Although its available in its root form any time of the year, most
people don’t know how to store ginger properly.  Below are several
methods in order of shelf life.

How to store ginger refrigerated:
Thoroughly wash and peel the root.  Wrap in a paper towel and close
tightly in a plastic bag.  Ginger will last several weeks using this
method.

The advantage with refrigeration is a crisper texture and more vibrant
flavor.  The trade off is the short storage time.  This is the best
method for fresh ginger tea.  Just pull a piece from the bag, slice
thinly into a tea cup, pour in hot water, and sweeten with honey.

How to store ginger pickled:
Wash and peel ginger, slice into 1/8 inch slivers.  Soak in ice water
for 8 hours. Store in a jar of rice vinegar (enough vinegar to cover),
optionally: add a teaspoon honey and/or red miso. Pickled ginger will
last several months.

Pickled ginger is great for sushi.  Over time the ginger will lose
flavor but the rice vinegar will become even better as a base for salad
dressings.

How to store ginger frozen:
Wash ginger thoroughly, peeling ginger is optional.  Slice into several
easy to handle pieces.  Wrap in a paper towel and enclose in a plastic
bag.  Ginger will last up to six months in the freezer.

Ginger keeps it’s flavor well frozen but will have a mushy texture when
thawed.  Frozen ginger can be easily grated and added to stir-fry.

Each method has it’s trade offs.  It can be economical to buy a large
ginger root at a good price, and store a portion using all 3 methods.

We recently found one and,  even though it looked like a pea green relic from the ’70s,  my wife didn’t hesitate to buy it.  Later on she was using the “lift up strainer” from the container to mash some re-fried beans.  That seemed practical.  The bigger surprise was when she made chiles relleno and used the container to whip her egg whites.  That wasn’t what Tupperware intended, but pretty cool.

3 egg whites went into the container.  She started to plunge them using the strainer.  Egg white squished through the strainer holes with a pleasant squishing sound.  It seemed to build up some suction as air mixed with the egg on the way up and the way down.  In a couple minutes the eggs were whipped to peaks.  I’ve tried the  Pick-a-Deli few times and it is a little easier than using a whisk and definitely more fun.

I’m interested in finding more kitchen tools used in unintended ways.  If you have a story please comment.

I cringe every time I have to throw away leftovers, but eating yesterdays dinner for lunch isn’t always an exciting  prospect either.  Sometimes I stumble upon a way to incorporate leftovers in a new dish different enough to make a great meal.  My wife has called me the leftover master (I’m hoping that wasn’t an underhanded compliment).  I recently had great success reusing a tzatziki sauce as a marinade on the grill and will definitely follow the same tactic sometime soon.

Summer has arrived in Seattle and amazingly we have had almost 30 days without rain.  We took advantage and went on a picnic.  I whipped up some tzatziki sauce to accompany some pita bread and my wife’s specialty pollo con rajas .

Tzatziki Sauce

• 2 (8 ounce) containers plain yogurt
• 2 cucumbers – peeled, seeded and diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled

• In a food processor or blender, combine yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dill and garlic. Process until well-combined. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor.

We actually halved this recipe, 16 ounces of sauce would have been a little too much serving 4 even when reusing the sauce later.  At the park we  filled our home baked pita with pollo con rajas and topped with tzatziki sauce.  It was a Mideast/Mexican fusion that worked pretty well.  The citrus, cucumber and yogurt were very refreshing for a summer day.

A few days later we decided to do some grilling.  Luckily I had remembered seeing a recipe in Secret Ingredients by Michael Roberts with a grilled chicken marinade very similar to my tzatziki sauce.  We had about 4 ounces of sauce left, to this I added a 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary.  I poured this mixture over a halved and cleaned chicken in a glass dish and refrigerated.  The chicken marinated for about 6 hours.  We grilled the chicken with and served with an accompaniment of vegetables (grilled mushrooms, red and green peppers, and onion).

In Secret Ingredients, Michael reserves the marinade from the chicken to create a sauce.  He combines it with 2 cups chicken broth and boils over high heat until thickened.  I actually gave this a shot but the sauce broke and was a little over salted.  I think the breakdown may have been the yogurt being over mixed.  Oh well the leftover master can only stretch it so far.

Any creative leftover stories?  I would love to hear from you.

Related articles

• Leftovers Recipe: Lamb Pitas with Cucumber Mint Tzatziki (thekitchn.com)
• Simple Cooking – Tzatziki and Pita (chicagoist.com)

Should I eat this?

It appeared in a mock calendar diary for 1997 and was produced by Potlatch (the paper company) under the title “365 Ben Days.” The concept and design was by Dana Arnett, Ken Fox, Fletcher Martin and John Naresky of VSA Partners, Chicago.view full size

I’ve been experimenting more and more in the kitchen and trying not to rely on recipes. Reading Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking has given me a good start in that direction. Ratio also includes a lot of classic flavor combinations like the quartet of parsley, tarragon, chives, and chervil. Now I’m looking to expand my own arsenal of flavors with the help of online resources. (photo by marcelgermain)

One strategy that has turned up good results is using the website Recipe Puppy. Entering a favorite ingredient in the search bar finds all recipes that include that ingredient.  What I look at closely is the suggested ingredients on the right side of the page. For example if I start a search for anise seed several complimentary ingredients show up in the ingredient list. If I refine my search by selecting fennel seed, the top result is Chinese Five-Spice powder, a versatile mixture.

Adding and removing ingredients to the list will result in more unusual combinations. Changing my list to anise seed, basil, and lemon, came up with one resulting dish Grilled Sirloin Steak with Anise Basil Butter. The description reads:

The combination of anise seed and basil in the following recipe may seem unusual, but it enhances the faint licorice flavor in basil.

“Unusual”, exactly what I was looking for.

If you have had any success with finding interesting flavors using other methods, please comment. I would love to add your ideas to a followup article.

Have you ever wondered how great cooks could just step into a kitchen and whip up fantastic food with just whatever is on hand? I have always wanted to do that! After reading Michael Ruhlman’s new book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, I could walk into the kitchen right now, and with a few glances at my cheat sheet of cooking ratios, create some amazing food. I know this is the type of freedom he wanted to impart on his readers. There is so much to explore here. I will keep posting my own kitchen experiments using ratios in the weeks to come.

Check out the video, he seems so down to earth.

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking