The Culinary Alphabet the letter S should be an easy one as I can think of many items which begin with the letter. I do however like to throw in the odd curveball and come up with at least one which you may not have heard of or don’t know what it means.
Salsa – My favorite is this one. Mango and avocado with red onion.
Ingredients:
• 1 mango, diced
• 1 medium avocado, diced
• ½ medium red onion, finely chopped
• ½ bunch fresh coriander (about 1/2 cup chopped)
• Juice of 1 medium lime (about 2tbsp)
• 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper, to taste.
Let’s Cook!
In a medium bowl, combine diced mango, avocado, finely chopped red onion, and chopped coriander. If you like a hint of spice like me then add chopped chili.
Squeeze 2tbsp of fresh lime juice over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently to combine and serve. If not serving right away, cover and refrigerate.
Sage
Is one of my most used herbs in my cookery I love sage. Sage is probably also the most well known as one of the main ingredients of sage and onion stuffing, which is traditionally served on Christmas Day with roast turkey or roast goose.
Sage is another herb that has been around for thousands of years and which was not only used in cooking but also as a popular medicine. In fact, the word sage derives from the Latin “salvare”, which means to heal or to save.
Culinary I use it with both chicken and pork. Sage can be bought cut fresh or dried from your local supermarket. You can grow sage in your garden, although if you live in a cold climate, it will not grow as well as in a warm and sunny country.
Dried sage can keep for about six months but must be stored in an airtight container or glass jar.
Cut fresh sage leaves should be stored in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or you may wrap them in a damp paper towel to maintain their freshness for as long as possible. They will usually last for three or four days.
Freshly picked sage leaves from your garden will keep for at least a week longer if stored wrapped in a damp paper towel and placed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.
Ideas for using sage in cooking
Sage is not only ideal for flavoring meat or poultry dishes, but it also goes well with cheese, apples, and tomatoes.
Try some of the ideas below.
• Use to make your own homemade stuffing mixed with onion.
• Use to flavor homemade vegetable soups.
• Add to your homemade sausage mix or sausage stew.
• Add some chopped sage leaves to macaroni cheese or other cheese dishes.
• Sprinkle chopped sage leaves or dried sage onto toasted rustic or French bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil.
• Now add a fresh tomato and cheese salad.
• Use sage to season and flavor any type of tomato sauce for pasta.
• Add a small amount of fresh sage to a cheese omelet or frittata.
• Sprinkle freshly cut sage leaves onto your pizza.
• Use to flavor roast chicken or fish.
• Fry sage leaves in butter to make a delicious sauce for pasta.
• Use sage in your own homemade pâté recipe.
• Add some chopped sage to your bread recipe.
• Rub sage and garlic into pork chops before grilling.
Salmagundi
Is a mixture of foods combined with or without sauce and served cold. It dates back to Elizabethian times and was a favorite with pirates on the high seas…A stew…A changing recipe from region to region and countries it can be anything from a dry stew to a salad where the ingredients included fruits, nuts, citrus juice, herbs and vegetables, and meats. A showpiece sometimes or just a family favorite.
Squid
I used to hate squid with a passion…..the only squid I had ever tasted was those squid rings in batter..fried to death and tasting like a rubber tire, that is until my son bought his Thai girlfriend home and she introduced me to this amazing salad with the softest squid I have ever tasted. Doesn’t that just look amazing?
Ingredients:
• 400 gm(14 oz) baby squid.
• 5 Spring Onions. (sliced)
• 5 sm shallots. (thinly sliced)
• 20 cherry tomatoes. (halved)
• half sm cucumber sliced and quartered.
• Coriander big bunch or again to taste…I like lots…(chop)
• Mint. (optional)
• 1-3 birds Eye Chillies chopped (seeds optional)
• 2 tbsp Fish Sauce.
• Half lime, juice.
• Palm Sugar (up to 2 tbsp ) again optional I don’t use it but depends on personal preference.
Let’s Cook!
- Clean the squid. Getting all membrane off and remember to pull out the plastic quill.
- Cut head/parrots beak off leaving the tentacles(the best bit)
- Slice squid into 3/4 to inch slices.
- Heat a small amount of water in a pan and add squid, cook until opaque less than a minute,
- Drain on kitchen paper and combine with other ingredients.
- Again, TASTE and check to season. You cannot taste too much. It is just getting those delicious Thai flavors of sweet, sour, spicy and salty just right for you…it took me a while so just keep tasting…
Simmer
Simmering is bringing a liquid to the state of being just below boiling. You’ll see lots of little bubbles forming and rising to the surface. If your pot begins to boil, turn the heat down to maintain that gentle bubbling. It is a cooking technique that can mean the difference between fluffy and burnt rice and between tender and tough stew meat.
Salt Hoss
Yee Ha, Cowboy. It is a cow boys term for corned beef. Now depending on where you live corned beef can also mean something different but to a cowboy corned beef typically comes in two forms: a cut of beef (usually brisket, but sometimes round or silverside) cured or pickled in a seasoned brine.
Satay
Very quick and easy to make using either chicken fillets or a chicken breast sliced. These are something I make for quickness, I just cut a couple of chicken breasts in slices and put a few pieces on a wooden skewer brush with the peanut sauce and cook either on the BBQ or on the griddle turning often so as not to burn them.
Then serve it with additional peanut sauce and a salad maybe some cucumber relish.
Ingredients: for peanut sauce
• 1 cup fresh dry roasted peanuts (unsalted)
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic very finely chopped or minced
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 to 2 tbsp. brown sugar (to taste)
• 2 to 2 1/2 tbsp. fish sauce (for vegetarians: substitute 2 1/2 to 3 tbsp. regular soy sauce)
• 1/2 tsp. tamarind paste (or 2 tbsp. lime juice)
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or 1/2 tsp Thai red chili paste more or less to taste)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
Let’s Cook!
- Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
- Blend until the sauce is smooth. If you prefer a runnier peanut sauce, add a little more water or coconut milk.
- Taste, adding more fish sauce (or soy sauce) if not salty enough, or more red curry or cayenne if not spicy enough.
- If too salty, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice. If you’d prefer it sweeter, add a little more sugar.
- This sauce tends to thicken as it sits–just add a little water or coconut milk to thin it out, as needed. Otherwise, it stores well if kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- Add to your baked sweet potato and top with chopped red onion, green onions and coriander, and some crispy fried garlic, yummy if you love Thai flavors.
Enjoy!
Sear
Means to add colour these lovely seared scallops are a beautiful example of something which has a lovely sear.
It also adds flavour to the finished dish.
Photo credit: dalecruse on Visual Hunt / CC BY
Searing meat is 100% about building flavor. And oh, what flavor it is! When that meat hits a scorching hot pan, the surface instantly begins caramelizing. In your stew or braise or roast, this translates into the kind of deep, savory flavor. Searing meat is worth the effort. It’s an extra bit of work that results in a huge pay off in the flavor of your finished dish.
Saddle
The saddle is a butchery term that refers to the meat that is at the animal’s back and hips. Think of it in terms of the meat that would be in more or less the same place as a saddle on a horse.
It is commonly only left as a whole saddle for smaller animals like rabbits and lambs where the saddle is a common cut. For larger animals like pigs, the saddle is fairly large so it often gets broken up into smaller cuts for sale, the loin, and tenderloin come from the saddle, in North America in the context of grocery stores the saddle will usually be broken down into loin chops or loin roasts. There are parts of the world where pork saddles, especially from suckling pigs are left whole and roasted. If you are trying to make a recipe for roasted pork saddle a specialty butcher should be able to sell you a saddle of suckling pig (you will probably have to order it in advance) or if you can’t find that a pork loin roast will work fairly well.
Salt
Salt there has always been so much about salt and our health for years and now it seems the tide is changing and salt is not as bad as was initially thought. I think that like hidden sugars it is the hidden salt we need to be aware of and food needs salt so in moderation I think it is ok.
Salami
Photo on VisualHunt
Salami is a type of cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among southern, eastern, and central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 40 days once cut, supplementing a potentially meager or inconsistent supply of fresh meat. Countries and regions across Europe make their own traditional varieties of salami.
Salpicon
Salpicon (or salpicón, meaning “hodgepodge” or “medley” in Spanish) is a dish of one or more ingredients diced or minced and bound with a sauce or liquid. There are different versions found in French, Spanish, Central American and the broader Latin American cuisine. A salpicon is sometimes used as stuffing. In contrast to the usual savory versions of other cuisines, in Colombia “salpicon” refers to a sweet and cold beverage.
Thank you for reading this post I hope you enjoyed it as always I look forward to your comments …next time the letter ‘T’..
About Carol Taylor
Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.
I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetables ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.
Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use have to improve our health and wellbeing.
Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!
Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: Amazon US
Connect to Carol- Blog: Carol Cooks 2 – Twitter: @CarolCooksTwo – Facebook: Carol Taylor
My thanks to Carol for sharing this series with us as she also works on her cookbook and novel this year…As always we are delighted to receive your feedback and if you could share that would be great.. thanks Sally.
S is such a Wonderful letter to explore food with –
The top takeaways were the many details
About sage! Nice to learn – and the saddle info
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Thank you so much for your kind comment pleased you enjoyed the letter S 🙂
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Great thanks very much.. Carol has introduced us to a great range of foods in her series…
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I’ve saved this for the peanut sauce. It sounds very good!!
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Thank you, Liz the peanut sauce is very nice I didn’t like peanut sauce until I ate the Thai version…I hope you enjoy it!
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You’re welcome, Carol. I expect I will enjoy the peanut sauce (although my husband will complain).
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My hubby is the same.. Liz.. Fi gers crossed he will love it 😊 x
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More for you then Liz…xxx
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Love peanut sauce.. the stickier the better…xx
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Yum on the squid and satay! And thanks for the peanut sauce recipe Carol. I noticed you suggested substituting fish sauce for extra soy sauce for vegetarians (which I am not), but can’t help but wonder how that may alter the taste, say, compared to a traditional satay sauce, like one may get in a good Thai restaurant? Believe me, I’ve had some crappy inauthentic tasting peanut sauces. Hugs xx
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I don’t think any substitutes are truly a match for the original ingredients and I love fish sauce and the umami taste it brings to a recipe but I also know many can’t or don’t so an alternative is what I offer then everyone’s happy…I know the feeling about the differences though and even here sometimes they cut corners or it’s just differences in regions 🙂 xx
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Thanks Carol. I will buy the fish sauce! Lollllllll 🙂 xx
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You won’t regret it…just add a little at a time and taste…When I first tried all those ago it was different and now I just love it…Lily even puts a few drops on her passion fruit…she so is Thai…lol xx
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On my list to perfect the peanut sauce ! ❤
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Thank you to Carol for another great recipe. Salsa is beloved by me. Thank you for providing images for the results too. This enables me to get a much more better result. 😉 Michael
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I love salsa like you Michael and yes an image helps …Take care 🙂 x
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Thanks Michael..xx
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Thank you, Sally, for resharing this series…doesn’t the time fly? Hope you are both keeping safe and well Hugs xx…Shared xx
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Thanks Carol… doing fine.. just a little rust from all the rain and I think perhaps some moss in my ears! xxxx
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Yes, you do seem to have your fair share of rain, Sally but good hear healthwise apart from a little moss all is good 🙂 xx
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Such lovely s words, thank you for these wonderful ideas. Toni x
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Thanks Toni..hugsx
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Thank you, Toni…Hugs xx
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Once again you’ve provided us with extraordinary insight and new ideas for healthy recipes, Carol. Salsa, squid, and your peanut sauce speak to me loudly. Many thanks. Hugs to you and to Sally for sharing. All the best.
Reblogged on Improvisation – “The Art of Living”
https://williampriceking.tumblr.com/
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Thanks William… I certainly always come away having read Carol’s posts with a craving for something..hugs.x
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Ahhhhh, Will you have great taste in food as well as music.. all 3 are on my favourites menu… Stay safe and well Hugs x
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We’re having pork steak this evening. I’ve just picked some sage leaves, torn then up and put them on the steaks with a little salt and pepper.
The salt thing has frightened many people. I know several who no longer cook with added salt in their vegetables, at least. It concerns me slightly as isodium an essential element for us.
My husband came up withthe hypothesis that sugar could be more of a culprit in hypertension. He argued that a solution of sugar is thicker than water. If it dissolves in the blood, it will thicken it, thus higher pressures will br needed to drive the blood around. (He is a scientist)
Recently, i’ve read sonewhere that there is now some thoughts that sugar is worse than salt for raising blood pressure. I wish I’d made a note of where I read it.
Anyway, thank you Carol for letter S.
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As long as you are not eating lots of industrially manufactured foods including sauces that contain both sugar and sodium, adding salt to fresh vegetables and homemade sauces is not a major issue. High blood pressure is a by product of a number of elements including being overweight, getting older and stiffening of the arteries, not enough exercise, fluids and healthy fats. A diet rich in fresh vegetables and fruits, unsalted meats and fish, healthy fats such as olive oil and grass fed butter with wholegrains with some daily walks goes a long way to having a healthy BP and blood sugar level.
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I learned so much in this article. There were a few things I hadn’t heard of, and I had no idea that pork loin came from the saddle. For some reason I thought of the saddle as tough cuts of meat. I have a mango salsa recipe that’s very similar to yours, and I agree, it’s delicious. And satay—I love satay. Thanks for a great post!
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Thanks Amy…Carol is a wealth of culinary knowledge and very lucky to have her…hugsx
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Enjoy the salt on your food, Viv… we are of the mind here that it is processed foods which are the culprit not our added salt…. Hubby has, a point Hugs x
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Hi Amy…I also love satay and salsa particularly with mango and am pleased that you found the post informative…be well and stay safe Hugs x
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We had chicken satay as one of the foods at our wedding 25 years ago. It’s about the only food I remember except for the cake! We are well…hope you and yours are, too. xo
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A lovely memory Amy …Yes we are well thank you 🙂 xx
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Where is the curve ball, dear Carol? All great stuff, to be sure!
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Thanks Dolly…xx
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You are welcome, dear Sally.
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It will be there.. One day Dolly when you least expect it… Lol.. X
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Love surpises!
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As do I.. they are few and far between but treasured when they happen xx
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Absolutely! My husband surprised me with a bottle of excellent cognac for holidays – certainly will be treasured for a long time. 🍷
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Very nice… I am sure you will savour every sip.. Xx
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I wanted to surprise him with his favorite rum, but the little Cuban store where they used to sell rare alcohol brands is closed due to Covid – dang!
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Ahhhh never mind I am sure you will manage to find something if not now but when all this is over which it does show no sign of yet 🙂 x
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I am usually not the one to complain, but I am so tired of it already…
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I love mango salsa! And there are several “s” words on here that I do not recognize!
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Great Jim…Carol knows how to dish them up…xx
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As do Jim and pleased I found some “S” which were new to you…I love discovering something new when I read a blog post and I certainly do most of the time with yours…Stay safe and well 🙂 x
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thanks, Carol – hope you are having a great weekend! By the way, I’m curious if many people in Thailand follow U.S. politics…
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Many people here have quite strong opinions on U.S politics…some who can vote and others who cannot they just have an opinion…Me… I have family in the U.S and friends…and to be honest the US had a special place in my heart…it does sadden me now with what is happening ….I think the respect and admiration the world had for the US has dwindled away…it has for me and my many friends also are saddened at events as they unfold.
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I agree that the world view of the U.S. has diminished over the past few years; hopefully we can get back on the right track.
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I do hope so, Jim 🙂 x
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