Radishes. Something New?

Sauteed radishes.  Photo by Rob Robitaille.

I grew up eating radishes.  It seemed like we always had them on hand when they were in season.  As with most American families, radishes were always served as a garnish, raw with salt, or sliced on a salad.  But radishes are so much more than crunchy, sometimes hot and spicy, juicy little roots.  Raw radishes with some butter is sublime, but my favorite way is sauteed with their greens.  The French have always known that radishes and butter are a combo made in heaven, so why is America so uninformed about these gems?  Again, I love my country, but we are really behind, in general, on the whole good eating thing.  Granted, there are cities in this country that have world class cuisine, but a larger part of our country doesn't live there.  Most of the country eats good, honest, but lets face it, very typical food.  And no disrespect intended toward all those folks out there. After all, I study this stuff every day and managed to miss this gift until recently.  This was one of those things that was, in my opinion, so good that I had to tell someone.  And I am not alone.  There are many out there that feel the same way, and unless you seek them out, you will never know that they exist.

So what does a sauteed radish taste like?  Well, a sauteed radish.  And that is what is so great about it.  It is rare that, once you become an adult, you taste something that is not unlike something else you have tasted.  One of the sucky things about experience is that you get to a point where you hit the "been there, done that" place that we really don't want to be in.  The best part of this was that it was a "Wow!  Never been there before." kind of moment.  Now, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high.  After all, this is simply my personal taste.  But, I think most people would agree that these are delicious.  My wife, Miss Picky Pickingham even admitted that these were the only vegetable she liked better cooked than raw.  It's all about thinking outside the box, which is hard to do.  You get into the paradigm that certain foods can only be consumed certain ways, but that is what separates the cooks from the chefs.  Don't get me wrong, I am a cook not a chef, and I will never say that I am a chef (unless I actually become one, which is really unlikely).  I'm talking David Chang, René Redzepi, the Brothers Adrià, and so many more of the great culinary inventors.  The ones that say, what if?

So, what is my point?  I'm not really sure, to be honest.  This started out as a shout-out about a little known, but very delicious treat that most people don't know about.  I would be willing to bet my 1922 Peace Dollar that you could stand on a street corner all day in small town America (where I live, in fact) and ask people if they have eaten cooked radishes and you may be lucky to get one person all day that has.  But then my post took a hard left into the realm of what more is out there?  My recommendation is this; go to the farmers market, or other favorite market and buy something you are familiar with.  Something you take for granted.  The research it to see if there is something really different you can do with it.  I hate to keep saying it, but see what the French and Spaniards are doing.  After all, they are on the pinnacle of  the culinary arts.  As for me, and I am guessing most people, we don't have that gift that the great chefs have.  The ability to decipher what something can taste like with a bit of manipulation.  Although I can be creative in my own right, I still require some inspiration.  But thinking outside the box is critical to creativity.  I don't know what the silver bullet is, if there is one.  Maybe it is as simple as just go forth and boldly cook.  And above all, have fun.