Discovering new flavours

I’m the person who often picks the dish he doesn’t recognise on the menu. The person who then sits wondering what’s going to be delivered to the table. Hoping for a new food experience, eager to be the envy of my dining companions, running the risk of leaving them thinking ‘will he never learn’.

It hasn’t always worked in my favour. I ordered boudin blanc in a French restaurant once and was presented with one of the richest heaviest things I’ve ever eaten. I remember finishing the plate, almost as a matter of pride, but then regretting it through the course of a very long night. The first time I inadvertently ordered tripe on another trip to France was quite a surprise, although it has subsequently gone on to be a favourite. Then there was the eel soup in Antwerp, accompanied by a glass of Troubadour Obscura. An interesting soup, a fabulous beer.

More often than not it works. It isn’t always a complete mystery, it can be a dish made with ingredients I recognise but which I’ve never previously eaten as a combination. The first time of trying chilli and chocolate together springs to mind. 

Of all the things I’ve missed this year, restaurant eating is pretty high up the list. Here in the UK, they have been reopened to a fashion for the last few months, all be it with many and various coronavirus restrictions. Somehow with these and the requirement to shield my partner’s 89-year- old mother who lives with us, we’ve found it difficult to be tempted back over the restaurant threshold.

So for now I’m having to try and create new food experiences at home. Looking for recipes and new ingredients to play with. It’s a quest that’s been greatly helped by Flavour, the new cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. Yotam has published several books already and also has a selection of recipes in the Guardian every weekend. His recipes are never less than interesting and in this book, he pushes the boundaries even further. The theme of the book is about layering multiple flavours within one dish and in doing so he uses many items new to me. A list of 20 key ingredients includes Shaoxing, a wine fermented from rice, Masa harina, a flour made from corn and Gochujang chilli paste. I’ve no idea what these will taste like, but it takes me straight back to that restaurant menu and a strong desire to try them. I’m not sure of the chances of our local food stores stocking them, but I’ll be on the hunt when we next go.

As I delve further into this wonderful book I’ll keep you updated on the new flavours I discover. So far the only dish I’ve made is aubergine dumplings alla parmigiana. Yotam’s recipes are always slightly challenging, this one took me a couple of hours one Sunday afternoon, but the taste of the meal and the feedback I got from those I was cooking for made it time well spent. 

Proof that if you can’t get out of the house for some culinary adventures, you can still do it at home.