Read up on more details about baba ganoush here: www.seriouseat... Don't think of it as a pureed eggplant dip, think if it as an emulsified eggplant sauce.
Huss Hussein Or promote a coup, turn Kenjis house into a client state, then his replacement will sell all that oil to the US at a discount. You started it, Not me. I was just reading the comments and got triggered lol
When Kenji said “People tend to think eggplants have sex.” Idk why my brain took that statement literally as eggplants having sex. 🤭 Not genders of male and female 😂
As a syrian, I must say that this looks delicious, the presentation is on point. Usually we eat this either on its own or as a side dish with grilled meat. Also one tip I got from my mom is to leave a tiny bit eggplant peel in there for extra smokiness flavour, not too much though so it doesn't overpower everything else.
After watching almost all of Kenji's stuff I tried watching other RU-vid videos from other chefs/cooks. I can't watch any of them. If they aren't sponsor-heavy they just seem too inauthentic or too preachy or too scripted..
RU-vid is loaded with good channels/content for cooking. Kenji mentions some himself from time to time. I like Kenji's freewheeling style too but I don't hold tighter scripting or editing against people either. Much like cooking itself there are various ways to do it 'right' I think. There's a lot of good cooking content on channels which aren't even just cooking channels I find. Just a channel about life here or there with occasional recipe vids. And you gotta love all the 'Grandma' cooking content. I really like that as my own Grandmother was an awesome cook but passed away when I was still too young to have learned anything from her. Now with RU-vid I get to learn from lots and lots of Grandmas.
Food Wishes and Maangchi are my go-to channels along with this one and they are the only ones I actually get inspiration to cook from! I agree about the authenticity of a lot of youtube cooking shows, it seems like they can focus more on the social media aspect rather than the cooking. (ps Chinese Cooking Demystified is another one I just remembered)
Thanks for the other suggestions; haven't seen all of those. What I particularly like about Kenji is that he's a great educator - he is excellent at explaining stuff and for predicting questions from his audience, and he shows that it's ok to take it easy and make mistakes, not everything has to be perfect.
Although gleefully sponsor heavy, (Dalstrong Knives), Bruno Albouze is a pretty great, fairly pastry centric, cooking channel. Very different in style and content from Kenji’s channel, but damn he does some (food)pornographically fine work. High-end food presented in a quickness’s and concise way, and with (delightfully cheesy) humor. Things like airbrushed pastries that look exactly like a fresh, beautiful, almost too perfect apple (or a pear or lemon or a peach). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_FMlKUHlqd8.html Another great one is his Maine Lobster Strudel video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-o_0G44eix08.html And of course his Ratatouille Casserole, with 10 million views. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u1w7zqbBiXM.html And if the most insanely impressive Omurice is something you go for, this guys channel is a must. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VeUKEpH6RBM.html
love the idea of using the dying coal embers. i've noticed you use a lot of different olive oils for each dish? it'd be great if you could mention which olive oil you are using and why in these videos (you have a few times). i generally keep Kirkland for cooking, a really robust Puglian or Tuscan one for finishing meats and pastas, and a vegetal, almondy Greek or Sicilian one for vegetables and bread.
Hummus, pleaaase! I know how to make a lot of lebanese/syrian recipes, been eating them all my life and now I'm selling too (kibbehs only for now, but just invested in a food processor to make hummus, tahine and some other things and expand my menu), but i just love how you explain things and all the helpful tips. I would love to see more here in the channel :)
Adam Ragusea said in a recent video that salt used an abrasive with garlic doesnt really do anything, and only gives a perceived effect through osmosis. Do you agree?
No, I don’t agree. Osmosis has an affect overall but osmosis is a slow process and adding salt makes an instant and immediate difference, and not a small difference, a big one.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt I remember seeing your steak video from last month and it seemed like osmosis drew out the moisture from the steak's surface rather quickly (damp within a few minutes, glistening after 7 min). It'll certainly be much faster with greater surface area like in a garlic mash. I'm curious about your thoughts on that.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt Anyone who has tried to smash garlic with salt or without can see that it clearly has a large effect. And you can literally feel the salt grinding into the garlic until it dissolves.
Hey Kenji, do some eggplants have a bitter profile? Once I made some baba ganoush at home but it came out very bitter, and someone told me it was coz of the type of eggplant I'd used.
From what I understand, eggplants began as being very bitter but we bred that bitterness out of them, for the most part. Presumably, salting your eggplants and letting them sit before you cook them will help reduce the bitterness. It's not usually an issue these days, but if your eggplants tend to be bitter just salt 'em.
Read my post above..pierce the eggplant all over when grilling, then put in a paper bag a few minutes to steam and then remove the peel, throw into a colander in the sink, cut them in halves or fourths lengthwise and sprinkle w lemon juice and salt to drain, wait a while, wangle them around and press out liquid, let drain, use your own judgment to cool and press out and drain the liquid. The liquid is the bitter part, the more you get out now, the better the final taste..if you continue getting liquid out, put more lemon juice and or salt over to encourage draining, and press as much out as you can. (Just taste at the end before oversalting the final dish) Then, the lemon juice you add to the finished dish tastes more fresh, and is multilayered from the initial lemon juice being heated and pressed out at first.
Kenji, in Romania, my family would make "eggplant salad" (translated) two ways: with oil and onion OR with mayonnaise and garlic. (And never with tahini. I never heard of this ingredient till we came to the States.) Both versions, of course, are very delicious. I'm not sure why Romania has these two styles, but I understand the mayo, being itself an emulsion with oil. I don't know. If you ever feel like trying it a little differently, this is how we would make it. : )
Hey kenji. Your SEO was better either with; POV in the title, Kenji's cooking show at the end of the title, or not having Kenji's Cooking Show in the title at all.
It's neat that you can see the eggplant lighten up in color as you whip in more air and oil, exactly like a mayo. and before the cult of It's Alive jumps on reducing alicin, tempering the harshness of garlic is exactly what you want to do in a raw application like this.
I happened to have some baby eggplant in the fridge so I whipped this up. Lime subbed for lemon, leftover hummus with some sesame seeds and olive oil subbed for tahini. #quarantinecuisine Lyyyfe! Charred on the side of a hot gas grill for too long than it looked was perfect, the smokiness is unbelievable.
I got everything to make this because I love it and want to make it myself. I am stuck with some broiler concerns. How should I proceed with the burning? How does it work with a broiler? Do I just lay it there for an hour? Update: I just did it in a baking sheet and fed the juice that dripped out and through the eggplant back into the bg for extra smoke fleiva! Good stuff Mr. Kenji thanks. Also added smoked ají because viva Colombia
Fantastic shows Kenji, I have learned so much from you and you have really inspired me to cook more. I was wondering where you get your cast iron pans. They look like the old ones. That I have. Thank you for teaching.
Seeds don’t matter…more on this in a sec...after grilling, (pierce w a knife all over to dehydrate while grilling and get more smoke inside) throw down in a colander in the sink while still hot and sprinkle with a little lemon juice and a bit of salt, let drain, peel, squish around a little, continue to drain. When cool, squeeze out a bit, then, (maybe not so secret technique from my Lebanese restaurant owner neighbors), chop coarsely put it through a mouli food mill, the round crank thing, it will hold back all the seeds and make your eggplant purée an actual purée. Add your delicious garlic (roast your garlic too for a change in flavor) lemon juice, tahini. If you use the mouli to get rid of the seeds, it’s already pretty smooth to start with.. I like to smoke those beauties quite a bit w hickory or mesquite or apple wood..if not enough smoke flavor, take the baba and put in a metal mixing bowl and put back out on the grill w some more damp smoking wood for a few minutes..
Kenji! Why do you keep addressing your haters in your videos (the onion police, this time)? Just remember, “those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” - Baruch.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt TBH the banter is a big reason these videos are so much damn fun, and I think it's why a lot of us relate to this channel more than other food-tubers.
that's not baba ganoush, not the authentic at least roasted eggplant, 1 spoon of tahini, 5 spoons of yogurt with lemon and garlic just mix the yogurt with tahini and add the garlic and lemon and mix it with the eggplant until the preferred smoothness then drizzle some olive oil and add some cumin and paprika on top the result is a lighter, creamier baba ganoush but kudos for trying and saying toom the right way :D
I only started watching your videos because my BF swears by your book but man I just gotta say Ive been keeping up with your videos for the past 2 months and your doing a great job! Your editing and thumbnails have gotten so much better and your videos are so fun and educational, I really hope you keep this up at least once a month after quarantine is over!
Kenji: Eggplant "sex"? Doesn't it really come down to the *maturity* of the eggplant? ie: A younger eggplant would have less seeds that have formed. (Like harvesting a younger cucumber, zucchini, etc?) Just as more mature vegetables will be more fibrous, younger ones will be more tender?
