Salt Fat Acid Heat: Beans, Grains, and Pasta

Each month I’m highlighting a different non-Ina cookbook – these can be old favorites, classics I need to try, or new books I’m excited about. I’ll make at least one recipe from each chapter of the book to get an overall flavor of each. For the month of September, the book is Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat. I hope you’ll cook along with me! The book is available for purchase here.

Note: some recipes may be available online, but I only share links if they explicitly state it’s reprinted with permission from the author or publisher!

Persian-ish Rice

I’ve wanted to attempt Persian-ish Rice (tahdig) for years but have always been intimidated by having to flip the final dish onto a platter. To make Samin’s version, you heat butter and oil in a 10-inch pan then spread a layer of cooked rice that’s been combined with yogurt in the bottom. This is topped with the remaining rice with holes poked through to allow the steam to escape and cook for about 35 minutes. Then it’s the moment of truth – you place a platter over the pan and flip … hoping for an intact disk with an evenly golden brown crust! Well, happily mine came out in a perfect disk, with golden brown edges … and a charred black center.  The worst part: I could even smell it burning but convinced myself that it was part of the process and was way more worried about that perfect flip. All wasn’t lost, I just scrapped off the charred rice, stirred the rest together, and served! It was absolutely delicious! The next attempt will be potato tahig with crispy potatoes on the bottom!

Book: Salt Fat Acid Heat, page 285
Rating: 5/5 
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: Greek yogurt
Pricey Ingredients: —

Recipe on Food52.

Pasta Cacio e Pepe

I adore a good cacio e pepe – it’s simplicity at its best, and because it’s so easy to make it’s one dish I can’t bring myself to order in a restaurant and pay $20+. With only a couple of elements, it’s very important to get good quality ingredients: pasta, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, and pecorino romano. For Samin’s version, cracked pepper is heated in olive oil, then combined with pasta water, tossed with warm pasta, and finally a whole bunch of very finely grated pecorino (using a Microplane helps the cheese fully integrate into the dish). It was phenomenal and with Samin’s sage advice I’m sure it will come out perfect every time – no split sauces here!

Book: Salt Fat Acid Heat, page 290
Rating: 5/5 
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: pecorino romano
Pricey Ingredients: —

Recipe on TheKitchn.com