Humans can detect 5 basic flavor sensations; sweet,
salty, sour, bitter and umami. Sweet goes without saying. I’m sure
everyone starts life with an affinity for sweetness whether it’s sweetened
beverages, baked goods, candies or fruits. In the 50th, we also tend
to have an affinity for salty as friends who live Stateside often comment that
foods tend to be prepared with a heavier hand on the salty qualities whether
it’s shoyu, fish sauce or plain old table salt itself. Perhaps it’s
because of our temperate climate that causes additional perspiration compared
to those in the upper 49 and we naturally try to replace those extra lost
minerals or perhaps we simply have saltier palates. We also do favor sour or
else those crack seed stores would never continue to do business selling li
hung mui, lemon peel and sour gummy candies. Umami. Well that’s the
5th sensation only described over the past decade or so and simply
describes the savory qualities of certain food items. But bitter, I don’t think
any person normally gravitates towards bitter flavor sensations anytime in
life. Just the fact that bitterness is the most sensitive taste sensation
probably has to with a natural warning system to prehistoric man that what you
have in your mouth is poisonous so spit it out! Then why do I enjoy bitter
flavors?
The Beginning
Way back in the mid-1850s when the British Crown oversaw
the governance of India, the long journey there caused both scurvy due to a
lack of fresh fruits on those voyaging vessels and Brits fortunate to make the
journey unscathed now found themselves in the land of malaria. Thankfully, the
indigenous people knew of the fever tree or cinchona plant whereby its
bark prevented the dreaded fever and chills of malaria due to a substance
called quinine. It was later discovered that quinine could both prevent and
treat malaria. However, as quinine was a natural bitter compound and difficult
for most Brits to tolerate, the government created a concoction of gin, sugar,
lime juice and quinine and as in the words of Mary Poppins, “makes the medicine
go down”.
Fast forward to the late 70s and early 80s, when a certain
college student starts imbibing this mixture of gin and tonic water with a
squeeze of lime instead of Heineken like his co-ed buddies and eventually seeks
out tonic water that’s fortified with more than the minimum amount of quinine
and is only lightly sweetened so as not to mask that piquant bitterness of both
the gin and tonic water.
And I didn’t stop just at the gin and tonic but
eventually found another libation that logarithmically stimulated those bitter
taste buds, the Negroni. Originally created from equal parts of gin, sweet red
vermouth and that palate bracing aperitif, Campari which takes bitterness into
the stratosphere, I’ve created my own version using primarily dry white
vermouth. You see, the original recipe balanced the bitter Campari against
sweet and herbal red vermouth. But for me, it’s like that song, “I’m all about
that bitter, ‘bout that bitter, no sweetness”.
I also occasionally enjoy aperitif (pre-dinner libations
to stimulate the appetite) and digestif (after dinner libations to stimulate
digestion) which have a common thread, varying degrees of bitterness balanced
with herbal infusions and just a hint of sweetness. These “amaro” (bitter
in Italian) can be enjoyed simply chilled, on the rocks or mixed as cocktails.
Current favorites include Maurin Quina created from a maceration of cherries,
quinine and bitter almonds and is the perfect start for a summertime barbecue
served on the rocks, Cynar created from artichokes and 13 secret herbs which I
use as a base for cocktails and Tempus Fugit Gran Classico which is created
from 25 herbs and roots that I’ll use to make a White Negroni in place of the Campari.
The Main Course
The following obsession is more nuture than nature as I
previously detested even the sight of nigagori (or nigauri) as it
simply looked like a pale cucumber with a social affliction. Even back in my
undergraduate days, I told both of my parents that when nature wants you to
consume a certain food, it creates something that looks delicious and upon the
first bite, you get a burst of sweetness. Like a strawberry. Brilliant red and
very sweet… all to help nature disperse those seeds. But when nature doesn’t
want you to consume something, it creates an unattractive pale green bumpy
melon and if that didn’t dissuade you from taking a bite, nature made it bitter
as all heck and if you picked it too late, those reddish seeds appeared to be
some alien life form ready to conquer Earth.
But life moves on and our palates change. I also once
detested cilantro but now flavor my cilantro with food. And I also can’t get
enough bitter melon. Stir fried, stuffed, deep fried, even dried as chips. And
if it didn’t go on “sale” for $3.99 a pound would probably consume it weekly.
I also favor bitter greens like sautéed broccoli rabe (rapini)
with garlic, endive and radicchio in salads and fennel bulbs either thinly
sliced in salads or coarsely chopped and oven roasted. And my favorite salad
standby to order in any French restaurant is Salade Lyonnaise with bitter
frisee to balance the rich lardons (crispy cubed pork belly) and runny egg
yolk. And one of the best greens for pesto is mature arugula, not the baby
arugula sold prepackaged in the supermarket but larger mature leaves that have
a pronounced, peppery, bitter bite that’s perfect in pasta, risotto or simply
as a sandwich spread.
Ryan’s Pseudo Champuru
I say pseudo because I have no known uchinanchu
blood though the 23 and Me DNA site lists Hiroshima and Okinawa as two of my
strongest ancestry links. True champuru also uses luscious rafute
(shoyu pork belly) but since I consume bitter melon regularly, opt for the
leaner pork sirloin.
1 lb pork loin or sirloin
½ cup Awamori or sake
½ cup shoyu
½ cup sugar
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger
5 medium to large bitter melon, halved lengthwise, seeds
removed and sliced diagonally
2 large carrots, peeled then medium grated
1 block tofu
4 eggs scrambled
1 tbsp Memmi (or 2 tbsp of the pork cooking
liquid)
2 tsp Hon Dashi
Cut pork into thin strips and simmer in the Awamori/shoyu/sugar/ginger
mixture for about 1 hour until very tender. In a larger wok or Dutch oven
quickly sauté the pork with the drained tofu. Add the bitter melon and
seasoning. When the bitter melon has softened, add the carrots and scrambled
eggs and toss until everything is evenly coated.
Bitter in Place of
Sweet or Bittersweet
Even when it comes to desserts, I’ve always gravitated
toward sweets with balancing bitterness. For instance, my favorite desserts
usually contain cocoa powder instead of just chocolate and if strong espresso
is thrown in the mix, that’s a dish I have to order. That’s why one of my
favorites at the end of a meal is tiramisu with espresso-soaked
ladyfingers, cocoa powder and shavings of bittersweet chocolate covering the
top… perhaps with a glass of amaro.
So, does that make me a bitter person? Nope, just someone
with a bitter palate…
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