Why the Aromas of Cooking Stir So Many Memories
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“Wake up and smell the coffee” hardly says enough about the psychic comforts of familiar food scents. Stronger and more complex are my recollections of getting home from school on cold, drab, winter Friday afternoons and sniffing the golden sunlit scent of chicken soup aromatic with dill, parsnip, carrots, leeks, and celery root prepared for the weekly shabbot (or sabbath) dinner. My darling late husband, Richard Falcone, often told of waking up at 8:30 or 9 a.m. on a Sunday to the dreamily enveloping aroma of long-simmering meat and tomato ragu to be folded into pasta at the family’s Sunday afternoon pranzo. Or any time, any place, anyone should be reassured by the sweetly heady perfume of baking apples, their own cidery essence enhanced by whiffs of hot butter, caramelizing sugar, and exotic cinnamon. Food aromas not only stimulate the salivary glands, but like perfumes, revive memories and associations, festive or forlorn.
Odd as it may seem, however, for a favorite scent to be the inspiration for a meal, I occasionally do plan exactly that way. It might be a classic American Sunday breakfast because I have missed the complex only-in-the-morning overtones of hot coffee, smoky bacon, butter-frying eggs, toasting bread (even allowed to burn a bit) all etched with the sprightly essence of freshly squeezed orange juice. Obviously, roasted or grilled meats have their olfactory charms but for a real hit, braising and stewing are the stronger ways to go. Scents change, ripen, and develop even as the ingredients do, nowhere more so than in a classic boeuf bourguignon, especially if the cuts of beef have been marinated briefly in red wine (make it a Burgundy or Côte de Rhone), a method I adapted from Elizabeth David’s “French Provincial Cooking.” The meaty aroma is slowly modified by gentler whiffs of developing onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and brandy with a strip of dried orange peel hinting of the south.
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And it is almost as much for aroma as for flavor and texture that I bake apple pies with grated sharp aged cheddar cheese as part of the shortening for the crust. Not only does the baking cheese impart a tantalizing bitter-buttery aroma, but it adds its toasty flavor and a bronzy glow to the top crust that covers the silky apples — hopefully, Northern Spys or Cortlands for the most sublime results.
Herbs do much to tease the senses and I cherish sage most especially with roasting chickens that have been liberally brushed with lemon juice and butter while I associate thyme with lamb and rosemary with pork. The combination of thyme, bay leaf, and garlic says as much to me about Louisiana’s fragrant kitchen as does that region’s Holy Trinity of onions, bell pepper, and celery, the slowly sautéed starter for the gumbos and jambalayas that distinguish this country’s best regional cuisine.
All of the above said, there is one cooking aroma that counted above all others in our household: the warm, reassuring appeal of oven-roasted sweet red peppers, Italian-style. Cooling in summer, warming in winter, tantalizing always, this is the siren scent that always lured my husband down from his third-floor study to the first-floor kitchen. “What’s that crazy smell?” he would ask even knowing the answer in full. I rarely am without those peppers, in summer and especially in winter when they make up for a certain red sweetness that stands in for missing good tomatoes. If you think a BLT is great, try a BWP … bacon, watercress, and roasted peppers on good bite-able toasted sandwich bread liberally brushed with olive oil-based mayonnaise.
Cooking for scents has another benefit: As rich and satisfying as aromas are, they have no calories.
Recipes from Mimi Sheraton:
Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Crust
Oven-Roasted Peppers, Italian-Style
Chicken Soup That Really Will Warm the Soul
Mimi Sheraton has been writing about food for more than 50 years. Her book, “1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover’s Life List” is a best-selling must-read for anyone who eats. Her first book, ”The German Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Mastering Authentic German Cuisine,” is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
