{"id":160027,"date":"2024-01-19T12:33:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T17:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=160027"},"modified":"2024-01-19T15:52:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T20:52:29","slug":"13-cooking-tips-from-beard-award-winning-chef-and-author-bryant-terry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/19\/13-cooking-tips-from-beard-award-winning-chef-and-author-bryant-terry\/","title":{"rendered":"13 cooking tips from James Beard Award\u2013winning chef and author Bryant Terry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bryant Terry is a James Beard Award-winning chef, but as he prepared a recipe from one of his cookbooks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Bates, he promised his audience that it would be a piece of cake, figuratively speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you can boil a pot of water, you can make this dish,\u201d he told the Gomes Chapel audience on Monday during his keynote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recipe, for tofu curry with mustard greens, came from his book Afro Vegan<\/em> and was inspired by a friend\u2019s Tanzanian dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

As he prepared the dish, he offered his audience cooking tips and insights, while explaining that while the tofu dish is easy, it\u2019s not intended to be quick. Here\u2019s that wisdom, plus 13 other takeaways from the first-ever MLK keynote cooking demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Take it slow, if you can<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A proponent of the Slow Food community, like one of the chefs who inspire him, Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters, Terry noted that his recipes are criticized for being time- and labor-intensive. “Yes and yes,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd in the chapel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,
MLK Day keynote speaker Bryant Terry cooks and talks as he prepares a vegan dish of tofu curry with mustard greens in Gomes Chapel on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur fast culture always has us on the go, always has us thinking about how quickly we can do things. And I encourage us to slow down. This type of cooking practice may not be convenient during the week, but the type of things that you want to make on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Cooking is community<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

American society convinces us to solve problems individually. Instead, Terry said, we should see a more communal way of understanding how we address larger systemic problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI encourage you to think about how you can connect with friends, family, and community to make food,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Tofu isn’t always the answer<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Terry agreed that sometimes “tofu is overused,” in vegan or vegetarian dishes. “I reject and rebuke the boring and stereotypical way in which people just delete meat and add tofu: \u2018Where there once was a steak, now I’m going to have a big block of tofu and brown sauce.\u2019 We’re not doing that here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did tell his audience to feel free to sub in another protein source. \u201cThat\u2019s what I like about this recipe: You can easily substitute chicken or lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Roasting tofu gives it meatiness and bite<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The dish Terry prepared calls for roasted tofu, “which gives it a lot of meatiness and bite. Cooked in the right way It actually can be very tasty and filling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRoasting involves preheating an oven to 350 degrees, lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, taking the tofu, tossing in a little olive oil, salting it, and then placing it on the baking sheet and roasting it for about 30 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Moments
A proponent of the Slow Food community, Terry noted that his recipes are criticized for being time- and labor-intensive. “Yes and yes,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd at Gomes. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“I probably check on it every 10 minutes or so just to turn it to ensure even cooking. That yields a very crispy kind of golden exterior and this creamy interior. So really delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Listen to your body<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all need to think about our own bodily constitution, our health status, our age. It may be perfect for you to have one specific diet at a moment in your life, but we need to listen to our body and think about the way in which it’s constantly changing and shifting, and really check in with our health team about how we might want to shift our diet to meet its needs accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Take stock by using stock<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

When a recipe calls for water, think about using stock. It’s simple, versatile, and adds depth to various dishes. \u201cAnything that requires water, if you’re making rice or quinoa or some type of grain, you can substitute the water with stock to give it more flavor and a little more depth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, he said, “good-quality and tasty vegetarian and vegan box and bottled stocks are available, even in bouillon cubes. I’m not as self-righteous about using those things as I was a decade ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Homemade stock is<\/em> better<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaking stock at home is super easy to do and it’s pretty incomparable in terms of freshness of flavor,\u201d he said \u201cMy wife and I make a big vat of vegetable stock every weekend. And what we do is we make the stock, we cool it down, we transfer it to ice cube trays, freeze those, and then we’ll transfer the trays to Ziploc bags\u201d which makes them easier to use the stock in small batches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick recipe:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • A vegetable stock can be made with a couple of carrots, a head of garlic, and a few onions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • You don’t even need to peel the onions, he said. \u201cYou can simply quarter them. Open the garlic up with the butt of your hand or butt of a knife, just to smash the different garlic cloves. Add some mushrooms, if you want the stock to have a little bit more umami and depth, and maybe some bay leaves.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Add two quarters of water to the vegetables, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Partially cover, cooking for between 30 to 90 minutes, more \u201cif you really want to extract all the nutrients.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • \u201cTransfer to a colander, press the solids, and you have this rich, flavorful, delicious stock.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            8. Lose that old spice<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            Toss out your old spices. Terry noted that his mother loves to cook, but like so many of us, has a drawer of spices dating back to the Clinton administration. \u201cI’m like, \u2018Mom, just clean this drawer out!\u2019 Spices lose a lot of their punch as time goes by.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            9. Coax flavor from your spices with heat \u2014 but gently<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            Every dried spice benefits from a little warmth before going into the pot, in a pan over low heat, but do so with caution. \u201cDon’t let your garlic or spices burn,\u201d he said. \u201cJust cook them just until they start to smell fragrant. You want to avoid, when making a soup or stew, dumping in spices into this big vat of liquid. That\u2019s going to prevent the spices from fully incorporating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            When you cook spices with your alliums, it coats them and then it ensures that they’re evenly distributed throughout the dish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            10. Canned is OK (sometimes)<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            Terry used canned tomatoes during his demonstration. \u201cI am typically pretty adamant about using fresh ingredients, and you might be saying, \u2018Bryant, I wouldn’t expect you to use canned tomatoes. You want to go to the farmer’s market, go to the supermarket and get fresh tomatoes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \"Monday,
            When thinking out our diet, “we need to listen to our body and think about the way in which it’s constantly changing and shifting,” Terry told his audience in the Gomes Chapel. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            He makes an exception for tomatoes. \u201cI am totally fine with using canned tomatoes. I don’t like promoting brands, but I will say that Muir Glen is a really good organic tomato brand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            With good-quality tomato brands that are organic, \u201cthey harvest the tomatoes at their ripe of peakedness, and then they immediately process them so that they’re really flavorful and have a lot of nutrient density.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            11. Pursue vibrational cooking<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            Allow your intuition and creativity to guide your culinary journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThe goal is that you should be so adept at cooking and have the fundamental skills that you are using what Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, the anthropologist and author and actress, calls vibrational cooking, where you’re using your intuition in the spirit of jazz improvisation, you’re using what’s on hand, you’re just kind of flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            12. Adapt recipes to what’s available<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            Terry\u2019s recipe calls for mustard greens, a staple in American Southern cooking. But mustard greens weren’t available for the demonstration, so Dining Services provided collard greens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cRecipes should be used as a guide. If you’re growing collards or Swiss chard at home, and the recipe calls for mustard greens, please don’t go out and buy this leafy green. Use what’s on hand. It’s really about making these recipes work for each individual and their family and making things as easy as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            13. Food justice needs all hands on deck<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cI don’t expect for you all to abandon your majors and then be committed to food justice activism,\u201d Terry said. \u201cBut I do think that we all eat, right. We all eat, right?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \"Moments
            Bryant Terry told his audience that “I don’t expect for you all to abandon your majors and then be committed to food justice activism, but we all should be concerned with creating a more healthful, just, and sustainable food system.” (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cSo we all should be concerned with creating a more healthful, just, and sustainable food system. Whatever talents and skills we could bring to help bring us to a tipping point. You need chefs, you need designers, you need scholars, you need journalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cWe need all hands on deck to really work towards what I would argue is one of the most important movements of the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n\n\n\n
            TOFU CURRY WITH MUSTARD GREENS \u2014 Bryant Terry <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

            Serving Size: 4-6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            14 to 16 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into \u00bd-inch cubes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u00be teaspoon fine sea salt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u00bc teaspoon mustard seeds <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1 cup finely diced white onion <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            2 cloves garlic, minced<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1 \u00bd teaspoons ground turmeric <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u00bd teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            6 cardamom pods, seeds removed, toasted and ground <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u00bd teaspoon chili powder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u00bc teaspoon freshly ground black pepper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1\/4 teaspoon ground ginger <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            One 14- ounce can of chopped tomatoes with juices <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1 jalape\u00f1o chile, seeded and minced<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1 heaping tablespoon chunky peanut butter <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            3 cups vegetable stock, homemade or store-bought <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            12 ounces mustard greens, stemmed and cut into bite-sized pieces <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            2 bay leaves <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            2 tablespoons chopped cilantro <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Directions: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            2. Put the tofu in a bowl, drizzle with 2 teaspoons of the oil, and sprinkle with \u00bc teaspoon of the salt. Gently toss the tofu with clean hands until evenly coated. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            3. Transfer to the lined baking sheet, spreading the tofu in a single layer. Bake, turning once after 15 minutes, for 30 minutes, until firm. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            4. Warm the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large saut\u00e9 pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until they pop, 2 to three minutes. Add the onion and the remaining \u00be teaspoon salt and saut\u00e9 until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, fresh ginger, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder, and ground ginger and saut\u00e9 until fragrant, about 2 minutes. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            5. Add the tomatoes, peanut butter, and jalape\u00f1o and stir until well combined. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            6. Stir in the stock, mustard greens, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Decrease the heat to medium low, partially cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            7. Gently stir in the tofu and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            8. Taste and season with more salt and black pepper if desired. Serve garnished with the cilantro. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
            9. Enjoy!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              During this year’s MLK Day keynote, Terry prepared a dish of tofu curry with mustard greens, along the way offering a baker’s dozen of cooking tips and insights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":159989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[11010,133,232],"tags":[5709],"class_list":["post-160027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-creativity","category-environment-sustainability","tag-martin-luther-king-jr-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160027"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160115,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160027\/revisions\/160115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}