Hello everyone,
Welcome to week 2 of our first session of the cooking class
Today, we are discussing a topic that has probably ate at the conscience of many of you, or annoyed some of you. But today, I will share my own opinion about this issue, and just how well you can manage it if this issue has been something that has crossed your mind before. What am I talking about? The Use of Stock cubes in Nigerian dishes, or any dish in general.
You have probably heard a few people, including myself in past (I am sadly ashamed to say) bash the use of stock cubes in Nigerian cooking. Here's why:
Stock cubes are used a lot in Nigerian dishes, ALMOST EVERY DISH, even eggs, which is why I am baffled when some Nigerians are amazed I use chicken stock in making scrambled eggs.
Are they bad? No. not really. They are chuck full of salt though, so not the healthiest, people on a low-sodium diet should probably avoid using too much, otherwise, they are pretty alright. so what's the issue? Nothing! if you are just an individual trying to make dinner and call it a day. But if you are someone looking to explore flavours, create dishes, become a chef, be a food blogger, or anything of the sorts, then you are cheating yourself. Cut stock cubes out of your cooking and you will find you know almost nothing about the spices you use, you will find it becomes ridiculously hard to create great tasting dishes, this is the only reason I would say avoid using it, train yourself to explore flavours, learn to combine and create great layers of flavour, buy more ingredients and spices that aid in create, balancing and layering flavours.
If you still choose to use stock cubes, it is not an issue at all, it does not matter whether you use them or not, all your customers (if you have any), or family and friends care about is that you give them a great tasting dish. But take some notes, the main ingredients that give stock cubes its kick is flavour enhancer a.k.a. Monosodium glutamate (MSG). MSG has had some bad rep over the years but a lot of the lies told against it has been debunked, like the famous "it will give you headaches". The rest of the ingredients in stock cubes, well at least most of them are similar to the ingredients we used in our stock making videos. This is why most asian takeaways don't use stock cubes and just use MSG, most famous brand being 'Ajinomoto'.
You can take this route as well and start using MSG rather than stock cubes, this way, you are still teaching yourself in a gentle manner how to layer flavours, and MSG is just your fall back plan if it all goes south.
Anyway, this post is not intended solely for MSG and stock cubes, so I have tried to keep it brief and I think it is time we move on. What I want to teach you today, for those of you that may decide to take steps in learning to cook without MSG or stock cubes, is steps and tips that will allow you achieve great flavour in your dishes, this information will be brief, but will be covered countless times over as the class progresses. So here are my top 2 beginner tips:
SALT:
Salt is much more than you think it is, it works more wonder than just boosting flavour, and when explored down to chemical and microscopic levels, it is even more amazing, but for now, here is what you need to know. Salt ahead of time!
With salt, it is trial and error. Without stock cubes, the first thing you will realise is that you massively UNDER-SALT your food, because previous you added so little and the sodium in the stock cubes did the rest. Keep trying until you get it right, and you will see results. For a started, if you are worried about how to salt, weigh your meat, then use 1% of that weight in salt and for cooking, just add little and then taste as you go, this is why some recipes say salt to taste, which means add little and keep adding along the way until it tastes right to you.
Salt larger pieces of meat like a full lamb leg at least 24 hours before intended cooking time. Smaller pieces can be salted hours before. This gives the salt time to move into the meat and season the inside as well as the outside. If you have ever wander why some people just use salt and pepper to cook cuts like steak, it's because a well salted meat that has been given enough time for the salt to flavour the outermost and innermost part of the meat will taste a whole lot better that which was just salted right before or during cooking. This is why in the EFO RIRO video, you will notice i salted the meat and let it sit a couple hours before grilling it.
BRINE:
Brining, which is basically just salting again, is where the meat, fish or fruit is submerged into a sugar, salt and water solution. If you read the 'coconut and tomato fish sauce' recipe HERE, I give information under the Method about quantities and recommendations for brining.
If the end result is to salt, what is the point of brining? well, unlike dry brine, which is where we just rub the meat with salt, a wet brine, allows for the meat/fish to retain moisture, this is incredible evident for when you grill meat like chicken breast. A brined chicken breast will be more delicious and juicier than one not brined, or at least salted.
In the next post, I will cover the next tip:
DILUTION , SALT & FLAVOUR.
Until then, I hope you have gotten some information about this and relieved yourself of any guilt you felt using stock cubes, while someone else is claiming that it is bad, and if you are straying from it and looking to learn to create great flavours without it, then I hope I have given you a good starting point to start exploring, and don't worry, we will cover much more on the topic through this class.
Till next post.
Happy cooking.