Word creations and foreign language borrowings are thrown around in the kitchen today, making even some cooks dizzy. Sentences like “More crumble (any filling with roasted breadcrumbs) for the Dashi (Japanese broth), dumbass, otherwise there’s no ‘clever crunch'” may sound constructed, but are unfortunately absolutely conceivable, perhaps in a Bavarian economy that is adapting to Tried the fusion cuisine? While waiters and cookbook authors used to struggle mainly with French sauce names, hip kitchen talk today has to sound English, ideally interspersed with a few professional sprinkles from countries like Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Peru, Mexico or Iceland. So it’s understandable that things get mixed up.
In our publishing house canteen, for example, we recently had “Red Thai curry with vegetables and tofu or meat topping”, whereby the meat topping turned out to be three (!) medium-sized pork medallions. Now, a topping is admittedly an ingredient that, as the name suggests, is usually on stored in a dish, perhaps to make it more exciting; It shouldn’t completely bury a meal. That being said, in correct stove-speak, the medallions would now be referred to as an “add-on”, i.e. as something that you add to a dish as a central element, optionally and at an additional cost. Admittedly, the definition lacks selectivity, but while add-ons usually change the character of a dish right away, toppings add another dimension, for example because they have a different texture (preferably crispy) or for an acidic, spicy or provide a fresh kick.
Nuts are a win, whether as a savory roast mix or pistachio-orange pesto
Like toppings, add-ons are a favorite tool of the modern component kitchen. The practical idea of cooking with components that build on one another, but in some cases are also interchangeable, is not only popular with canteen managers, caterers and system restaurateurs. It has also asserted itself in the type of attentive small restaurant that wants to meet the very different needs of its guests. There are then, for example, potatoes and a vegan mushroom and red wine sauce, which goes just as naturally with baked Portobello (giant mushroom) as with braised ox cheeks.
Today, Japanese ramen bars, American delis, bowl restaurants and even French neo-bistronomy (bistro cuisine plus high-end pipifax) swear by ingredient kits. This makes the guest flexible, the price for this is Synapsenbrand at every better bowl counter. And the embarrassment of having to say out loud neologisms like wasabi granola topping, nori crunch or yuzu teriyaki dressing when ordering.
But if you put the terminology and the pose aside, then ingredient kits are also a good thing in your own kitchen. Especially since the “topping principle” is as old as the kitchen itself, just think of the Parmesan on the pasta, the roasted onions on the hot dog or the original topping of the decent German middle-class kitchen: curly parsley. Only the variety and the variants in which we put the ingredients on the food to make it more exciting are new.
The cookbook “Toppings. The perfect finish for your favorite dishes” (Becker Joest Volk) by Bettina Matthaei, which has just been published, sharpens our awareness of how useful toppings are, especially for a varied everyday kitchen, and how quickly and easily they can often be prepared and stored. Matthaei reminds us how big the building block is, because almost anything is suitable as a topping, whether nuts, sprouts, relish, chips or croutons, whether fermented vegetables, breaded feta cubes, berries, herbs, olive tapenade or cocoa nibs Chili. In addition, most toppings are surprisingly flexible. For example, if you toss diced rye bread in a little rapeseed oil and roast it in the oven with thyme leaves, sea salt and, if you like, garlic, you have an accompaniment for pumpkin or celery soup, but also a crowning glory for your tomato salad.
The topic can be explained particularly well using nuts. For example, it is always worth having a few almonds, hazelnuts or peanuts with you, which have been roasted without their shells in the oven for a more intense aroma (15-20 minutes at 150 degrees, allow to cool, store in the jar). The result tastes great on marinated beetroot, but also on ice cream. It can always be expanded. Matthaei, for example, suggests a “spicy granola”, for which 20 g each of almonds, walnuts and cashews are roughly chopped, mixed with 50 g of pithy oat flakes, 20 g of sunflower seeds, 40 g of pumpkin seeds, 20 g of quinoa pops and 20 g of peeled hemp seeds and mixed with 3 tbsp olive oil to marinate. Season everything with 2 tsp fine paprika powder, 1.5 tsp flake salt and 1 tsp chili flakes and roast the mixture for 20 minutes at 160 degrees in the oven on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Turn in between, sprinkle with 20 g grated parmesan at the end and bake for another 5 minutes. The spicy granola is great on hummus, but also on risotto. Just try. Even with nuts, the possibilities are endless. We haven’t even talked about pistachio orange pesto yet. Heavenly!