Whatcha Cookin'?

Don't Just Think Chicken:

Cornish game hens are not some rare exotic fowl; they’re just very small, very young, very tender chickens. You can prepare and cook them the same way you would a whole chicken, but you must adjust the cooking time—the hens’ small size means they’ll need less cooking time than larger chickens. We like them roasted and smothered, which helps keep the meat juicy.

If you’re a dark-meat lover, try duck; unlike chicken or turkey, duck is all dark meat, including the breasts. Duck has a strong flavor that’s more similar to red meat than to chicken, and its skin is fattier than chicken or turkey. So when it’s cooked, that extra fat translates into greater juiciness and a rich flavor. Duck takes longer to cook than chicken, but it’s worth the wait.

Remember to rinse your rice.

We eat rice with just about everything. Rinsing rice before cooking removes any surface starch that could make it gummy as it cooks. Rinse rice in a bowl or pot with several changes of cold water, draining between rinses, just before you cook it; you should be able to see the starchiness being released into the water. For best results, use a mesh strainer.

Use seasoned and smoked meats for fat and flavor.

Ham shanks, cut from the area just below the pork shoulder or hip, and ham hocks, cut from the bottom half of the pork leg, both add a deep, smoky, salty flavor to any slow-cooked stew or vegetable dish. Shanks tend to be meatier than hocks, so if you want a higher protein content, use shanks. When your dish is finished cooking, cut off any meat that’s still connected to the bone. Discard the skin and bones, then add the cut meat back to the pot.

Smoked sausage adds a whole lot of flavor to smothered okra, potatoes and corn. Andouille (pronounced ahn-DOO-wee), a dense, highly seasoned, heavily smoked Cajun sausage, really brings the heat. Smoked green onion sausage adds an extra kick with chopped green onions, and hickory-smoked Conecuh sausage lends a bacony flavor to any dish.

Pork neck bones also have a bit of meat on them, which falls off the bone after a few hours of cooking. They add a rich, smoky flavor to beans, greens and smothered vegetables. ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Ham seasoning—what butchers sometimes refer to as “ends and pieces”—is basically just chunks of boneless ham that’s ready to be cooked. For a spicier, smoky, Cajun flavor, use hamlike tasso (pronounced “TAH-so”), which is brined for preservation and smoked until its flavors are highly concentrated. Smoked turkey legs, wings and necks are great alternatives if you’re trying to avoid eating pork.

Pickled pork, also known as pickle meat, adds a tangy, vinegary flavor to green beans, while salt meat is simply salt-cured pork cut from the front leg or shoulder. If you’re using salt meat, wait to salt and season your dish until after it’s fully cooked and you’ve tasted it, because salt meat releases a lot of salt and flavor during the cooking process. Even if you’ve used salt meat before, always wait to season with salt till near the end of cooking, since the salt concentration of different packages of salt meat can vary.

Bacon adds richness and flavor to lima beans, and bacon grease is perfect for adding a more complex flavor when you’re sautéing or roasting vegetables. Even just a dab of it added to healthier cooking fats like olive oil can greatly enhance the flavor of your vegetables.