If I could only cook one dish for the rest of my life, Brothers Green Eats

Josh Greenfield shows his favorite thing to eat in answer to a question he gets, what is your favorite thing to cook. He lives to cook and cooks to eat.

I became a bit annoyed by the extra steps. He makes this look a lot more difficult than it needs to be. We cooks like to simply things, not use more bowls than needed nor pots and pans that must be cleaned. In all cases we simplify that so much as we can.

For example, the jiggly cake yesterday, used way too many bowls unnecessarily. The yolks could go directly into the pot of cooled mixture and the whites directly into the electric mixer's bowl. All those extra bowls are unnecessary.

This really is a mind-blowing good meal. It needn't have so many extra steps. Frustrating to watch Josh go to such extraordinary extra trouble.

Notice his broth flavor enhancements are mere teaspoons of 

* soy

* mirin

* sesame seed oil

* Siracha

* shitaki mushrooms (ton of umami flavor)

Umami is the body, the heft, the heartiness that gives weight satisfaction, the signal you're having a real meal. 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce does that same thing. Miraculously, I must say.

You want a meal you can toss together in a few minutes. The elements are at hand for you to grab and dump in. You don't make the chicken stock every time. You don't cook the noodles and the bok choy  separately. Rather, you add them the last. 

You don't buy half a chicken for stock, cook it to death then pick off the meat. Rather, you save up the bones from all your chicken meals. Even take out Kentucky fried. The meat is already consumed. The only thing left is bones and odd bits, and all that is frozen.

I keep a pair of pliers in the kitchen drawer specifically to break open chicken bones. When the frozen bones are brought together and re-roasted to increase their flavor, then boiled, the bone marrow is more easily accessed and drained from them into the broth. 

A pressure pot does this same thing in minutes that Josh does in hours. Boom, you've got a gallon of chicken stock right there at hand, frozen in useable amounts and  available at moment's notice.

And it's very good by itself. While adding Asian flavor enhancements expands its profile tremendously. And I mean, tremendously! For a bowlful:

* 1/2 teaspoon fish stock

* 2 teaspoons soy sauce

* 1 teaspoon mirin

* 1 teaspoon sake

* 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil

These hit every spot on your tongue uncompromisingly.

Those things added in scant amount to commercial chicken stock will blow. your. mind.

Western flavor enhancements will be aromatics like the French mirepoix, onion, celery, carrot, and then garlic, with things like bay leaf, peppercorns, dry mustard powder, herbs such as tarragon, oregano, sage, and spices such as allspice, Nutmeg with things that have cream.

Indian flavor enhancements will be more extreme, clove, cardamon, cassia bark (cinnamon), cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, nutmeg and mace, turmeric, saffron, fenugreek, hing (asafetida).  

Asian vegetable flavor profile kickerouters are garlic and ginger combined and small bird's-eye type red chiles. 

So then, the broth is pre-made, and quickly, by pressure pot and using saved broken bones usually discarded. The frozen stock is reheated and all the flavor additions right there at hand. Then the vegetables are added one at a time as if stir frying, the noodles and bok choy last, and there's your meal in just a few minutes with no extra pots or bowls involved. 

And it really is satisfying as Josh says. And you really could live on this if you had to because each time the elements change. I've never managed the same thing twice.  One time it's chicken bits, another time bacon, or tofu, or fish, or even pork. Another time beef broth with thinly sliced steak barely cooked. Josh left out bean sprouts, white or yellow onion, carrots, celery. daikon radish, spinach, wakame seaweed or kelp, corn, snow peas or sting beans, broccoli or cauliflower. That is, whatever you have on hand.