Underrated ingredients

marygott · **Joined:** Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:34 pm **Posts:** 2011

I have been thinking about this all morning during my exercise class (ironic, no?).

Frozen peas: I never was a big pea fan until I found this little baby ones that are sweet and crisp. They are great to throw into a salad (Nancy gave me a great one with peas and mint), stick into rice at the end of cooking time, pasta, soups stews. They give such great color and a little burst of sweetness. Great in a curry.

Frozen corn: just about the same as frozen peas (except it is yellow :lol:

)

Chopped frozen spinach, plain and creamed. I stick this stuff in tons of things, it adds some heft and lots of nutrition. I love the creamed stuff in pasta and curries as you get a lot of creamy flavor in exchange for just a few calories. And who eats enough vegetable, really? It is also a great bottom to put a poached egg on. And speaking of which...

Poached eggs: these were somehow under my radar until this year. My husband had a giant ravioli kind of thing recently that was filled with spinach and a poached egg. I have also had them topping salad and something or other at a sushi bar. Fantastic, another healthy sub for cream. I also have been practicing and can now make a poached egg that does not look like the creature from the black lagoon.

Parsley (Italian): Gives such a nice boost to foods without competing with or masking other flavors.

Oranges: It is blood orange season and I am going a bit nuts. Everything has lemon in it but orange is so much more interesting, especially if you don't make it all sweet and sticky. Grated orange peel is a real kick in the head. I love cutting a blood orange into a green salad and just adding some salt, pepper and olive oil. And avocados, tuna, red onion...

Red onion: It is an onion and it is red so it doesn't need much more than that. It is also much more pleasant raw.

Fish sauce: It is great to add a tiny bit to sauces, salad dressing, stews, marinades ... anything you may add anchovies to where you want to deepen the flavor.

I also agree with tarragon and black pepper and I will also put ANY kind of salt on the list as many things seem to lack it.

Mary

PS Oh yes I agree with the yogurt too.

JesBelle · **Joined:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:50 pm **Posts:** 2062

Oh yes! Frozen peas! They are so useful. Need a last-minute side dish? Frozen peas! Stew looking like it needs a little color and bulk? Frozen peas! Want to feel less guilty about sitting down to nothing but a giant mound of creamy pasta? Frozen peas! Just had a vasectomy? Frozen peas!

Tim · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 8:43 am

Hi,

Oh, where to begin:

Tim

Amy · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 8:50 am

Transglutaminase

Amy

easy bake · **Joined:** Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:38 pm **Posts:** 536

Oh Amy, you never disappoint. Something I can't pronounce and don't know what it is!!! :lol:

Tim: Dry pack scallops, please elaborate.

Paul Kierstead · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:31 am

Amy wrote:

Transglutaminase

I have been trying to buy a small quantity of Transglutaminase and have been totally unable to find it other then requesting a sampler, which I hate to do because basically I have to mislead the company and that runs against grain (in this game, anyway). And, seriously, a pound of the stuff is waaaay too much for me. You got a source? Or a buying group?

Paul Kierstead · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:42 am

easy bake wrote:

Tim: Dry pack scallops, please elaborate.

Scallops that are not processed with phosphates. They are characterized by their off-white flavour (the very white ones are that way because of the phosphates, just like your laundry detergent

). Unlike phosphate-processed scallops, dry-packed ones do not exude large quantities of water when cooked and as such caramelize more readily without overcooking.

As far as I can tell, and according to my fishmonger, phosphates are not allowed to be added to scallops for sale in canada, so all of ours are dry-packed.

jeanf · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:10 am

TheFuzzy wrote:

My $0.02173465:

[list]
[*]Hickory Smoke Salt -- adds a bit of "smoke flavor", esp. for those of us who don't eat bacon

Quote:

Fancy salts, especially ones with dirt in them. Table salt, kosher salt, and coarse-grained sea salt, and I'm covered.

Amy · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:28 am

Paul Kierstead wrote:

I have been trying to buy a small quantity of Transglutaminase and have been totally unable to find it other then requesting a sampler, which I hate to do because basically I have to mislead the company and that runs against grain (in this game, anyway). And, seriously, a pound of the stuff is waaaay too much for me. You got a source? Or a buying group?

No, I've only seen it in large quantities. I could get it from the restaurant, but I'd prefer not to. (We use it quite a bit.) If you want, we could go together on a bag, or if anybody else on the board is interested, we could split it up more.

One thing I want to warn you about Paul...this stuff hates humidity. We lost almost a full bag to it. We know now to break it up into small quantities and vacuum seal it.

Amy

jeanf · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:43 am

Amy wrote:

Transglutaminase

Amy

I had to google it and found this:

Quote:

Industrial and culinary applications
Three bistro tenders being joined together with Activa GS. They will set overnight before being unwrapped, sliced into portions, cooked, and served.In commercial food processing, transglutaminase is used to bond proteins together. Examples of foods made using transglutaminase include imitation crabmeat, and fish balls. It is produced by Streptoverticillium mobaraense[9] fermentation in commercial quantities or extracted from animal blood,[10] and is used in a variety of processes, including the production of processed meat and fish products. It can be used as a binding agent to improve the texture of protein-rich foods such as surimi or ham.[11]

Transglutaminase is also used in molecular gastronomy to meld new textures with existing tastes.

Transglutaminase can be used in these applications:[citation needed]

Improving texture of emulsified meat products, such as sausages and hot dogs.
Binding different meat parts into a larger ones ("portion control"), such as in restructured steaks
Improving the texture of low-grade meat such as so-called "PSE meat" (pale, soft, and exudative meat, whose characteristics are attributed to stress and a rapid postmortem pH decline)
Making milk and yogurt creamier
Making noodles firmer
Besides these mainstream uses, transglutaminase has been used to create some unusual foods. British chef Heston Blumenthal is credited with the introduction of "meat glue" into modern cooking. Wylie Dufresne, chef of New York's avant-garde restaurant wd~50, was introduced to transglutaminase by Blumenthal, and invented a "pasta" made from over 95% shrimp thanks to transglutaminase.[12

What are you guys using it for?

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