Cooking is perhaps my greatest passion these days. Learning how to cook, however, can be a frustrating process. There are thousands of cookery books (and websites) out there containing recipes detailing how to make a particular dish. The results of each step in a recipe depend critically, however, on one’s method of execution, which requires knowledge and practice. My results in following recipes have improved dramatically as I have learned more about cooking technique, but  still don’t feel that I really know how to cook. To use an analogy, I feel like a classical musician who has reached a sufficient level of proficiency with his instrument to be able to learn how to play most written scores with a bit of practice, but who would be absolutely lost if asked to step up on stage and improvise with a group of jazz musicians, or to compose a piece of new  music. In other words, what I lack is a knowledge of the theory of cooking. I have found surprisingly few resources which offer serious help in this area, so I have decided to try to teach myself, and to document what I discover.

The process I intend to follow is to take individual dishes (or ingredients, or techniques) and to find out as much about them as I can. By comparing different sources I hope to be able to distill the essence of the dish in question, identify what makes it tick and, most importantly,  to learn how to improvise around the theme to make versions of the dish which suit everyone’s taste buds, wallets, ethical choices, and larder contents. I am hoping this will improve my understanding of how food ticks, make me a better cook, and further my appreciation of food. By recording my findings I hope I can provide a useful resource for others too.

I want to resume my regular blogging on this site too, and if it gets off the ground I’ll transfer the food bits to another site, but for now I’ll post my stuff here. Any constructive comments would be greatly appreciated.

For this pilot,  I’ve chosen a dish that doesn’t even need to be cooked.

Waldorf Salad

Few culinary classics can have started in as simple a form as the Waldorf salad. Tradition suggests that the dish was invented by Oscar Tschirky, the first Maître d’ at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York when it opened in 1893. Despite not even working in the kitchen, Tschirky claimed to have invented not only the Waldorf salad, but also eggs Benedict and Thousand Island dressing. Tschirky’s reputation as culinary auteur at the Waldorf is perhaps inflated by his authorship of a successful cookbook containing the first recipes for these classics, which became very influential in its time.

When looking at Tschirky’s original recipe for the Waldorf salad, it is amazing that something so minimalist could have caused such a stir. Here’s the recipe in its entireity:-

Peel two raw apples and cut them into small pieces, say about half an inch square, also cut some celery the same way, and mix it with the apple. Be very careful not to let any seeds of the apples be mixed with it. The salad must be dressed with a good mayonnaise.

Note the lack of nuts or fruit in the original. The appeal seems to lie in the combination of crunch, sweetness and the luxurious mouth-feel of the mayonnaise. Given the invention of coleslaw at least one hundred years before, I’m sure that people were experimenting with such combinations before the Waldorf Astoria opened in 1893, but making a novel salad the signature dish at such a prestigious venue ensured its fame. By the turn of the century, walnuts had become a regular accompaniment, adding another dimension to the crunch. And where the nuts went, the fruit soon followed. Grapes, raisins, dates and other variations were soon added to the mix.

There can be few better indicators of capturing the cultural zeitgeist in the US in the early 20th century than a mention in a Cole Porter tune, and in 1934’s paean to the superlative archetypes of the Jazz Age ‘You’re The Top‘, the Waldorf salad makes it to the list. Since then, it must be said that the dish has been relegated to the backwaters of culinary consciousness, but it did at least gain comedy immortality thanks to its title billing in an episode of Fawlty Towers, as expanded upon below.

Despite of its fall from grace, the Waldorf salad remains, however, a highly versatile dish, which can be eaten as a snack, an accompaniment or even a main course. Here is a basic recipe:-

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 lemon
2 apples (preferably not too sweet), cored and cut into 1/2 inch cubes just before adding to the mayonnaise/lemon mix to prevent browning
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (toasting will improve the flavour immeasurably)
1/2 cup red grapes, halved
Romaine lettuce

Whisk together the mayonnaise and lemon in a bowl, and then add the remaining ingredients. Toss well and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Note that the above proportions are just a starting point for a classic Waldorf salad. They will produce a pretty archetypal Waldorf, and the ratios are deliberately easy to remember (1/2 cup of mayonnaise, fruit and nuts and 1/2 a lemon to 2 apples and 2 celery stalks), but from this platform, the proportions should be tweaked according to taste. In addition, there are many ways to take the dish in other directions, as described below.

Substitutions

Mayonnaise: Substitute yogurt for some or all of the amount of mayonnaise for a lower fat salad.
Lemon: Consider using orange instead, adding some zest too. If you still want some sour in the mix, add a small amount of cider vinegar. Something containing vitamin C is a good idea, however, as it will prevent the apple from browning.
Apples: Pears can be used instead, and combined with a 1/3 cup of blue cheese would make a real treat.
Walnuts: Any type of nuts, particularly pecans, or perhaps even 1/4 cup of pine nuts will do the trick
Celery: If you’re not keen on the texture of celery, try raw, peeled, cubed celeriac (celery root)
Red grapes: Raisins are often used, but any dried fruit will work, with dried sour cherries and cranberries particularly popular. The esteemed Larousse Gastronomique surprised me by suggesting the inclusion of bananas.

Optional Extras

• Adding a couple of sliced roasted chicken breasts can turn the salad into a main meal.
• A dash of honey can help balance the sourness of the lemon
• To spice things up, add a pinch of cayenne pepper or ground allspice.
• Fresh mint can be used to add a fresh dimension to the taste

Technique – coring the apple

If you have an apple corer, so much the better. If not, try the following:

more about “How to core an apple with a melon bal…“, posted with vodpod

Note that if you don’t have a melon baller, you can use a spoon with a sharp or serrated edge or a even paring knife.

The science

Cut apples will soon turn brown, as enzymes in the fruit are prone to oxidation when exposed to the air. When apples are cooked, these enzymes are destroyed, which explains why cooked apples are not prone to browning. It is well known that covering the cut apple in lemon juice will stop the browning process, but this is not primarily due to the acidity of the lemons as is often thought (although this does slow the process). It is actually the vitamin C that does the trick. Vitamin C is an powerful anti-oxidant, which effectively stops the oxidation process when applied to the surface of the cut apple. This explains why other foods rich in vitamin C prevent browning, such as orange juice or honey, whereas vinegar does not.

Taking it to another dimension

I was intrigued to find this delicious looking roasted Waldorf salad on the kitchenscraps blog, incorporating celeriac in the place of celery and roasting the key ingredients for 30 minutes before mixing in the mayonnaise and serving very poshly in an impressive looking tower of culinary beauty.

Just for fun

After all that chopping, mixing and eating, relax with the classic Fawlty Towers ‘Waldorf Salad’ episode:

more about “Fawlty Towers 09 – Waldorf Salad (Full)“, posted with vodpod

Basil Fawlty, John Cleese’s character, is closely based on a real hotelier, Donald Sinclair, who ran the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay when the Monty Python team stayed there. The Waldorf Salad episode is loosely based on Sinclair’s scolding of Terry Gilliam’s ‘American’ table manners, in particular his cutlery etiquette (see another post of mine on the trans-Atlantic cutlery schism). When Sinclair died, it made it to the news in Britain, following which his widow objected that her late husband had been unfairly caricatured. Newspapers were subsequently flooded with mail from former guests at the Gleneagles Hotel, describing the appalling service they had received there, and stating that the Basil Fawlty character was a remarkably close match to the eccentric Mr Sinclair.