Seasoning Fried Vegetables Is Better Than Broth
It’s officially cold enough now that I can wear a hoodie around the house, which means it’s cold enough to roast vegetables . Chips, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and all other types of plants are fine with a little oil, salt and pepper, but for a more soulful and complex flavor, I like to add a little better than broth .
Some of you may think of using BTB as “cheating,” but I would like to remind you that feeding yourself is not a test, no one is testing you, and BTB is delicious. A salty, gum-like paste is basically a concentrated flavoring made from meat and / or vegetables and hydrolyzed vegetable or soy protein, which brings in amounts of umami similar to monosodium glutamate. When mixed with fat and spread over vegetables, it forms a very aromatic crust, and the ingredients are reduced to three.
There are many flavors to choose from and I encourage you to get creative. It might be tempting to pair like and like and cover the vegetables with a vegetable base, but try to push the boundaries here. I like a ham and carrot base, a lobster base with porcini mushrooms, and a beef base with russet potatoes. (For more meatiness, use beef tallow.)
Better Than Bouillon is a very concentrated ingredient and too much will make your food taste overly salty. A proportion of two teaspoons for every pound of vegetables adds zest without distraction. For fat, use something solid, such as tallow, duck tallow, or lard, as BTB separates very quickly from liquid fats and slides off vegetables before they enter the oven. But turning the concentrate into a paste with hard fat keeps it in suspension while the vegetables are glazed, resulting in a crisp and even flavor. To make these super savory vegetables, you’ll need.
- 1 pound vegetables
- 1 tablespoon fat, such as tallow, duck tallow, schmalz, or lard
- 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon, any flavor
Preheat oven to 425 ℉. Prepare vegetables by slicing them, peeling them as needed, and placing them in a bowl or container with a lid. Stir 2 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon with 1 tablespoon of fat with a fork to create a smooth paste. Spread the fat over the vegetables, close the lid and shake the bowl to coat the vegetables evenly. Place them in a prepared skillet and cook until they are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, stirring occasionally to give all sides an even amount of heat. (See Estimated Cooking Times in this post .) Serve immediately.