Burn Baby Burn

Supper, Sunday February 17 2019, roasty grilly smoky stuff (cranberry beans with smoked habanero cheddar; roasted butternut; grilled corn).

Alexis likes bitter and earthy flavors. she likes the earthyness of beans. Here are some cranberry beans, one of our more recent favorites. What we have even more recently discovered is red cargamantos. They are the mother bean of the cranberry bean. Instead of the cream with red flecks of the cranberry bean the cargamanto is deep red with cream flecks. The flavor is similar but the skins are thinner and the texture is creamier.

I had not thought of it until now: Alexis likes smoked things because smoke is bitter. If you don't believe taste the very outside of smoked meat. Unless there is sugar of some form applied the smoke flavor is very bitter. Is that why so many BBQ sauces are super sweet? I think so. We are trained to overpower bitterness with sugar. Think cola. There is an obscene amount of sugar in a regular cola, a little over 9 tsp in a 12 oz can. Without that sugar, cola is just NASTY. We normally think of coffee as bitter. I only put about a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee. By comparison coffee is downright sweet compared to cola.

Bitter flavors are important though, and when balanced properly they lend a great deal of complexity to foods. Gouda and cheddar are yummy. Smoked gouda and cheddar are suuuper yummy. There is just enough sweetness and lots of saltiness and umami to balance the bitter.