“Lot of lemon juice, lots of lemon zest; delicious”
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Okay, I'm joined now by chef, food writer and owner of Lottie's Restaurant in Rathmines, Dominique Kemp. Hi, Dominique. How are you doing? Dominique, I feel lemons are kind of unloved or underappreciated in Ireland because they are kind of a hero ingredient these days across both sweet and savoury. You love lemons. Why do you love them so much?
Yeah. They're just, do you know what, they just cheer you up.
Why are lemons considered an underappreciated ingredient in cooking?
I think they can cheer up a sort of bland, flat dish. They're full of vitamin C, full of goodness, and they just give a brightness to dishes. They're a really good tool to have when you make something and you think maybe it tastes a bit flat or a bit bland. it just adds a little zing to many dishes.
A little zing is that it's a zest and nothing else quite brings it like a lemon, yeah?
Yeah, absolutely. It's that real punch of citric acid, the vitamin C and that sort of sour flavour that you get. And again, when you have something that's kind of a bit fatty or, I said, rich, you know, it'll just help cut through.
Okay. And does that acid, does that kind of change the chemistry of a dish and of cooking as well, yeah?
Definitely. And it's like if you think about it, you know, that that sort of acidity, it's also great for kind of protecting the food. So if you've avocados or fruit or anything, you don't want it to oxidize and go brown, then that acid will really reduce down the pH level. So you you end up not sort of spoiling your food, as it were. So, again, that chemistry is, you know, it's sort of the same way that, you know, when you have a ceviche, that kind of raw fish or you can cold cook it by using like a very acidic marinade. So limes or lemons or anything like that. It's cold cooking, so you're actually cooking the flesh because of that high, intense acidity.
Can you also use them for getting rid of stubborn food smells?
Yeah, I think if I was a better homemaker, I'd be making all sorts of detergents and everything out of lemons. But people do.
How do lemons enhance the flavor of bland dishes?
It's definitely an ingredient. And if you look at even commercial cleaning products, they always have, you know, lemon scented because, again, it's that sort of strong smell. But definitely things like lemon peel in, say, your compost bin or anything like that. Even rust stainless steel using half a lemon on it, it can sort of brighten a lot of... They're magic.
I think sometimes the problem with the lemons we get in the supermarket is they can feel a bit hard and unyielding, can't they?
Yeah, definitely. And I think limes actually can be really mean sometimes.
Yes, pellets. Pellets of limes, yes.
Lemons tend to be a bit more generous, but if you have a lemon and you kind of roll it on a surface...
that can help sort of um uh sort of release some of the juices so that you get a bit more bang for buck some people might yeah exactly some people microwave them but i wouldn't bother okay so you have some uh recipes um these are all uh savory ways to use lemon so your first recipe is lemon spiced chicken with chickpeas so is this a kind of a middle easterny kind of vibes yeah
Definitely. And the other thing you can sometimes see in supermarkets, not that it's in these recipes, but those preserved lemons, those jars are preserved. They're just basically lemons that have been cured and cooked.
I would associate them with Morocco, right? Yeah, exactly.
But again, exactly. And they can be great as well if you're doing a salad. And again, it's a bit bland. You can chop them up. And is a preserved lemon is like it's a bit stronger in flavor.
Yeah.
Yeah, they've cured it and then they've cooked it in a sort of acidic sort of liquor. And it's like they can be quite bitter. They can be a bit like too intense. So a little goes a long way. But these dishes are brilliant for especially this time of year where the weather is kind of indecisive, shall we say. And so, again, a little bit of warmth. So you're just really sautéing off some onions and chicken breasts and seasoning with a lot of, say, cinnamon, coriander, cumin. And again, the zest and juice of two lemons.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:23
2
Why are lemons considered an underappreciated ingredient in cooking?
0:23–2:01
3
How do lemons enhance the flavor of bland dishes?
2:01–4:06
4
What role does acidity play in cooking with lemons?
4:06–7:53
5
Can lemon juice help prevent food from spoiling?
7:53–9:41