Less is More

Photo by Rob Robitaille

I love my country.  I don't want to live anywhere else.  It truly is a place where, if you want something bad enough, you can achieve it.  Being part of a country, a society, is not unlike being in any relationship.  There are ups and downs, thing you love about it, and things that tend to irritate you.  Okay, a lot of things irritate me, but this is one thing in particular.  The philosophy that bigger or more is better.  If 5 ingredients make it good, 10 will surely make it better.  If I don't leave a restaurant with a doggy bag, then I was somehow treated unfairly, despite how delicious the food was.  I feel that this is bad for food and bad for us.  More herbs and spices can tend to cover up the foods natural beauty.  Too large of a portion tends to make us overeat.  Take the French, despite what you may think of them, and look at how they eat.  These people know how to eat. It is not about quantity, it is about quality, and although some French recipes can be rather involved, most French food is not overly complicated.  They know how to let the main ingredients speak for themselves, and when they season their food, it is to the credit of the main ingredient, not the detriment.  They use these well thought out techniques to coax the food into being all it can be.

I have fallen victim to "more is better" thought process and it wasn't until I was much older, that I realized my rig wasn't on the right road.  For example, I used to have a rib rub recipe that had 15 ingredients.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but not really good.  Once you put it on pork ribs, which arguably don't need that much help to taste good in the first place, then smoke them over sweet apple wood for a few hours, just how are those 15 herbs and spices going to add value.  That fact, coupled with the fact that I was sick of taking so much time just to mix up the stupid rub, was when I decided that I would redesign it.  I really asked myself, what flavors do I want with ribs.  Well, pork is the obvious answer.  Apple wood smoke is good too, otherwise I would just bake them in the oven.  So, what was the role of the rub.  Just like a movie, the ribs are the star, the smoke is the costar, and the rub ingredients are the other supporting actors.  The role of the supporting actors is just that, support.  They aren't supposed to steal the scene.  So I sat down and thought about it, and just like weeding out a closet, asked myself, what isn't adding any real value.  I knocked the ingredients down to 8 and I have to say, it kicks the hell out of the old rub, and, as it turns out, is not only good on pork ribs, but beef and chicken.  Bonus.  So, I tend to gravitate toward less ingredients.  I challenge you to do the same.  Ask yourself, what does this main ingredient really need?  Then go with it.

Now that we have talked about not overdoing the ingredients, let's talk portion size.  I don't know where this notion of huge portions came about.  Would you rather walk out of a restaurant and be so full that you don't need to eat that particular dish again anytime soon, or would you rather be thinking about the next time you get to treat yourself to it again?  I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.  Have you ever had grilled tuna collar?  It won't fill you up, but it is exquisite.  It is the best part of the fish and hardly anyone eats it.  Whenever I have tuna collar, I can't wait to have it again.  That, in and of itself, is a sensory delight.  Too many restaurants now days sacrifice quality for quantity.  We need to learn from the French.  I hate the puritan notion that by enjoying our meal it will somehow lead to bad things.  The notion that we shouldn't take pleasure in food is ridiculous.  One could argue that gluttony leads to worse things, and that is exactly what happens when you go to your local steak house.  Usually they hit you up with some bread first, and something to drink, which is probably wine or beer if you don't have to go back to work..Then they bring you a salad or soup, which is lunch sized portion.  Add a couple more beers to the mix and maybe an appetizer, and you find that you have filled up by the time your steak and monster loaded baked potato show up.  But, you came here to eat the damn steak, so you aren't going to put it in a box along with your monster loaded baked potato are you?  Hell no.  You came here for the steak so you are going to do everything in your power to clean your plate, at least the steak and part of the potato.  After which you head home and go right for the antacid, then to the nearest couch.  We have all done it, and thinking back, those memories fade fairly quickly, but over the top, killer meals, in reasonably sized portions that make you yearn for more stick in your mind.  That is the experience I want.

"Less is more" is a philosophy that I have embraced in my kitchen.  It makes cooking simpler and more fun.  I have also adopted it for selecting restaurants.  The way I look at it, it is expensive to eat out.  Not only is the restaurant expensive, but I typically need to drive 30-60 miles to get to a really good one.  So, if I am going to spend my money on a dining experience, it better be damn good.  If I just wanted to fill up, I would go to the local steak house chain and load up on bread and salad, and where is the fun in that?