SIP & SAVOR
Kitchen Confidential
Loews chefs divulge their favorite secret ingredients
and how to use them.
BY LINDA DOMINGO AND NEAL WEBSTER TURNAGE
T
he phrase “secret ingredient” is generations old, often a way to politely deflect a recipe request. It’s nothing unusual—but consider for a moment that such an ingredient actually existed. Moreover, that it was something you
could get your hands on to elevate your own cooking. Loews chefs have good news: There are such things. And
they’re more than happy to tell you what they are.
As you may imagine, each kitchen has its own tricks of the trade. While most special ingredients aren’t necessarily hard to
find or particularly exotic, here, you’ll learn what several Loews chefs consider their culinary secret weapons. When employed,
these products never fail to evoke raised eyebrows and the question: “What is it that makes this so good?”
Worth His Salt
“My secret ingredient isn’t much of a
secret ingredient,” says Louis Goral,
chef de cuisine at Loews Madison
Hotel’s Rural Society. “I truly believe
that salt can make or break a beauti-
fully crafted dish. It has been my best
weapon in 15 years in the industry.”
Although it might seem simple
enough, Goral takes salt seriously. “One
thing I find the hardest to forgive when
I go out is bland, under-seasoned food,”
he admits. The chef uses different kinds
of salts for different occasions, including kosher for the most standard cooking and Maldon sea salt (an English
coarse salt) to take steaks grilled on
the wood-fired grill “to the next level.”
He and the culinary team also use pink
curing salt for the restaurant’s famous
morcilla sausage, made in-house.
And the seasoning is one of his top
priorities for life, he says. “I even have a
tattoo of the Morton salt girl on my leg
to remind me.”
Chef de Cuisine Louis Goral seasons wood-fired steaks with Maldon sea salt.
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