We're all used to seasoning our food with salt and pepper. You see instructions for such in most recipes you come across. And maybe you've even gotten used to your favorite blend of herbs and spices. But there's another ingredient that could brighten up most of your recipes this season, both sweet and savory.
That ingredients? Lemons! On Slate recently, writer Lee Havlicek noted that the best way to use lemons in the kitchen is to use them in, well, everything. She says, "Lemons are as crucial a flavor-enhancer as salt. But while salt is a mainstay in even the worst stocked pantries, lemons are often tragically overlooked."
Lemons brighten up a tomato sauce and add more complexity to baked goods. They can turn a plain yogurt into a sauce for pork or chicken and turn an average summer berry pie into a true stunner. Interestingly, there's a lot of science behind it as well: Havlicek actually describes how salty and sour flavors work much the same way on the tongue, and both draw out the natural flavors of food.
→ Read the article: When Life Gives You Lemons, Put Them in Everything
So why are lemons so neglected? Perhaps people associate them with only specific flavor marriages and think "tart" and "sour" when it comes to using them. They're also certainly more expensive than table salt. But Havlicek insists they're actually hard to use wrong, urging us all to "start letting lemons make your life better."
I have been experimenting with adding zest and even juice to many of the things we've been making at home lately and have had some fun using zest in savory recipes. I added lemon and ginger to fried rice we made yesterday morning and loved the complexity, and made a saucy tomato chicken with lots of fresh lemon. I just might be sold. How about you?
Related: Recipe: Meyer Lemon Cherry Chutney
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Lemons are also more expensive and involve more effort than adding a pinch of salt or a grind of pepper. But they do a great job of perking up a bland dish!
I always keep a big jar of preserved lemons on hand. They're easy to make, and can be used wherever lemons are called for.... Just cut back on your salt when you do use them.
Middle Eastern cooks have known this trick for ages I think 90% of the food I make involves lemon. The rest probably involves chocolate :)
I love lemons! I am always looking for ways to incorporate them in my cooking and baking!
Greek cooking involves an excessive use of lemons too!
A lack of acidity is my major complaint about most things I eat (when eating out.) Without a hit of some sort of citrus, vinegar, something pickled, etc, food is blah. Especially if it is rich. Something fatty needs something to cut through it, to brighten it up.
Is it MSG? TELL ME IT'S MSG!
Even more than lemons, use limes! Mexican, Indian, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern all benefit from its floral aromas on top of the sourness.
My favorite way to eat pasta is with olive oil and lemon juice with just a bit of salt and pepper and maybe a bit of feta cheese. It's almost like a salad dressing, but it is so good. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but that's ok. More for me!
Joelfinkle - I agree with you. I love the taste of lime on almost everything. I find it much brighter than lemon.
Acid is a key to making almost any sauce taste balanced and its shocking how few people use citrus in their foods. I admit, I may not have lemons on hand (oddly, my grocery only has them in stock I'd say 75% of the time) but a squeeze of lemon makes so many things perk up.
As a cooking instructor, this is the one trick I try to teach my students all the time - not just lemons, but use more acid in general (which can also be a few drops of vinegar). Their dishes become restaurant quality!
I made some preserved lemons, cleaning them, filling the chopped cavity with salt, letting them sit on the counter for three days w/ lots of lemon juice, and then chucking it in the fridge. Now I don't know what to do with them! I think I am totally unreasonably freaking out that they are not safe to eat for some reason. Someone reassure me! And give me a vegetarian recipe that uses them!
I love fresh lemons, especially for the zest, but if you just want the juice, check out Minute Maid Premium lemon in the freezer section of your grocery store. It's a great convenience product and a staple in my kitchen.
I love using lemons and add them to all sorts of recipes. I get them by the bagful at Trader Joe's and love that they add so much flavor without calories!
Well yea, lemons are a pain in the ass, and salt is easy. That's why most pantries have vinegar. Same effect.
I love lemons and other citrus in food, but I never think to buy them. Vinegar is shelf-stable and does much the same thing. I try to have a good variety on hand - balsamic, cider and rice wine at a minimum. My roommate briefly questioned the phalanx of oils and vinegars on the counter when we set up our kitchen, but now he uses them too.
@cdeaton I made four huge jars of preserved lemons last February, and they are quite definitely still safe to use; I wouldn't worry about safety. My two favorite "fast and easy" ways to use them are in hummus and a green olive/preserved lemon tapenade.
The hummus is pretty obvious, I just rinse half a lemon very well to get off most of the salt, mince or dice it, and toss it into the food processor with the rest of the ingredients (chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil). I taste, and sometimes will add more of the lemon if it needs a little more oomph.
The tapenade is just as easy. Use a jar of your favorite green (black?) olives (12-16 oz); add a rinsed and coarsely chopped preserved lemon; 1-4 cloves garlic, sliced; 1/4 c olive oil (to start, use more if your tapenade is thirsty); crushed red pepper to taste (at least a generous pinch); ground cumin to taste; and black pepper.
Put everything but the oil in a food processor and process until coarsely diced. Add the olive oil, and process until everything is minced, but try to stop before it's reached the paste stage. (It's still good as a paste, but looks less appetizing. You can always process longer, it's hard to undo the processing!)
And who doesn't love the smell of a freshly cut lemon!?
Thanks @rmrez! The hummus idea sounds especially yummy.
My two "secrets" for making any soup taste great is to saute the onions with a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, and to add 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice after it is done cooking. I'm a huge lemon fan and I always have them in the fridge.
lemon zest (or any other citrus zest) makes everything better ... i always zest a lemon over any green salad, the oils in the skin really bring out the flavors of everything else and just have the most amazing aroma
Lemons are my life force! My boyfriend thinks I am obsessed...I have passed this article along to him. I cannot go to the grocery store without picking up a couple of lemons or limes. You never know when you will need them.
I've easily been squeezing lemon juice and adding lemon zest to just about every single thing I cook or eat since I was... 7? Love lemons. I didn't even know people had to be told to add it to everything.