Saturday, December 04, 2010

The Sixth Taste

You got your sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.
Well, at my house we've been cooking with a sixth taste, burny. Not smoky, though there was a bit of that in the stock we used for this soup.
The smoky came from barbecued pork rib bones. They were simmered with turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving.
The burny, though. It's easy, it's free, it's natural. And it tastes good.
Just throw your chopped vegetables into a pan with hot grease and cook until brown corners appear. It doesn't compromise the native flavor of the vegetables at all; just adds a zing of caramelization. And if you brown until black corners appear, you get that special sixth taste. A little touch of carbon.
Why not? I know in England they make gravy from burnt onions if there's no meat. Which I am going to try, now that I'm loving burny.

14 comments:

Kailyn said...

Burny. I like that. "No, it was not an accident. I felt that burny was just what this dish needed." Of course up until now I have only applied this to grilled hot dogs. Well knowingly done so that is. Now I'm thinking burny onions in turkey hash.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

I make brown-onion gravy, to have with meat. Almost burned onions - best with sausages & mash.
I'm pretty sure the taste in that is "burny".

Zoomie said...

And what would s'mores be without burny marshmallows? Chocolate on graham crackers. Ugh.

cookiecrumb said...

Kailyn: Thank you! The one thing you're not supposed to burn is beans. I guess they get really bad. And you're right about hot dogs.

Mouse: Burned onions sounds perfect with sausages and mash. I'm so tickled you already cook these things; we're rather blighted here in the US.

Zoomie: Ha ha! When I was a kid, if the marshmallow got black spots on it, I wouldn't eat it. I got real good at browning.

kudzu said...

My friend wrote about pleasures of "the goodie" -- the little corners of burned bits of macaroni and cheese, lightly overdone edges of pie crust, et al. I am sure she would approve of your discovery of the burney theory.

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: The Goodie! I think you've mentioned this before. What a super concept. Reminds me, too, of burnt ends of spareribs.

Zoomie said...

Oh, and BTW, why choose?

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie: I dunno. Santa's only bringing you one book? I've read Stacy Schiff before, and she's turgidly detailed... I'm going for Twain. :)

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Remember, We’re all descended from English and Irish convicts :)

Nancy Ewart said...

You are expanding the English vocabulary of food! I recently saw a program on one of the cooking channels that did just what you did. Obviously, you need to host a program for our interest and delight.

S-mores - oh the delights of burnt marshmallows. Unfortunately, I have burnt too many of them to an uneatable cinder so I have to be very, very careful. But when the marshmallows are brown and toasty and topping the chocolate/ graham cracker - s'deiish~

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: Actually so am I. ;) The criminal part is my parents never inherited their cultural traditions.

cookiecrumb said...

Nancy: I do have a few neologisms, don't I? So does Zoomie, and hers are funnier.
We never had the tradition of eating s'mores in my family or Brownie Troop. I was horrified at the idea, but when I ate my first one, it was sooo good.
(My mom taught me just to pick off the black scabs.)

Nancy Ewart said...

I made stock from "burny" chicken bones and bits, added a bit of wine and could have eaten it right out of the pot. But instead I made my winter greens - all kinds of greens seasoned with ginger and lemon zest and as many chili peppers as I felt it needed. Go for the burn baby!

cookiecrumb said...

Nancy: Wow, greens in burny stock? You've outdone me, and given me an idea. Jeez, good idea.