Tips & shortcuts for flavorful & healthful cooking

Three Aromatic Kings

Ginger/garlic/(green) onion combination shows up in many dishes I make. I try to resist using them like a one-trick pony, but they work well with so many ingredients.

Grating ginger can be rather time-consuming, so I often freeze them in small portions – either just by itself or combine the three together. You’d want to wrap them really well, and if you have an ice cube tray, that will likely work perfectly.

Because I use garlic so often, reliable garlic press is vital, and I got this almost three decades ago, and it still works perfectly.

Better “teriyaki” base sauce

Mix soy/sake/brown sugar in 2/1/1 ratio and reduce in a small sauce pan by about 1/3 or 10-15 minutes, and once cool store in a jar. This is last in a fridge for a month (or more, but it never lasts that long in our household). Depending on your preference, you can use less brown sugar.

This can be a base for grilled fish (cover photo) by adding 3 aromatic kings, citrus juice, and sesame seeds. I also start most of my Korean style barbecue sauces with this and add 3 aromatic kings + miso + gochujang + sesame seeds, etc.

Dried mushrooms – shiitake and porcini

Shiitake or porcini, dried mushrooms inject deep & dense savory flavors probably more so than their fresh counterparts.

They both show up often in Asian (shiitake) and Italian’ish (porcini) dishes. To prepare them for cooking, rinse them ever so lightly only to remove some yucky grimes (if there are any) and soak them in water to soften in room temperature, and use both mushrooms and soaking liquid in your dishes. For porcini, if you know you are using a sizeable portion (for sauce or risotto), you can use chicken stock or white wine instead of water.

Pre-soaked mushrooms in jars like these can be kept in a fridge for a month or so, and about 30 minutes or so before you want to use, take them out of fridge to return to room temperature. And if you are in a hurry, you can add a lukewarm (vs cold) water and a pinch of sugar.

Sake-soy squirt!

In sautéing or grilling vegetables, fish, or meat, at times they are getting too dry too quickly before you are ready to move on to the next stage, and yet you do not want to add oil. This tends to happen with mushrooms and onions. For that, and other occasions when I want to add a splash of liquid, I keep 4:1 sake : soy sauce mix in a small container in a fridge. This one happens to be a former balsamic vinegar reduction container and works very well in quickly squirting the mix into a pan.

Kimchi and its juice

Kimchi is a powerful weapon for you when you want to inject a complex acid flavor into your dish. There are times, like in kimchi dumpling and bibimbap, you’d want to lightly squeeze liquid out of kimchi. And, in that case, please reserve the juice! Kimchi and/or its juice works in marinade, stew, sauce (even marinara sauce), meatballs, hamburger, and similar dishes. Key is, unless you want it to dominate your dish, to use sparingly, sometimes just a skosh for things like marinara sauce.

Turmeric spice mix

It started out with me wanting to consume turmeric (for health benefits) and not quite liking its bitter taste on its own. I also like to use “curry” type spices often so started mixing spices that can work in various dishes, not just typical curry dishes – like in dry-rub or marinade of vegetable, fish, and meat, adding to barbecue sauce, meat sauce, etc. This mix is about 2-part turmeric and paprika or red pepper flake, 1-part each of cumin, cinnamon, coriander, black pepper, ginger powder, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and 1-2 part brown sugar.

Barbecue sauce without HFCS

It started when I became sensitive to products with high fructose corn syrup, and discovered my favorite barbecue sauces include them, and so does regular tomato ketchup.

So, after research, I started making super easy barbecue sauce with tomato paste and spice combinations like above – add a can (usually 6 oz) of tomato paste, 12 oz of 100% apple juice (fill the emptied tomato paste can twice to scrape off bits), and 2 tablespoons of apple cider or balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan. If I have them, I’d add 6-oz of Japanese teriyaki sauce (above), 2 tablespoons of turmeric spice mix (above), 2-oz or so curry paste (above) and 1-2 tablespoons of kimchi juice. If I dont have them, I’d add 2 oz soy sauce, 2 oz sake, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons each of black pepper, paprika, cayenne, etc. Reduce in low heat by about 1/3, taste and adjust salt/sugar level.