Condiment recipes from the first two books in the Preserved series

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Our cookbook of the week is a two-in-one feature on the first pair of books in the Preserved series by Darra Goldstein, Cortney Burns and Richard Martin: Condiments and Fruit.

Jump to the recipes: ginger-sesame chutney, pikliz and amba.

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It’s easy to take condiments for granted. Lined up in tidy rows in the fridge door with almost absurdly long shelf lives, they’re there when we need them. A dash of hot sauce or chili oil, a dab of ketchup or mustard, a side of chutney or pickles — condiments don’t just add a little something to the meal. Often, they make the meal. And, as authors Darra Goldstein, Cortney Burns and Richard Martin show in the first in a series of six books about food preservation, Preserved: Condiments, even the most ubiquitous have a story to tell.

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Take ketchup, for instance. Whether in a bottle or a packet, the condiment is a mainstay of burger joints, cafeterias, diners, hot dog stands and households alike. Today, it comes in a single form: tomato. But in the 18th century, inspired by the fermented fish sauces of Southeast Asia (ke-tchup or kecap), British cooks used a variety of savoury ingredients, including walnuts, oysters and mushrooms. Tomatoes, native to the Andes, had yet to conquer global palates.

“It was only in the very late 19th century that ketchup, thanks to Heinz, really took over,” says Massachusetts-based Goldstein, who buys Heinz ketchup whenever she’s in Canada “because it uses real cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.”

In Preserved: Condiments, the authors take ketchup back to its roots in more ways than one. Store-bought versions have become sweeter with time; they give their contemporary ketchup an umami hit with fermented tomato paste and feature a mushroom catsup recipe akin to earlier interpretations.

“If we say ketchup, it has its own modern definition. We can all picture it. So, to be able to turn that on its head in some ways — not for the sake of turning it on its head, but to say, ‘There’s more to it than this’ — and to open up a new doorway of flavour, but also just knowing about ingredients and where they came from, is really exciting,” says Burns, a Cape-Cod based chef and fermentation maven.

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Worcestershire sauce is another kitchen staple the authors revisited. “I had always just used Lea & Perrins. Making it from scratch is admittedly time-consuming, but the layers of flavour — the complexity — is really wonderful,” says Goldstein. “Recipes like that, for me, combined a lot of history, a lot of global trade, and thinking about where things come from and how ingredients have moved around the world, but also the alchemy of the kitchen.”

The Preserved series was born from a conversation between Goldstein and Martin, a media executive, about reviving the one-issue magazine Cured (2016), of which Goldstein was editor-in-chief. Jenny Wapner, the publisher of Hardie Grant North America (and Goldstein’s editor for Fire and Ice and Beyond the North Wind), suggested a series instead. Volumes dedicated to drinks and vegetables (2024) and dairy and grains (2025) will follow Preserved: Condiments and Preserved: Fruit (2023).

Despite their small size — 104 pages and 28 and 32 recipes, respectively — Volumes 1 and 2 are dense with details and inspiration. According to Goldstein, launching the series with condiments felt fitting. Condire, the Latin root word, means to preserve or season; they have been preserved by actual definition.

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“It seemed like the right category to launch the exploration into the larger world of foods that have been preserved, starting with the idea of the original condiment being salt, which is a means of preservation. So, it was starting from the very beginning of people’s desire to keep things from going bad. It seemed logical on that level, on a literal level, but also because it enabled us to travel the world. And, of course, we started working on these when the pandemic was still raging, so there was no possibility for wide travel. And it was really a wonderful exercise to bring all of these flavours into the kitchen through mail order, admittedly,” says Goldstein, laughing. “But lacking a plane ticket, it’s sort of second-best.”

Burns is known for the “larder-based kitchen” (and award-winning cookbook) she created with fellow chef Nick Balla at San Francisco’s now-shuttered Bar Tartine. Condiments act as an umbrella for the whole series, she says; many recipes in the other five books could fit into the category. Though she has enjoyed doing “a localized and focalized deep dive” into all six Preserved topics, condiments provide a unique jumping-off point for creativity.

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“The complexity of flavour that we can get out of preserving these condiments specifically — using them, or fermenting them and layering in flavours — then opens up a wellspring of how they can be used in the kitchen,” says Burns. “On those nights where we might not feel inspired, or there’s chicken thighs in the fridge, and you don’t know what to do with them. Well, if you have these condiments already or a larder you’ve created, the opportunity for flavour exploration and deliciousness on a whim is really possible.”

Goldstein considers herself a more experimental cook now than before embarking on the series. She installed a second refrigerator in her basement to hold a burgeoning number of preserves. Making the best use of them requires outside-the-box thinking.

They would languish in the fridge if she reserved her red plum hoisin sauce only for Chinese dishes or harissa for Moroccan meals. Instead, she looks for new opportunities, using hoisin sauce as a glaze for roasted cauliflower or turning harissa into a compound butter for steak.

“My husband and I just started putting them on all kinds of different things, some more successful than others, but it made us realize that that whole idea of fusion, which I know has a very bad name these days because some of the combinations have been so outré and not very appealing. But in our globalized world, there’s something to be said for mixing and matching traditions, which is also what immigrants have traditionally done when coming to new countries. They’ve taken their traditions and melded them with the new ingredients and things they find in the new country. And so, it seems like a nice way to approach them.”

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Representing various techniques, such as fermentation, dehydration, layering with salt, and preserving with honey or sugar, was vital, as were a range of traditions. The recipes in the two volumes highlight lesser-known culinary cultures through condiments and preserved fruit, including Haitian pikliz, Acadian herbes salées and Georgian churchkhela.

Food preservation was once a necessity for survival. Now, cooks pursue it for other reasons, such as health, culinary enjoyment, reducing household waste, saving the season and the simple act of making and sharing. Some of the processes involved are quick, others slow. The books strike a balance between both. For the more time-consuming ones, waiting for weeks or months brought unexpected benefits beyond the depth of flavour.

“What I found in testing them is that I entered into the different stages of the ingredients as they transformed through fermentation, through dehydration, as they moved from a solid to more liquid state. The different smells, the different flavours as they developed,” says Goldstein. “That part was really beautiful, and it was also stepping out of the rat race — stepping out of time a little bit to do that and just be able to linger. And for me, particularly during the pandemic, time was a really beautiful exercise.”

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Burns also appreciates this opportunity to be in the moment. “Sometimes, getting in the kitchen helps us slow down and enjoy the process. I often enjoy the process more than the finished product, so I like to give a lot of those things away. That’s probably why I cook for a living; I can just give it to other people. But making things for people, feeding people is just one way that we get to show love. So, if more people could do that in general, I think we’d all be better off.”

GINGER-SESAME CHUTNEY

Makes: 1 pint (475 mL)

5 tbsp plus 2 tsp (85 mL) regular, untoasted sesame oil
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 1/4 cups (120 g) peeled and minced fresh ginger
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 or 3 fresh green chili peppers, such as serrano, stemmed and chopped with seeds
1 or 2 dried red chili peppers, such as chile de árbol, stemmed and torn
1 1/4 tsp black mustard seed
1 1/4 tsp cumin seed
Zest of 1 large lime
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup (35 g) white sesame seeds
5 tbsp (50 g) tamarind paste
2 1/2 tbsp (35 g) grated jaggery or firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

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Step 1

In a medium sauté pan, warm 5 tablespoons (75 mL) of the sesame oil over medium-low heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the onion and cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not let the onions brown. Stir in the ginger, increase the heat to medium-high and cook the mixture, stirring, until golden, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the onions and ginger to a blender, leaving the oil in the pan.

Step 2

Return the pan to the burner and add the garlic and green and red chilies to the remaining oil. Cook over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until the garlic is golden. Scrape the mixture to one side and add the remaining 2 teaspoons of sesame oil to the pan. Drop the mustard and cumin seeds into the oil and immediately cover the pan. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 30 seconds, just until the sputtering diminishes.

Step 3

Stir in the citrus zests and the sesame seeds and warm for a minute or two. Transfer to the blender along with the tamarind paste, jaggery and salt. Purée and taste for seasoning.

Step 4

Spoon the hot chutney into a sterilized 1-pint (500 mL) canning jar, leaving a 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) of headspace. For long keeping, process the chutney in a boiling water bath; otherwise leave it to cool at room temperature, then store in the refrigerator. Allow the flavours to meld for a few days before using. The chutney will keep, refrigerated, for at least 3 months.

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Serving suggestions

• Use as a dipping sauce for whole grilled fish, such as mackerel, sardines or branzino
• Layer into grilled cheese sandwiches
• Bake with halloumi cheese in a cast-iron pan until tender

PIKLIZ

Makes: 1 quart (1 L)

2 cups (115 g) thinly sliced green cabbage
1 small red or green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and shaved into long strips with a peeler
3 green onions, green and white parts, sliced into 1/4-inch (6 mm) rounds
1 to 2 scotch bonnet peppers (depending on desired spiciness), finely minced (remove seeds if less heat is desired)
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
10 whole black peppercorns
4 whole allspice berries
2 tsp thyme leaves stripped from the stems
1 sprig marjoram
2 tsp kosher salt
3 cups (720 mL) apple cider vinegar or champagne vinegar
Juice of 1 lime

Step 1

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, bell pepper, red onion, carrot, green onions, scotch bonnet peppers, garlic cloves, peppercorns, allspice berries, thyme, marjoram and salt.

Step 2

Toss well to combine. Pack the mixture tightly into a 1-quart (1 L) jar. Stir the vinegar and lime juice together and pour over the vegetables. Press down on the vegetables until they are completely submerged in the liquid. Tightly cover the jar with a lid and refrigerate for at least 3 days before opening. Pikliz will last up to 3 months, refrigerated.

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Serving suggestions

• Serve alongside fatty cuts of meat like pork belly or with whole roasted chicken
• Finely chop and add to coleslaw or stir-fries
• Sauté in pork or chicken fat and serve on top of grilled vegetables
• Tuck into tacos

AMBA

Makes: 2 cups (475 mL)

2 firm, unripe mangoes
1 tsp fenugreek seed
1/4 tsp yellow mustard seed
1/4 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
3 tbsp (45 mL) olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 serrano chili (or more, to taste), thinly sliced
1 large lime, zested and juiced

For the 6 per cent brine:
5 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (360 mL) water

Step 1

Peel the mangoes and remove the flesh in large slabs from around the pit. Dice the fruit into 1/4-inch (6-mm) cubes and transfer to a 1-quart (1L) glass jar. You will have about 12 ounces (350 g) of fruit.

Step 2

Make a six per cent brine by stirring the salt into the water. Pour the brine over the mango to cover it completely, leaving 1 1/4 to 2 inches (3 to 5 cm) of headspace between the lip of the jar and the brine. Place a weight on top of the mango to keep it submerged (a plastic zip-top bag filled with water will do the trick).

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Step 3

Close the jar tightly and let the mango ferment at room temperature for 10 days. “Burp” the jar a few times a day for the first 5 days to release any pressure that is building up inside the jar. Do this by opening and then retightening the lid.

Step 4

After 10 days, taste a piece of mango; it should be slightly but not overpoweringly salty, with a nice tang. If not, let the mango ferment a bit longer, tasting each day until it is to your liking. Strain the fruit from the liquid. Set both aside.

Step 5

To make the amba, finely grind the fenugreek seed, mustard seed and cumin seed in a spice grinder or mini food processor. Add the ginger, cayenne, smoked paprika and turmeric and grind again.

Step 6

In a medium frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and chili and cook until the garlic is fragrant and just beginning to colour. Add the spices and cook for a minute or so, stirring continuously to make sure the mixture doesn’t burn. Stir in the mango, lime zest and lime juice. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Step 7

Purée the mango mixture in a blender or food processor until completely smooth, adding a couple of tablespoons of the brine, if necessary, to thin the mixture. Transfer the amba to a glass jar; tap the jar gently on the counter to release any air bubbles. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the purée to protect it from oxygen, and cover the jar with a tight-fitting lid.

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Step 8

Store at room temperature, stirring the amba once a day for 2 to 3 days, covering it well again after each stirring. After 3 days the amba is ready to eat. Keep the jar well sealed with both plastic wrap on the surface and a lid on the jar. Stored this way, the amba will keep for 2 or 3 months in the refrigerator.

Serving suggestions

• Serve alongside roasted chicken, lamb or vegetables
• Stir into a fresh salad for a fruity kick
• Use as a marinade for fish
• Stir into yogurt to serve with fiery dishes

Recipes and photos excerpted with permission from Preserved: Condiments and Preserved: Fruit by Darra Goldstein, Cortney Burns and Richard Martin published by Hardie Grant Publishing, October 2023, RRP $33 Hardcover.

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