Iterative Refinement

February 11, 2008 by Sanjay.

Since I am much more at home these days, I end up cooking more than I used to, perhaps 2-3 nights every week. This frequency means that I am, for the first time, running out of things to cook. As a result, I now think of recipes like car-ful Indians regard traffic lights: suggestions, not imperatives.

Once you have mastered the basics (I am thinking here of Indian food; I imagine it isn’t very different in other cuisines,) each new recipe speaks to you like a poem, a clean number theory theorem, or a John Prine lyric. It either holds together, or it seems artificially constructed. Even if the former, following the recipe exactly is never really possible (for me). Sometimes it’s missing ingredients. Sometimes it’s lack of time for a particularly involved marination or pre-cooking prep. So I view every new recipe as an outline, a “treatment”. (This is especially true of Internet recipes, which often seem to be improvised precisely to get around lack of time or ingredients.)

Having tried numerous variations on a recipe, once I have decided on its merit, rather than continuing experimenting, I tend to converge to a “best practice”. Here, for example, is my reworking of:

Kavi Didi’s Vindaloo

Ingredients

• 3/4 lbs pork or beef, cubed 1/2 inch
• 1/2-inch ginger root, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons coriander powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• red chilly powder to taste (1 = little bite, 2 = nicely hot)
• 3 tablespooons canola oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seed
• 1/2 teaspoon of coriander seed

Preparation

1. Add everything but the cumin and coriander seed, plus half a cup of water to pressure cooker.
2. Seal the lid, put on high heat and let it whistle at full pressure.
3. Reduce heat and let simmer 3 minutes. (Adjust time based on meat tenderness.)
4. Release steam, remove top and cook until dry. Stir as necessary.
5. Wait for oil to separate.
6. Roast cumin and coriander seeds together until brown. Grind and add to Vindaloo.
7. Serve hot with rice. (Also makes excellent sandwich with leaf lettuce, tomato, and good French bread.)

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