Love those geeks that can bring it all together. Here's my food-geek thoughts of the day.
While watching Alton Brown dive in the Kelp tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I was reminded of Kombu. Kombu is a type of kelp the best of which comes from Hokkaido. It's use in making dashi or soup stock is becoming more widely known. It adds natural umami to dashi (or stock) and can be used to enhance the flavor of shrimp stock and more.
While listening to John Ash of Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland CA demonstrate how easy a delicious spring pea soup is to make, I was reminded of my stock tips. Not investment type but cooking type. Trust me, you don't want to be taking financial advice from me!
I always try to save shrimp shells for stock and to save stock in cubes in the freezer. Today's article offers trucs or tips and tricks from ways to freeze stock to two excellent techniquues for adding flavor depth with umami-rich ingredients.
Alton Brown often says "no unitaskers" and I agree. I share some of my favorite multi-use kitchen tips here. I wonder if he was harvesting a little umami-rich kelp while he was diving and doing his Darth Vader impression while teaching the aquarium guests around the tank about the importance of making sustainable seafood choices.
