February 9, 2009

Excerpt from Bragg Veg­e­tar­ian Health Recipes — Chap­ter 1
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Ordi­nar­ily, cook­books have a stereo­typed sequence. First come the tables of mea­sure­ment, then the soups, sal­ads, etc. To my mind, no recipe Book — Can start with­out fla­vor as a basis – and espe­cially no health food recipe book. In cook­ing for health, the plea­sure of well-savored fla­vor is almost as impor­tant as nutri­tional qual­ity, as it makes meal­time more enjoy­able, which also helps with diges­tion. Good cook­ing is the com­bi­na­tion of two great fields of human expe­ri­ence: sci­ence and art. The sci­ence of food tells us what good nutri­tion is. The art of prepar­ing food requires learn­ing the art of fla­vor. Using herbs such as Bragg Sprin­kle (24 herbs & spices) and Bragg Kelp Sea­son­ing, gar­lic and 100% whole, fresh, organ­i­cally grown foods are always the best.

Stock: the Foun­da­tion of Fla­vor
Fla­vor can only be as good as the stock from which it is based. Good stock, prop­erly used, is the dif­fer­ence between excel­lent and mediocre cook­ing. When the stock (or con­sommé) is excel­lent, the cre­ation of fine fla­vor is easy. When food lacks fla­vor, meals can taste flat and dull. In for­eign lands, men­tion of stock in a cook­book would be super­flu­ous. How­ever, in our cul­ture it is a little-known and sel­dom prac­ticed prin­ci­ple of the basic art of cooking.

There are sev­eral rea­sons for this: unless a great deal can be pre­pared at a time, the cook­ing of stock is time– con­sum­ing. You can make three quarts at one time, freeze some in ice cube trays, and trans­fer to freezer bags to use as-needed for small amounts. Place remain­ing stock in jars and refrig­er­ate. Put a date on all stored food items! A stain­less steel pressure-cooker is a great time-saver in the prepa­ra­tion of stock. The cook­ing time can be divided by ten.