An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

Like all stock, fish stock can be frozen.

Put a potato in a pot of soup or sauce to soak up unwanted salt. They are like sponges.

Peel a potato and cut it into big pieces. If you are feeling rich in potatoes, add it to whatever tastes salty after turning the burner under the pot off, let it sit for half an hour, then remove it. If you’re feeling potato poor and it’s a stew that won’t be hurt by a little potato, cut yours into nice little pieces and cook them into the finished dish.

Chickpea pasta one 30-ounce can chickpeas 5 tablespoons olive oil optional: 2 cloves garlic, sliced or chopped. This tastes better with the garlic, I think, but I am so proud of the union of just the pasta, water, oil, and canned beans that I can’t say without reservation salt freshly ground black pepper 1 pound small shaped pasta such as orecchiette, penne, farfalle, elbow macaroni Drain the chickpeas through a colander and rinse them for a minute. Heat a small, deep pot and add the olive oil. When it begins to shimmer, add the garlic, if using. Cook over very low heat until soft. Add the chickpeas, a pinch of salt, and water to cover by 1 inch. Cook the beans for 30 to 45 minutes before you begin tasting them for doneness. Add small pours of water to the pot, keeping them short of what looks wet. This will leave you with a creamy sauce that sticks to your noodles. Taste five beans when you think they’re done. If any bean is not totally velvety, let them go on cooking. When five taste completely creamy, lower the heat to almost off and add freshly cracked black pepper. Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water. Just before you drain it, remove a small glass of pasta water and stir a quarter of it into your pot of chickpeas. If they are still on low heat, the liquid should become integrated fairly quickly. Combine the pasta and chickpea sauce in a big bowl and mix well. If it seems dry, or the chickpeas are separate from the pasta instead of completely devoted to it, add...

A lot of popular canned ingredients from the era taste as though they’ve been embalmed. If canned asparagus, canned peas, canned spinach, canned corn, or canned carrots are your only options, resuscitate them. Drain any well, put it in a pot, add a quarter as much butter as vegetable, let it simmer for fifteen minutes, then pulse it in a food processor and eat it on toast or crackers.

Pork shoulder braised in milk with garlic, sage, and lemon 1 boneless pork shoulder from a happily raised pig, about 5 pounds tons of salt 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons butter 6 garlic cloves, peeled 2 sprigs savory 2 sprigs sage 1 bay leaf strips of lemon peel from 4 lemons 3 cups whole milk The pork shoulder will probably come tied. Leave it tied for cooking. The day before you plan to cook it, salt the roast five times as heavily as you want. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat a deep oven-safe pot, then add the olive oil and half the butter. When the butter stops foaming, add the pork and let it get brown on all sides. It can take up to 5 minutes per side. Remove the pork from the pan. Warm the garlic, savory, sage, bay leaf, and lemon zest in the remaining butter in the same pot for a few minutes. Return the pork to the pan, add 11/2 cups milk, and bring to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer, partially cover, and put the pot in the oven. Check the pork every half hour, turning it occasionally. As the milk evaporates, add more by the ladleful. As the pork cooks and the milk reduces, the milk will start to caramelize into golden curds. Let it cook for 4 to 5 hours until it is tender and the liquid is a golden tan, reduced juice. Unimaginable amounts of fat will rise to the top of this while it cooks—there is fat in the pig and fat in the milk. Skim it off if you’re eating this immediately. If you’re cooking it ahead, cool the pork in the refrigerator cove...

Amy’s brownies 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate 1 cup (2 sticks) butter 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 cup flour chocolate chips or walnuts Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13- x 9-inch baking pan. Melt the chocolate and butter in a mixing bowl placed over a small pot of boiling water. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Beat in 1 egg at a time. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until combined, then add the flour. Spread in the pan and top with chocolate chips or walnuts or anything else you like. Check them after 20 minutes. They should be done by 25 to 30.

Oversalted grits or polenta should be made into fries. Pour salty grits or polenta onto a baking sheet or cutting board and let them cool. Cut them into pieces good for picking up. Put out one plate each of flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs. Dip pieces of grits or polenta into first flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and lay them on wax paper. Heat a shallow layer of peanut or olive oil in a skillet and panfry the pieces on each side until they’re golden. Serve them with plain yogurt mixed with a little garlic pounded to a paste, or undersalted salsa verde.