Rooftop Gourmet

The French have always turned their noses up at Americans for their use of processed condiments. While I can see their point about condiments masking the flavor of the actual food, that is exactly what makes jarred condiments American. America was built on making everything bigger, faster, and easier. Why waste thirty minutes in the kitchen making homemade sauce, when you can just open a jar? If opening a jar is too much work for you… squeeze some ketchup out of a tiny packet.

If fast food chains didn’t slop mustard, mayo, ketchup, and “secret sauce” all over their burgers, the consumers might realize that they’re eating crappy meat. Americans were taught that the flavor is not in the food but rather in the condiment (which depending on the cook, may be true). Now that salsa has surpassed ketchup as America’s #1 condiment, people are putting it on everything and eating it by itself. Who said a chip was a food? Chips are gross by themselves, so why not use a chip as a utensil to eat your condiment.

If your kids don’t like the food that you put infront of them, parents are telling them to just put bbq sauce on it and eat it. We’re training Americans to dislike the actual food they eat, and giving them remedies to fix that problem in jars… or even squeeze bottles! While I am an advocate for creating delicious homemade sauces and salsas, I must admit, I am also American.

 I still slather Guildens hot and spicy all over my Fenway Frank, make homemade bbq sauce with Heinz 57, and my “dipping everything in blue cheese” habit has gone Oriental in the form of “Sriracha squirting”. Recently, I have discovered my new favorite condiment which has been on tables in China for many years.

 Black Bean & Garlic sauce is a popular Chinese condiment that is widely used in its cuisine to flavor all types of foods. After blowing through two jars in the month of July, I decided it was time to make my own from scratch. I sent my daring fiance over to the Super 88 (Asian specialty food supermarket) in search of some hard to find ingredients. Believe it or not, Black Bean & Garlic sauce is not made with black beans at all, or at least not with the black beans you’re used to eating. Douchi is the name for fermented soybeans that are used to create this sauce.

Fermenting and salting turns the soybeans black, mushy, and dry and gives it a strong salty, pungent, and bitter flavor. They aren’t very visually appealing but they taste delicious. After roaming around a giant supermarket with everything written in a different language for hours, Siobhan located the douchi as well as some rice vinegar, and brown rice vinegar.

I got home from work and put the trusty blender to use. I rinsed the gunk off of the fermented soybeans and tossed them into the blender along with ten cloves of garlic, a few spicy, Thai chilies, soy sauce, both vinegars, and some hot water. In no time, the brown sauce was silky smooth and creamy. Again, this sauce is far from picturesque but believe me when I tell you that it is a whirlwind of flavors in your mouth.

I picked up some of the largest littleneck clams that I have ever seen, in order to make a classic Cantonese dish… Steamed clams in black bean and garlic sauce. We washed, and scrubbed all of the grit off the outside of the clams and if we had more time we would have soaked them overnight in cold water and cornmeal. The live clams actually eat the cornmeal and it helps them regurgitate any impurities they have inside their bellies.

Turning a mouthwatering condiment into a sauce is so incredibly simple. We basically took a few spoonfuls of the black bean and garlic paste and threw it into a warm pan with some canola oil and a touch of water. After a few minutes of whisking a smooth, bubbly sauce appears before your very eyes.

That is when I added the littlenecks and placed the lid on for them to steam. The longer the clams take to pop their lids open, the more aromatic and thick the sauce gets. It is almost impossible not to peek underneath the lid and grab a taste of the sauce.

Once the clams opened up to expose their meaty insides, I tossed them around so that the sauce snuck into every crevice. We plopped the pan down infront of us and with a sprinkle of shaved green onions, and a good tear of chewy bread we had ourselves an amazing meal. We sat at the counter, fighting over the juicy clams, and using their shells as spoons to slurp up every last drop of the black bean and garlic sauce. The rich, earthy flavors were so new and exciting, unlike any other condiment we were ever accostomed to.

It was bitter, salty, spicy and earthy all in one bite. We washed down the shellfish with a frosty pint of Japan’s oldest brews. Sapporro brewery dates back to 1876 and has been making top quality Bavarian style beers in Japan ever since. Once you dip your lip through the foamy head, the beer is crisp and refreshing with a slightly yeasty finish. Sometimes, you just need to leave the cork in the wine and bust out an ice cold beer to wash down something as salty as this dish… especially when you’re constantly licking your fingers and rifling through paper towels.

Ironically, I spooned a ton of my homemade Chinese condiment back into an empty mustard jar for later use, but I promise you that this sauce is something that even the snobbiest French foodies would appreciate.

Over the past few years there has been a huge increase in popularity and demand for artisanal microbrews and specialty beers. The gourmet beer craze has officially swept the nation and people are now buying $30 22oz. beers like they would Bordeaux. I came across a beer the other day that I couldn’t resist trying based on its description; “the first beer specifically designed to be paired with food”. The Estrella Damm Inedit is a blended beer created by world renown Spanish chef Ferran Adria’ of elBulli restaurant.

It is a hybrid barley-malt lager and Belgian Wheat ale, brewed with a blend of spices and yeast, that is double fermented in the bottle to add weight and complexity; in other words… this is not your typical beer pong, red cup filler. The brewmaster recommends serving it slightly chilled in a white wine glass for it to reach its maximum potential. Since I had not yet tasted the beer, I decided to play it somewhat safe by looking for a classic beer snack to pair it with.

I am a huge fan of wasabi peas whether they’re on their own or buried in a snack mix because they’re crunchy and they have just the right amount of heat that always makes you want to take another sip. I figured that if I pulsed the wasabi peas in the food processor just a little bit they would still keep their crunchy texture and add an enormous punch of flavor to anything.

I decided to use them to encrust a piece of salmon along with some fresh lime zest, which I eventually baked in the oven. Since I was already using some fake peas, I decided to pair the fish with some sauteed snap peas (yes they’re real) and a quick cabbage slaw. In order to cool down the nose burning, horseradish heat I had to make a sauce with a touch of sweetness.

Sticking with  the Japanese theme, I thought about the typical sushi accompaniments… wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce. The base for my sauce was sauteed shallots, fresh ginger, and garlic which I then deglazed with tons of Ponzu vinegar and soy sauce. Ponzu has a strong citrus flavor and the soy is pretty salty so I added some honey and let everything reduce to a sweet, sticky consistency.

The salmon baked for roughly ten minutes until it was pink throughout and the wasabi crust gained a touch of golden brown. I put a pretty good chill on the beer, maybe because I am used to drinking ice cold Bud Light, so at first the aroma didn’t impress me too much. After I let the beer open up in the glass for a while I was completely blown away!

The fruity nose smelled like dried apricots and honey, and the lightly carbonated beer was so rich on my palate. It started off filling my mouth with a creamy texture reminiscent of a fine White Burgundy; flavors of pear, orange, and toasted pine nuts.

The beer then finished smoothly but with a touch of spice that reminded me of a Gewurztraminer. The finish was so memorable and seemed to last forever. I found that all of the characteristics that make wine and food work so well together were equally abundant in this Spanish beer. It seemed to work beautifully with the wasabi-pea encrusted salmon too.

I totally see where the chef and brewmaster were coming from when they created this food-friendly beer. In my opinion, Ferran Adria’ has set a benchmark in the history of craft brewing that I assume other celebrity chefs will soon follow. Look for specialty beers to start popping up on wine lists all over the country and paired with gourmet dishes… not just a bowl of snack mix.