chocolate. It doesn’t carry far enough to overwhelm, only introducing a hint of contrasting richness.

Goji berries, freed from their usual medicinal trappings, fit easily into a sweeter framing. Doing the steady work that good dried fruit is meant to do, cutting through sugar with a measured tartness, and lending texture where it counts, they’re remarkably unremarkable, given all the buzz they generate. In a cookie that’s equally humble and structurally straightforward, those small contrasts matter. That’s more than enough to justify keeping them in regular rotation.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)10 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

Stick To It

As much as I love edamame, I’m loathe to order them at a restaurant. They have to be something really special, perhaps charred with a smoky kiss from the wok, anointed with enough garlic to ruin any date, to merit real consideration. The fact of the matter is that in most cases, they’re merely the same green pods anyone could grab from the freezer, barely thawed enough to melt the ice crystals, and seasoned either with too much or too little salt; there’s never any middle ground.

Edamame, though admittedly perfect beer snacks as is, deserve so much more care. The bar is so low that the bare minimum of creativity hooks me like a hapless, hungry fish. “Edamame Sticks” did the trick, in just that one line. It was printed on a menu online with no further description, and no means of ordering, but when has that ever stopped me before?

Wrapped up in a thin sheath of wheat-based egg roll skin, chopped edamame are granted the thoughtful application of spices and aromatics that quick serves can never afford. Far from groundbreaking, the complement of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil are simply playing the hits that the crowd most wants to hear. Once fried, bubbling surface of the wrappers bronzed and resoundingly crisp, no one could deny these beans.

The only problem with edamame is when they’re served as a placeholder, something to keep your hands busy while you wait for anything better. Given even a modest intervention, sealed, spiced, and sent through hot oil, they snap out of their stupor. Apparently this is still too much to ask of restaurants sending out plain pods at exorbitant prices, but at least we have all the tools at our disposal to do better at home.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)11 Comments