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Aside from warm summer days, another thing to look forward to was this month’s cookbook club. We chose Jennifer McLagan’s cookbook Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, a drastic contrast from last month’s selection of Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking. McLagan’s book just recently won two James Beard awards for “Cookbook of the Year” and “Best Book: Single Subject.” The author says our society has become increasingly opposed to fat, but her cookbook helps educate us in appreciating fat when cooking with it as well as eating it. Different fats are used in each recipe from butter to pork, duck, poultry, and beef fat.

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There was a range of international cuisines represented at lunch from Indian butter chicken, and French cassoulet, to Mexican pork carnitas. All three of these recipes followed common preparation with ample amounts of marinating/soaking, browning, and simmering. Everyone agreed upon the wonderful flavors and tenderness these slow cooked meat dishes developed.

Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) served with Spinach Chapati
Similar to Indian butter chicken and made with spices, tomatoes, whipping cream and butter. Served with Indian flat bread made with spinach, whole wheat flour, and ghee (or lamb fat if preferred).

Carnitas served with Fresh Tomato Salsa
Pork shoulder simmered with ground cumin, oranges, chipotle chile in adobo sauce, brandy, garlic, and pork fat. Served with tomato salsa made of Roma tomaotes, serrano chiles, poblano chile, garlic, salt, and cilantro (no fat included!)

Cassoulet
Traditional slow-cooked white bean casserole from southern France with pork, pork sausages, lamb, and duck.

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Vegetarians need not be alarmed, because dishes using butter and not animal fat, were equally as impressive and enjoyable. Most salad dressings use oil, but the Double Butter Salad cleverly uses browned butter with some chives, salt, and pepper mixed in. With duck fat not as easy to find, the Fat Fat-Cooked Fries can be made using butter and still a winning side dish at the table. This also goes for the Spinach Chapati which can be made with lamb fat or butter. The vegetable cake would be a great addition to any meat or vegetarian Thanksgiving meal.

Double Butter Salad
Salad using butter lettuce and browned butter.

Fat Fat-Cooked Fries
Large, soft potato wedges cooked in duck fat and garlic.

Vegetable Cake
Thinly sliced layers of potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and apple baked with duck fat or butter.

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The desserts at the end of our meal were truly sinful and rich. The salted butter tart and butter cake sweetened our meal, and the spicy buttered popcorn grew addicting from the heat of the chipotle peppers. These recipes showcase how butter and sugar can alone unite so well in desserts.

Kouign Amann (Breton Butter Cake)
Flaky butter cake with caramelized bottom and top.

Salted Butter Tart
Pastry tart with salted butter filling similar to butterscotch or caramel.

Spicy Buttered Popcorn
Snack made sweet from butter, corn syrup and brown sugar, plus made savory with a kick from pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

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Surprisingly, our spread of dishes didn’t leave us too heavy after lunch. We learned a little bit of fat in moderation can go a long way! For the month of July, we will be cooking like Egyptians with the cookbook Dining on the Nile: Exploring Egyptian Cooking by Sally Elias Hanna. Stay tuned for tales of our culinary adventure!

Contributed by guest blogger Sandra Vu

For over three years now, I have participated in a cookbook club comprised of graduates from the professional program at Tante Marie’s Cooking School in North Beach.  Each month, one of us chooses a book of interest and a recipe to cook.  Then as a group, we share our choices via Evite and develop a complete and eclectic menu.  While we enjoy the company of friends and colleagues over a great meal, we also learn new cooking techniques and stay abreast of food trends.

This month, I hosted the club at my house.  My cookbook choice, David Tanis’ A Platter of Figs, resulted from my experience assisting him during a class he taught at Tante Marie’s.  His use of fresh seasonal ingredients and simple preparations left a lasting impression on me – not surprising since he was the head chef at Chez Panisse for many years.  David now lives in Paris and runs an underground restaurant 6 months of the year.

For our dinner, I selected a delicious recipe, Indian-Spiced Halibut with Spicy Yogurt Sauce.  I purchased fresh halibut at Bryan’s Market in Laurel Village.  Though Bryan’s prices are expensive, their fish market is the best in town.  Since I wanted to wow my guests, I decided to go for it!  Everyone knows that good dishes start with good ingredients, but every good ingredient can always get better and my secret weapon was brine.

I always brine bland fish – a trick I learned from Jacques Pepin when I worked on his TV show many years back.  His tip for making the brine is simple.  First, he fills a bowl with salt water then adds a good amount of kosher salt and mixes it until dissolved.  Next, he puts a whole, uncracked egg in the water.  If the egg is buoyant, he knows he has enough salt in the water.  If it sinks, he adds more salt until the egg becomes buoyant.  Finally, he immerses the fish in the water for 30 minutes.  When I applied this technique to my halibut recipe, I received rave reviews!  Everyone commented that it was quite moist and flavorful.  A Moroccan spice rub also offered a flavor boost, however I knew from experience that spice rubs alone can’t hide dry fish, while brining wins every time.  Another tip for cooking fish – allow cooking time of 10 minutes for every inch of thickness.

Brining aside, I had another trick up my sleeve for the halibut.  While the fish was delicious, the true piece de la resistance that took it over the top was the yogurt sauce.  I used Greek yogurt which has most of the whey removed, rendering it thick and creamy.  David Tanis says to sauté the spices (cumin and mustard seed) in olive oil which I did.  But I also added some coarsely ground coriander.   Once the spices were fragrant and crackling on the stove, I added the garlic AND the Serrano (he says only the garlic but I wanted a quick sauté of the Serrano too).  I stirred this mixture into the yogurt then added a good amount of kosher salt and some ginger juice.  (To create ginger juice, just grate a hand of ginger on the large holes of a box grater and squeeze the juice out by tightening your fist).  After tasting, I decided I wanted more acid.  I added the juice of half a lemon but also some preserved lemon rind.  Lastly for color, I added a bit of chopped cilantro.

The yogurt was a huge hit – everyone was eating it on everything – the Berber Pizza, a dollop in the Harira Soup and on the Halibut itself which is what it was intended for.  (I am now making some to dollop on my Lamb Pizza for dinner tonight).

All in all, we loved the book and would highly recommend it.