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!
Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken
The most recommended dish from Salt Fat Acid Heat was Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken – it’s even Jacques Pépin approved – and you can officially mark me down for fan club membership! Using only buttermilk, chicken, and salt, you might wonder what could be so special about this bird, but Samin explains how each element makes for roast chicken perfection. The bird is marinated in buttermilk and salt for 24 hours which allows time for the salt to penetrate the chicken enhancing flavor, increases the moisture level, and as Samin describes “disables proteins, preventing them from squeezing the liquid from the meat as the bird cooks.” The dark brown skin comes from the sugars in the buttermilk which carmelize in the oven. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a more tender, juicy, flavorful, home-cooked chicken – the meat was falling off the bones, and the skin’s perfectly crispy – this was the closest I’ve come to recreating rotisserie chicken without a rotisserie!
Book: Salt Fat Acid Heat, page 340
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: buttermilk
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe on NYTCooking.com
Chicken with Vinegar
Her Chicken with Vinegar is a lesson on how acid can help balance a rich dish. To make, chicken is lightly dredged in flour, browned, then set aside while the onions are cooked in butter. When the onions are nice and brown, you add white wine vinegar and white wine to deglaze the pot followed by tarragon + chicken, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. To finish, the chicken is removed to a platter and heavy cream is added pot, combined, and warmed until thickened. The creamy, oniony, tarragon sauce is then spooned over the chicken and served. Overall I loved the dish – it reminded me a lot of Ina’s Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce! Although next time I will just garnish with parsley as fresh tarragon isn’t a favorite of mine!
Book: Salt Fat Acid Heat, page 336
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: heavy cream
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe on TheGaurdian.com
Glazed Five-Spice Chicken
The final dish I made was her Glazed Five-Spice Chicken which is marinated overnight in soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, Chinese five-spice powder, and cayenne then roasted in a hot oven until the skin crisps up, the marinade forms a glaze and the chicken is cooked. One bite and I was instantly transported back to my friend’s grandma’s similarly glazed pork that I always loved.
Book: Salt Fat Acid Heat, page 338
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: Chinese five spice powder
Pricey Ingredients: —
Recipe not online.
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It’s a really good cookbook!