When I was growing up, my family wasn\u2019t particularly adventurous when it came to the dinner table. We relied on a foundation of Italian American and French classics for most meals; my dad could make a two-day opera-soundtracked production out of even the most basic pasta sauces (an early lesson in marketing). So when I got to the Bon App\u00e9tit Test Kitchen in 2011, my culinary education was still just beginning\u2014I couldn\u2019t have told you the difference between cumin and coriander.<\/p>\n
Tucked away in my old cubicle-size kitchen station, recipe by recipe, I was taken inside the minds of hundreds of pro chefs and developers. I could see the way layers of ingredients formed the building blocks of flavor, and how umami\u2014that all-important sense of savory richness\u2014could be hot-wired into recipes for nearly instant impact. Making and tasting dishes like Hot Joy restaurant\u2019s Crab Fat\u2013Caramel Wings, coated in savory crab paste and fish sauce caramel, and Mission Chinese Food\u2019s Mapo Tofu, laced with fermented black beans and chiles, were my graduate degree in cooking.<\/p>\n
By the time I became a parent, my home cooking was a far-ranging playbook that incorporated all kinds of pantry ingredients in pursuit of umami. I always maintained a deep fondness for the Italian American comfort foods of my youth and set about recreating them according to how I learned to cook in the Test Kitchen (sorry, Grandma!): with funk, zing, depth, and heat. I seek fast-acting amplified flavors and don\u2019t hesitate to stir a spoonful of gochujang into marinara or toss pickled chiles into puttanesca sauce for pork chops. These dishes below might not follow my nonna\u2019s rules for Italian American cooking, but to me they still taste like home.<\/p>\n
I am just as likely to reach for gochujang as chile flakes when layering heat into marinara sauce for chicken parm. Gochujang goes beyond spiciness\u2014its deeply fermented soybean flavor adds exceptional funk. If you are new to it, think miso plus chile peppers and you won\u2019t be far off. I tend to look for Sempio brand when out shopping, but most brands are perfectly great and remarkably similar to each other. If it is your first time buying it, Lucky Foods makes a 4 oz. squeeze tube of their Seoul Gochujang which is easy to reseal between uses, minimizing any oxidation. Any paste will darken over time and dry out slightly but it takes many months, by which point you will no doubt have found ways to work it into your soups, sauces, dressings, and condiments.<\/p>\n
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Many of my favorite home-cooked meals involve a saucy finish made with copious amounts of white wine, butter, and garlic, but to me, that is often just a starting point. Harissa adds a layer of nuance, offering added body and gentle heat from spices like caraway and cumin. The challenge for recipe developers and home cooks alike has been finding reliable and consistent brands of harissa that balance aromatic spices and chile heat. Some can taste like mild roasted red peppers, while others will sear the taste buds right off your tongue. NY Shuk is the exception, a singular product that has impressed us for over a decade, based on a smooth brick-red pur\u00e9e of guajillo chiles with fragrant garlic, cumin, and other spice notes. This kind builds slow heat that doesn\u2019t overwhelm, whether using a spoonful as a condiment or an entire jar to braise chicken for a crowd.<\/p>\n
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