Curse of the Salt
We bought a new box of table salt last week even through there are only 55 days before we leave for Taipei and despite the fact that we already have four other kinds of salt. I didn’t believe I could accurately convert table salt measurements to sea salt measurements when following recipes and sea salt tastes much saltier by volume. Ironically, having the correct type of salt didn’t help in this case. The Stuffed Mushrooms recipe called for ¾ teaspoon of salt in the stuffing, ¾ teaspoon of salt in the sauce, more salt in the breadcrumb topping and salt sprinkled on the mushrooms. The result was still tasty, but clearly salty.
The stuffing wasn’t soft or fluffy. It was like eating a bunless pork-portobello burger. I also put all the breadcrumbs into the pork stuffing, leaving little for the topping. It was suppose to have a thick layer of breadcrumbs on top. Perhaps that would have made it even more like a burger. The tomato sauce was plain, but visually dressed up the dish. The recipe-suggested buttered macaroni was a simple and effective pairing.
I would call this comfort food; the simple elements created a tasty treat, although the starch content is not high enough to support Wikipedia’s theory:
A substantial majority of comfort foods are composed largely of simple or complex carbohydrate, such as sugar, rice, refined wheat, and so on. It has been postulated that such foods induce an opiate-like effect in the brain, which may account for their soothing nature.
Perhaps I could miniaturize them into clever hors d’oeuvres. A few ingredient substitutions could also make them Asian. How does stuffed shiitakes with sesame-ginger pork, panko crust and miso dressing sound?