It’s Time to Eat Some Non-Hot Food
It hasn’t warmed up properly yet, but once it does, three things become reality: I will start to hate using the oven. I want to invite people to my yard to dine outdoors. I will become more and more lazy. None of these three things are in direct conflict with the other two, but their coexistence does create some problems.
Cooking outdoors keeps me cool, but grilling usually means I’m smoky and sweaty by dinner. I also don’t always like to put freshly prepared food in my mouth if I myself have spent a lot of time sweating over hot coals. This is where the elegance of food at room temperature (or even colder temperature) comes into play.
Eating food that was cooked the day before, a couple of hours ago, or even just half an hour ago and then left to cool does two things: it introduces you to new tastes and textures, and it frees up the hosting schedule significantly. If you’re not worried about your main “cold” while you cook the rest of your meal, you will feel much less stress and more likely enjoy the fun process. ( Limiting yourself a little can help, too.)
While a good hot steak is definitely a treat, a fried bock that’s been in the sauce (in the refrigerator) all night can be excellent. The sauce has soaked the meat, and if you take it out of the refrigerator half an hour earlier so that it warms up slightly before serving, you will taste the volatile aromas that you can skip at very high or very low temperatures.
“Food” is not a monolith, and even something as simple as orange juice contains a dizzying amount of chemical compounds that affect its taste, and temperature affects different types of food in different ways. According to Serious Eats , “This topic remains poorly understood in the scientific community, in part due to the wide variation in flavor concentrations in different foods, not to mention the intrinsic subjectivity of taste.” Even so, “the idea that high and low temperatures reduce the intensity of your tongue’s perception of taste has gained a lot of credibility among scientists and lay people alike.”
Oddly enough, I ate room temperature grilled chicken thighs yesterday and it amazed me. The only downside was the skin – it was supple and wobbly rather than crunchy – but the meat was sweeter, slightly richer, and felt firm and silky on the tongue. It was a completely different experience than having a freshly grilled thigh and it was a good experience.
A few words about food safety
I know we all have to keep “hot food hot” and “cold food cold,” but you have some leeway, even by FDA standards . They recommend leaving perishable food out of the refrigerator for no more than two hours and no longer than one hour if the ambient temperature rises above 90 ° F, so stick with that and you’ll be more than safe. (The FDA and its regulations have never stopped me from eating pizza that was on my counter at night, but I do it the way the FDA says, not me.)
Let your meat soften
Resting a little after cooking is good for any meat so the juices can be redistributed, but some meats are especially good for extended naps or even a full night’s sleep . Some of my favorite non-hot foods include chicken breasts that have been chopped and grilled (or pan-fried) and then allowed to cool to room temperature, a medium-rare steak cut into thin slices that have been chilled overnight and topped with a sour vinaigrette. and room temp (or cold) fried inverted koji , miso, or pork marinated in buttermilk . This sous vide tuna doesn’t appeal to all fresh from the stove, but absolutely stellar when served by the room-temp with crusty bread, very good mayonnaise, and lots of fresh herbs. Also, do not sleep on leftover fried chicken; it shouldn’t work – most cold fried foods are terrible – but the layer of solidified fat that sits right under the skin, combined with the cold, salty crunch of the breading, is a textural delight.
Let vegetables come out of vegetables
Freshly fried potatoes are good – I would never say otherwise – but when allowed to cool to room temperature, they are perfect for cooking. Try dipping one of these mini-candies straight from the deep fryer into the sour cream. The fall will slip off immediately. But let the hillock cool, and it will grab the fermented milk products and carefully lay them down until it reaches your mouth. Tiny potatoes at room temperature are also the best way to make crème fraîche and caviar; hot would melt the first and obscure the delicate salty taste of the second.
Other vegetables, both root vegetables and non-root vegetables, also need refrigeration. Room temperature roasted carrots can be a great substitute for meat in a salad – they have a taste! – and asparagus in a cold marinade always looks more like asparagus than its hot counterpart. In fact, I would say that all pickled vegetables are best at room temperature. The oils are warm enough to be runny, but not so hot that the delicate herbs are lost in flavor. If you need to convince you that fresh vegetables and fruits are better served at room temperature than chilled ones, simply replace the fruit tomato slice that was stored in the refrigerator with the tomato slice that was stored on the counter.
Eggs and dairy products are beneficial too
Warm eggs and cheese may sound nasty – especially if you grew up in the US or anywhere else that picks cuticles from eggs – but dishes like Spanish tortilla are designed to be served this way (like this omelet in sous side ). ) and if it’s not grated cheese straight out of the bag at 2 a.m. cold cheese is considered a crime. We’ve discussed this before , but the fat in cheese just doesn’t taste and feel as cold in the refrigerator:
The cheese is mostly fat, and the cold fat is elastic and tasteless. But once the fat heats up, it will soften and the cheese will taste creamy – rather than plump – in your mouth. It will also taste as intended, since you won’t have spoiled, cold, taste-muffling fats.
This spring and summer, I urge you to lean towards non-hot, room temperature, and very slightly cool. It will allow you to be more lazy, light-hearted and a little more relaxed, but it can also introduce you to new flavors and textures that you never knew were possible. One thing I would avoid at all costs? Diet Coca-Cola at room temperature. If you allow it to warm up to something other than “ice”, you will be able to try new and interesting flavors, but these flavors can best be described as a “robot blood.”