And Thus We Begin, The Season of Brown...

A couple of things here; first of all, the sautéing of the mushrooms that I refer to. That action was in a video we shot right before we shot this one, and I think we were intending to use it for Instagram, but we were also going to intercut it into this one, so you could see it again. We do that sometimes, shoot a short technique, but use it as a springboard for a longer-form video to post here, for you guys, my super-special paid subscribers. ❤️

But then we were about to leave for Greece, and our flights got cancelled with no advance notification and no useful information whatsoever (thanks, Finnair), I freaked the F*CK out and had to scramble to rebook us less than 24 hours before we were due in Athens on any airline that had room (thanks, Norse!), then while I scrambling a leak sprung above my bathroom and it filled with the smell of mold and an incessant dripping sound, which my super gaslighted me about and ignored, and then I still had to pack and fly off to Greece for 10 days.

So, somehow that never happened, the intercutting of the mushroom sauté video. But, it did get posted in video form on Instagram and you can re-watch here if you missed it, or if you can’t remember ever seeing it, or just want a refresher course in how to sear mushrooms. It’s actually a new technique for cooking mushrooms, one that I learned only recently, proving the adage about old dogs, and it works exceptionally well. New tricks indeed! Even I, at almost 57 years of age, can learn new ways to do things after lo these many, many decades. Woof.

Now, about the Season of Brown. As I, and any other chef worth their kosher salt will tell you, brown…equals flavor. Searing, roasting, toasting. Baking, broiling and yes, browning, are all performed to achieve one thing, ok, two things; caramelization, and activate the Maillard Reaction. Caramelization (not carmelization!) is the browning of sugars in food. Simple sugars have very little flavor, only sweetness, but add some heat to them and hooboy! Hundreds of new flavor compounds develop, and the more heat, the more flavor that develops, up until you go too far and burn it. Think raw onion vs. deeply browned onion, and there you go. A marshmallow straight from the bag, vs. one lightly toasted over an open fire. Or toast. That’s caramelization. The Maillard reaction is an enzymatic change that occurs in protein rich, low sugar foods when heat is applied. Think of the crusty brown surface of a seared or grilled steak. That’s the Maillard reaction, baby! That’s why we don’t steam steak. Why would we when we can get crusty brownness? Both create deep, complex deliciousness and way more interesting flavors than we can get by just cooking things in water. Dry heat makes for caramel and Maillard. Brown = flavor.