"I could see the way layers of ingredients formed the building blocks of flavor, and how umami-that all-important sense of savory richness-could be hot-wired into recipes for nearly instant impact. Making and tasting dishes like Hot Joy restaurant's Crab Fat-Caramel Wings, coated in savory crab paste and fish sauce caramel, and Mission Chinese Food's Mapo Tofu, laced with fermented black beans and chiles, were my graduate degree in cooking."
"By the time I became a parent, my home cooking was a far-ranging playbook that incorporated all kinds of pantry ingredients in pursuit of umami. I always maintained a deep fondness for the Italian American comfort foods of my youth and set about recreating them according to how I learned to cook in the Test Kitchen (sorry, Grandma!): with funk, zing, depth, and heat."
A childhood foundation of Italian American and French classics shaped early meals. Work in a test kitchen revealed layer-building of ingredients and techniques to amplify umami quickly. Tasting dishes that use crab paste, fish sauce caramel, fermented black beans, and chiles demonstrated how savory fermentation and concentrated condiments create instant impact. Home cooking adapted to include pantry staples and fermented condiments for funk, zing, depth, and heat, blending global flavors with Italian American comfort dishes. Gochujang functions as more than heat; its fermented soybean character contributes miso-like umami and deepens sauces when added to marinara and puttanesca.
Read at Bon Appetit
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