Don't Sweat the Aubergine

simmering and evaporation.
    (Other acidic foods, such as tomatoes and onions, become sweeter as they cook as well. That’s one reason why you simmer a tomato sauce until it thickens, and why you soften onions in butter or oil.)
    Our idea of a professional kitchen is likely to include chefs wielding spectacularly flaming pans. Setting light to brandy or other spirits is standard practice. But is there any point to it, other than to create an impressive display? My own experiments suggest that boiling is just as efficient in getting rid of the spirity flavour – indeed, that it produces a better-tasting liquid.
Stock cubes
    Marco Pierre White has not, on the whole, enhanced his reputation by advertising stock cubes. Artificial versions of something you can make with proper ingredients are deeply unfashionable. But, while I am all for preparing one’s own stock (see the Stocks chapter, here ), I do not have supplies of the stuff in my kitchen at all times. I think that a cube, used cautiously, can give umami to a dish – a grounding of savoury flavour. I always cut it in half, though.



 
    I CANNOT GUARANTEE that the advice in this chapter will produce flawless results every time. Some sauces are not foolproof, or even expert-proof. But I may be able to help improve your chances of success. And, if things do go wrong, at least you’ll have some idea why
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VINAIGRETTE
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For a green salad for 4
    Pinch of salt
    1 dstsp white wine or red wine vinegar
    3 dstsp extra virgin olive oil
    In your salad bowl, combine the salt and the vinegar; the salt will dissolve. Add the oil, and stir vigorously to amalgamate. 1 Just before serving, 2 tip in the salad ingredients, which should be dry, 3 and toss thoroughly.
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VARIATIONS
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    Proportion of ingredients . The three parts oil to one part vinegar formula works well with most salad greens, imparting just the right amount of tartness. You may prefer a five-to-one ratio for bitter greens such as endives. The starchiness of potatoes can be offset with a greater proportion of acidity: I use two parts oil to one part vinegar in potato salads.
    Oils . You can also use sunflower oil, vegetable oil or groundnut oil – or a combination. Rapeseed oil has enthusiasts, too.
    Vinegar . You could use balsamic vinegar – although I’m not so keen on introducing a dark brown ingredient to a green salad. Or lemon juice.
    Garlic . A little goes a long way in a vinaigrette. Some people simply rub the bowl with the cut side of a clove. I take a sliver, crush it with a little salt, and add it to the vinegar. Or, making a potato salad, I might simmer a garlic clove with the potatoes, slip it from its skin, and crush it with the salt into the vinegar. It becomes milder on poaching.
    Mustard . I’d use 1/3 tsp Dijon mustard with the ingredients above. Like salt, it combines happily with vinegar, so you should stir it into the vinegar in the bowl before adding the oil. If you try adding it at the end, you’ll have trouble amalgamating it. (But if you want grains of salt in your salad, grind them over at the end.)
    Sweetness . Try adding 1/4 tsp caster sugar or honey to the vinegar.
    Anything else . There are all sorts of ingredients you could add. Pepper, obviously. Roquefort or other blue cheese (a dessertspoon, say), crumbled into the vinegar and amalgamated before you add the oil. A dessertspoon of double cream to substitute for the same quantity of oil. A shake of soy sauce. Or Worcester sauce. Make a Thai-flavoured vinaigrette with a small piece of finely chopped lemon grass, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped ginger, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, a shake of fish sauce, and chopped coriander leaves. Add herbs to the salad: chives, basil, tarragon, marjoram, parsley.
    My preferred vinaigrette includes – in the proportions given above – vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, honey, garlic (sometimes), and two parts sunflower oil to one part olive oil.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • Amalgamation . Vinaigrette is an emulsion in which vinegar is dispersed in oil. Amalgamating the two is a much more foolproof process than is creating a mayonnaise emulsion ( see here ); but the vinegar will fall away from the oil almost immediately. Give the sauce another stir before tossing the salad in it. Or make it in a jar, and shake it
    2 • Late dressing . Oily dressings soon discolour salad leaves and turn them soggy.
    3 • Dry leaves . Water on salad leaves will repel the oil