Smorgasbord October 2022

by RogerOctober 11, 2022

On today’s Smorgasbord episode we take a look at the delicious combination of Vietnamese caramel sauce and brussels sprouts. Then we learn how to make your stainless steel cookware less “sticky” by taking advantage of the Leidenfrost Effect. We wrap up with a short review of Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley’s excellent book, “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.”

Mentioned in this Episode

Interested in Vietnamese caramel sauce (Nước Màu)? Here’s a simple recipe from Hungry Huy.

The Leidenfrost Effect is an interesting phenomena that can help you out when cooking on stainless steel. What it boils down to (ha ha) is that when your pan is much hotter than the boiling point of water, a thin, insulating layer of vapor will appear between the pan surface and liquid in the food added to the pan. This helps prevent your food from sticking.

The best way to test to see if your pan is hot enough when you go to sear some protein, use the water drop test. When you add a drop of water to your preheated pan it should bounce around and not boil away quickly. Here is a good video of the water drop test:

What are your go-to winter squash recipes? Let me know by sending an email over to feedback@kitchencounterpodcast.com.

In my quest to find new, interesting squash recipes, I came across The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley. It’s a great cookbook on indigenous American ingredients and foodways. While it has several squash recipes, there are also a plethora of other interesting ingredients including amaranth, sunchokes, hopniss, and more. This cookbook really fills a gap I have on indigenous American cooking, and I am excited to add it to my collection!