It’s not really hot yet, but once that happens three things will come true: I’ll start to hate using my oven. I will want to invite people to my garden for an al fresco meal. I will get lazy and lazy. Neither of these three things directly conflict with the other two, but their coexistence poses some challenges.
Cooking outside keeps things cool, but grilling usually means I’m smoky and sweaty at dinner time. I also don’t always like to put freshly grilled food in my mouth when I’ve spent a lot of time sweating over hot coals myself. This is where the elegance of room temperature (or even colder) food comes into play.
Eating foods that were cooked the day before, a few hours ago, or even half an hour ago, and then cooled down does two things: it introduces you to new flavors and textures, and it frees up your hosting timeline considerably. If you don’t worry about your main part getting “cold” while the rest of the meal is being prepared, you will feel much less stressed and more likely to enjoy the conversation process. ((Limit yourself a little can help too.)
While a nice hot steak is definitely fun, there’s a grilled flank in it a board sauce overnight (in the refrigerator) can be transcendent. The sauce had time to penetrate the meat. Taking it out of the refrigerator half an hour early to warm it up slightly before serving can give you a taste of volatile flavorings that you may miss in very warm or very cold temperatures.
“Food” is not a monolith, and even something as simple as orange juice contains an amazing array of chemical compounds that affect its taste, and temperature affects different types of food differently. According to Serious food, “The subject remains poorly understood in scientific circles, due in part to the wide variation in concentrations of flavor compounds in different foods, not to mention the inherent subjectivity of taste.” Even so, “the idea that hot and cold temperatures reduce the intensity with which your tongue perceives taste has gained some credibility with both academics and laypeople.”
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Anecdotally, I ate a grilled chicken thigh at room temperature yesterday and it blew my mind. The skin was the only downside – it was more rubbery and wobbly than crispy – but the meat tasted sweeter, a little richer, and felt thick and silky on the tongue. It was a very different experience than eating a freshly grilled thigh, and it was a good one.
A word on food safety
I know we should all keep “hot food hot” and “cold food cold”, but you have some leeway the standards of the FDA. They recommend leaving perishable foods out of the refrigerator no longer than two hours and no longer than an hour when the ambient temperature rises above 90 ° F. So stick to it and you are more than sure. (The FDA and its rules never stopped me from eating pizza that was on my counter overnight, but do what the FDA says, not like me.)
Let your meat soften
All meat benefits from having a little break after cooking to allow the juices to redistribute, but some meats are especially good for a long nap or even a full night’s sleep. Some of my favorite foods are not hot Chicken breasts that have been beaten and grilled (or pan fried) and then allowed to cool to room temperature, thinly sliced medium rare steak that has been chilled overnight and tossed with a sour vinaigrette, and room temperature (or cold) seared the other way round Which-, Miso-, or Marinated buttermilk Pork meat. These Vacuum tuna is not at all appealing fresh from the stove, but absolutely excellent when served at room temperature with crusty bread, really good mayonnaise and lots of fresh herbs. Also, don’t sleep on leftover fried chicken. it shouldn’t work – most cold fried foods are chunky – but the layer of solidified fat just under the skin is a textural treat when paired with the cold, salty crunch of the breading.
Let your veggies out veg
Freshly roasted potatoes are good – I would never say otherwise – but when left to cool to room temperature they make ideal ladles. Try to dip one of these in Mini problems straight from the air fryer in sour cream. The dip slips off immediately. But let the spud cool and it will grab this cultured dairy and carefully weigh it as it makes the journey to your mouth. A tiny room temperature potato is also a far superior vehicle for crème fraîche and caviar. a hot one would melt the former and mask the delicate, salty taste of the latter.
Other vegetables, both root and non-root vegetables, also benefit from refrigeration. Room temperature roasted carrots are a great meat substitute in a salad – they have the chew! – and cold marinated asparagus always tastes more like asparagus than its hot counterpart. Actually, I would argue that all marinated vegetables are best at room temperature. The oils are warm enough to be runny, but not so warm that delicate herbs are lost on the palate. If you want to be convinced that fresh vegetables and fruits are better served at room temperature than chilled, just follow a tomato slice from a fruit stored in the refrigerator and one from a tomato that has been stored on the counter.
Eggs and dairy products also benefit
Warm eggs and cheese may sound gross – especially if you grew up in the US or elsewhere blast the cuticles from their eggs– but dishes like that Spanish tortilla should be served as it is This sous-side omelette), and if you don’t have grated cheese straight out of the bag at 2 a.m., cold cheese is a crime. We have have discussed this before, but the fat in the cheese tastes or doesn’t feel so good when it’s cool in the refrigerator:
Cheese is mostly fat, and cold fat is gummy and tasteless. But once the fat warms up, it loosens and the cheese feels more creamy than bouncy in your mouth. It will also taste the way it was intended, as you won’t have all of the cold, taste-altering fat that messes things up.
This spring and summer, I urge you to lean into what is not hot, what is room temperature, and no matter how slightly cooled. It will allow you to be lazy, airier, and a little more relaxed, but it could also introduce you to new flavors and textures that you didn’t even know were possible. One thing I would avoid at all costs? Diet Coke at room temperature. Warming it up to just above “ice cold” can give you new and exciting flavors, but those flavors are best described as “robot blood”.
