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Why the balsamic coke hack failed.
Good morning. As a thank you to everyone who is subscribed to this newsletter, we're giving away a cooking kit worth over $459!
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— Ethan Chlebowski & team
TRY SOMETHING NEW 🤯
Kimchi Framework
Kimchi isn’t an exact science. The batch size is up to you — just make enough seasoning paste to fully coat the cabbage and crunchy vegetables.
- Kimchi can last for a long time in the fridge without expiring.
Kimchi Components
- Napa cabbage, roughly chopped
- Crunchy additions: julienned radishes, carrots, and/or cucumbers
- Salt
Seasoning Paste Guide
- Umami components: fish sauce, fermented shrimp, or seafood paste
- Spicy components: gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), chili paste
- Sweet components: Asian pear, apples, or sugar
-
Aromatic Components: ginger, garlic, scallion, chives, etc
- Optional: rice flour paste (rice flour & water, cooked)
Seasoning Paste ratios are up to you - taste often and use the framework to add more/less of the flavors you want, but try to use elements from each area.
Instructions
1) Salt & rinse the cabbage: Toss the cabbage in a bowl with a generous amount of salt. Let sit for 30 mins to a few hours or until cabbage is wilted and has released moisture.
Drain and thoroughly rinse in a colander, then squeeze and shake off any excess moisture. Set aside.
2) Prep ingredients: While the cabbage is salting, chop and gather any remaining ingredients.
Add prepped crunchy additions to rinsed cabbage.
3) Make the paste: Blend together all Seasoning Paste components until smooth.
Taste and adjust ratios until you reach your desired flavor. It should be pungent but balanced.
Whisk together equal parts rice flour and water, and slowly cook until it thickens up. Add enough to the Seasoning Paste so that it becomes viscous enough to cling to the cabbage.
4) Mix & ferment: Toss the cabbage mixture with the paste, ensuring each piece is thoroughly coated with the Seasoning Paste.
Keep in the fridge, or ferment at room temp in a kimchi vessel until your desired funkiness is achieved.
THROWBACK TIME 🍳
Meatballs Remastered
A throwback to Ethan’s recipe remastered series…this video has a killer hoagie roll recipe but the real star is the super savory meatballs:
- The meatball umami is maximized with Parmigiano, soy sauce, and a dash of msg.
Check out the video, or read the recipe here.
- If you want to understand how to riff on meatballs recipes, we made a visual framework in a previous edition.
Whenever you make meatballs, just make a big batch, because they freeze well & can be used in so many ways…
THE LEFTOVER SHELF 🥡
Roy Choi’s meatball lasagna
If you haven’t seen The Chef Show (on Netflix), food truck pioneer Roy Choi will really show you how to create masterpieces with leftovers. Here’s a summary of his spontaneous recipe:
Lasagna Components
- Leftover meatballs, quartered
- Lasagna noodles
- Cheesy elements: grated low moisture and/or fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano and/or Pecorino
- Red sauce of choice
- Fresh herbs: torn basil and/or parsley
Instructions
You know the drill. In a deep baking pan, add in repeating layers of noodles, sauce, meatballs, cheeses, and herbs. In Roy Choi fashion, use your intuition and personal preference for ratios.
- Bake covered at 375°F (190°C) for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 25 minutes until browned and excess moisture content is cooked off. Allow to cool and set before slicing.
Pro Tip - You technically don’t have to parboil lasagna noodles in advance if your fillings have enough moisture — they’ll absorb water and soften during the bake. To be safe, just add a splash of water and a pinch of salt between layers, and cook for a few extra minutes.
FOOD TRENDS EXPLAINED 🚀
Revisiting healthy coke
Why did the healthy Coke hack get differing reviews?
About a year ago, everyone on social media seemed to be mixing balsamic vinegar & sparkling water — many of which claimed it to be a healthier alternative to Coke.
- In theory, the combo should work: balsamic vinegar is both acidic and sweet, just like most sodas, and the added sparkling water gives it the same effervescent texture.
However, reactions to the trend were mixed. Why?
Most people don’t realize how different balsamic vinegar products can taste, which range from thin & vinegary to thick & sweet.
In a recent balsamic deep dive series, Ethan tried the trend using six different types of balsamic vinegar mixed into separate glasses with seltzer. The takeaways:
- Thinner, predominantly vinegar-based balsamic vinegars were extremely sour and not enjoyable.
- Traditional/aged balsamic vinegars and reductions were the best tasting due to the sweeter notes and aged wood aromas.
But it doesn't taste balanced, and not worth wasting balsamic on.
- While balsamic and bubbly water looks convincingly similar to soda — especially on video — there simply isn’t enough sugar content in a splash of balsamic to match the sweetness of real Coke.
READER Q&A 🧠
Freezer or fridge?
A: Great question. Here are some guidelines for you:
In the Fridge 🧊: Anything you'll eat within the next day or two, and put all other raw meat in the freezer.
Be conservative with what you keep in the fridge since cooking & dinner plans often change. You really don’t want to keep raw meat for longer than a few days in the fridge.
- The exception here is cured meats, bacon, chorizo, deli meats, and precooked or smoked sausages/hot dogs — they’ll keep fresh in the fridge for much longer.
In the Freezer 🥶: Everything else! Some discipline is required here, but using your freezer means you’re not going to let anything go to waste.
- Get in the habit of pulling out meat from the freezer a couple of days in advance into the fridge, or overnight/before work onto the counter.
- Or, just prep your meat so you can cook it straight from frozen.
Defrosting Tips 🌡: If (and when) you forget to thaw in advance, you can submerge most meat packages under running cold water to defrost in under an hour (huge cuts of meat might take longer).
- Try to avoid the microwave defrost function, but it’ll work in a pinch for ground meats or anything where overcooking & texture quality aren’t a concern.
READER PHOTO SUBMISSION OF THE WEEK 🏆
Blue-ribbon bivalves
This week’s dinner winner is Chaylin V., whose steamed mussels and clams atop Ethan’s spaghetti aglio e olio recipe secured the win.
Reply with a picture of the best meal you made this week for a chance to be featured in a future email!
MORE YUMMY CONTENT 🍽️
A Read: ‘The Bear’ has a Culinary Producer
In a Minute or Less: How to Buy Canned Tomatoes
What We’re Watching: Masa Bellybutton Soup
Food Science: Restaurant Vegetable Hacks
READY TO SHOP? 🛒
August giveaway bundle
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- MADE IN entree bowls ($119 value)
- Tojiro 8.2” gyuto ($100 value)
- SHAPTON whetstone 2 pack — 1000 & 5000 grit ($99 value)
- Utopia dish towels 6 pack ($12 value)
- 3-month membership to the Pickled Onion Club community ($30 value)
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The Mouthful 🍳
Need cooking inspiration? Every Sunday morning, I’ll send you new recipes & cooking frameworks with custom illustrations, food trend explanations, and more! Just make sure to confirm your email after signing up:
Good morning… Today's edition marks the 1 year anniversary of this newsletter. We’ve come a long way — early readers might recall when this was called Sunday Cooking Club and there weren’t even illustrations…. Thanks for all the committed readership, kind words, and photo/question submissions that have gotten us here. And we’re just getting started! There’s a lot of great planned content coming your way. — Ethan Chlebowski, Keith McBrayer, & Pat Tammaro TRY SOMETHING NEW 🤯 Aloo gobi Aloo gobi...
Good morning. Today’s framework is a riff on Brian Lagerstrom’s creamy soup blueprint…he’s a chef who makes amazing content for home cooks, and his soup video has a few example recipes you can follow to learn this framework. TRY SOMETHING NEW 🤯 Creamy soup framework Vegetable soup ratios 1 part aromatics, diced: onion, garlic, celery, leaks Plus cooking oil to sauté 5 parts main vegetable, peeled and cubed (choose one!): carrot, butternut squash, parsnips, potato, corn, etc 4 parts cooking...
Good morning. Today’s main recipe mangú con los tres golpes is a Dominican breakfast that roughly means “plantains with the three hits,” which locals understand to be fried Dominican salami, fried cheese, and fried eggs. Because this recipe is usually garnished with pickled red onions (if you know, you know), it’s been a popular request for the newsletter. If you have any recipe requests, reply to send them in. We love learning about different cuisines and developing unique recipes for the...