Condiments Bring Life to Food (Use Liberally)
Exploring my favorite condiments to bring life to vegan food: Green Zhug, Garlicky Lemon-Walnut Crumble, Spicy Pickled Cucumbers
One way to bring life into the food you prepare is by using condiments to enhance flavors, introduce new textures or create a balance in tastes. This custom of adding condiments to food is an ancient practice – as old as cooking itself.
Condiments originally meant nothing more than using certain foods as a way to preserve another food. Over time, condiments slowly took on new meanings to include any preparation added to a food to impart a specific flavor, enhance flavors or to complement the dish. Modern uses of the word condiment have broader definitions to include anything added to the preparation to introduce textures or to somehow harmonize the flavors. This could include spices, seasonings, sauces, fruit, nuts and various cooked or uncooked preparations.
As noted in Larousse Gastronomic, a distinction is made between a seasoning and a condiment. Seasonings are substances added to food while it is being prepared, whereas a condiment can be either an accompaniment (mustard, pickles or ketchup), or an ingredient (truffles, dried fruit, alcohol, herbs, spices), or a preserving agent (vinegar, salt, oil or sugar).
One important concept professional chefs learn early on is how to enhance, support, texturize and collaborate with ingredients to make delicious dishes that go beyond just tasty – they become memorable. Most condiments can be made over a few hours spent in the kitchen during a quiet weekend. The results can be stored for weeks and used liberally during a busy week to lift an otherwise bland dish to new heights.
Here are three of my regular favorites – one to bring spice, one for texture and one for adding a sweet-sour note. All three are simple to prepare and versatile in their use. Included below is a list of more condiments published on the myfreshattitude.com website.
Please let me know if you made any of these recipes and what you thought about them. You can leave a comment below, reply to this email or share your creations on social media sites (mentions appreciated). I’m always thrilled to hear from my friends, readers and critiques – so please don’t be shy.
Green Zhug
Zhug is a kind of relish (or salsa if you prefer) originating from Yemen. It is extremely popular in Israel, which is where I first met this fiery condiment.
Most people enjoy a bit of zhug on flatbread as an appetizer…perhaps with some sliced tomatoes…or to accompany anything that is coming off a hot grill. I use it liberally in soups or stews to elevate the flavor of a particular dish. But mostly, I am addicted to a breakfast of flatbread, Sicilian tomatoes, a healthy dose of hot green zhug and a small splash of fruity extra virgin olive oil – that alone transports me to a sunny Mediterranean coast…and I think that’s a great start to any day!
You can easily make this relish in a food processor in a matter of minutes. Alternatively, carefully and aggressively pound everything using a mortar-pestle and as the great food writer Paula Wolfert once described, “while cursing the whole world and your miserable fate!”