INSTAGRAM VS. REALITY

Do "viral" recipes live up to the hype?

This week we’re diving into something that’s come up a few times as we craft this newsletter for you every week: The nonstop glut of the latest “it dish.” A few years ago it was Alison Roman’s “The Cookies,” Or TikTok’s baked feta pasta. This Summer, we’ve been bombarded by more…

So what happens when you get your hands on a “viral” recipe? Do you follow it by the book, or make it your own?

THE TUCCI PASTA

EK: I love watching Stanley Tucci and I watched the well-loved first episode of Searching for Italy on CNN, where he visits Nerano, a romantic village on the Amalfi coast. The zucchini pasta is a favorite of his (and his wife’s), and even though it is super simple, he spent years trying to learn the secret to recreate it at home. In Searching for Italy he traveled back to the pasta’s originator and was taught how to make the delicious dish by the chef himself. I celebrated with him while I watched the small screen. Then I wanted to make it.

AU: I, too, wanted to make the “Spaghetti alla Nerano” at home. Like so many Italian creations, what seems to be so simple, is also a skill to master itself. The ingredient list is short—zucchini, oil, pasta, cheese, basil. Simple, right?

EK: Ha! Sometimes the simplest dishes are the hardest to replicate. Especially since in the simplest dishes, the quality of the ingredients is paramount! This must have been where my version fell a little short…

AU: Same here! The recipe calls for you to deep fry thinly-sliced zucchini rounds in (sunflower) oil, like they do at the restaurant Lo Scoglio in Italy. I, however, was not going to do that (having been burned by a similar Ottolenghi recipe I tried that instructed the same technique). The juice was not worth the squeeze, in my opinion, so I roasted the zucchini in a very hot oven on two sheet pans (in an ungodly amount of olive oil).

EK: In the end, I had a beautiful fresh dish peppered with dark brown zucchini rounds. I ended up adding lots of lemon zest to the finished pasta and if I hadn't done that, it would have been too bland, but with the lemon, the basil and the cheese, it was a lovely Summer pasta.

EK: I also did not deep fry my zucchini but I did pan fry it until it looked fried. It was a little tedious and if I make it again, I will follow Anthony’s lead and “oven-roast” the zucchini.

AU: Yes, and while I added mint to the recipe (along with some garlic and Calabrian chili flakes), I forgot to add the lemon zest you suggested!

In the end, both of us were happy with our final dishes, but that’s because we both made changes to the “viral” recipe to suit our tastes.

If you’d like to try your hand at Spaghetti alla Nerano, here’s the recipe.

TOMATOES + CHILI CRISP

EK: Ever since I made and fell in love with the viral Tomato Feta Cheese Bake, I’ve paid more attention to the recipes that—for whatever reason—catch fire and become viral. But I have to say that they rarely deliver on what the headline promises…

AU: STRONGLY AGREE! I find that they’re always a good starting place, but typically require a good understanding of cooking to make them sing.

EK: During the pandemic shut down, I discovered the Trader Joe’s Chili Crisp and liked it a lot. It was garlicky, crunchy and just salty enough to add a little somethin’ somethin’ to everything I put it on. It reminded me of the Salsa Macha that I learned to make in Mexico without all the seeds. I love Salsa Macha, but it is a production made with 4 different kinds of toasted chiles, garlic, grapeseed oil, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds among other ingredients. Chili crisp delivers all the spice, texture, and savory zip in a ready-to-eat jar.

So, when I received a Saveur email promoting the 2-ingredient tomato salad from TikTok—tomatoes and chili crisp—I couldn’t resist trying it. What I didn’t expect was that it was going to push me down the chili crisp rabbit hole...

EK: I promptly purchased a fancier [US made] chili crisp that promised a Szechuan chili oil with garlic and sea salt. I really like Szechuan peppers and had visions of a garlic, crunchy, salty and tingly Szechuan pepper chili crisp. Truthfully, it was so mild and oily that I was disappointed and when I added it to the halved cherry tomatoes, it didn’t get any better.

So, I thought it was the chili crisp. I proceeded to purchase the OG Lao Gan Ma chili crisp which comes from China. I loved the idea of trying the original which I hadn’t tried before. It’s good, and super crunchy as it has less oil than the other versions and is a good option if you don’t mind the addition of MSG. It also happens to be really inexpensive.

Of the three variations of chili crisp that I bought and tasted, the Trader Joe’s Chili Onion Crunch is still my favorite. It’s crunchy and savory, slightly smoky and not too spicy. I also really like that the base is olive oil and not a cheaper oil. It is also inexpensive and a good value.

But let’s get down to the recipe at hand. I took the Saveur email literally and tried to make the salad with 2-ingredients: cherry tomatoes and chili crisp. I tried it with all three chili crisp versions and all three were lacking. They desperately needed salt and some kind of acid. The tomatoes themselves weren’t acidic enough to cut through the oil.

EK: The best version I had was the 2-ingredient tomato salad on top of sourdough toast slathered with mayonnaise. It was like a spicier version of an open-faced tomato sandwich, and the lemony Hellmann’s saved the day.

For the sake of trying to find that perfect chili crisp, Anthony bought a fourth variation. And, I have to admit that what he discovered has me a lil’ jealous! :)
It underscores the fact that cooking and flavor are 90% ingredients and 10% knowing what to do with them!

AU: I’ve seen Fly by Jing Chili Crisp for years now, and have always wanted to try it. But I was hesitant, because I have also found other chili crisps lacking that certain oomph. NOT THIS ONE. It’s flavorful. It’s spicy. It’s packed with (the cringe word) umami.

So then it was my turn to try the famous two ingredients together. I picked up some amazing farmer’s market tomatoes, cut them into chunks, and drizzled them with the Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp. Oh, and I added a few basil leaves. It was a delicious snack that I could totally see myself eating at the kitchen counter when I just need to shove food in my face.

AU: Now, if I were going to serve this for dinner, I think (like all the other internet-famous ‘recipes’ before) it needs a few things…

Acid - Like Elizabeth mentioned above, even perfect Summer tomatoes need a little help. A sprinkling of sherry vinegar (and of course a little flakey salt) really brought this dish home.

Fat - I could see this being a totally over-the-top tomato dish paired with something that has fat. Like dairy. In fact, it reminded me of a similar dish at Bavel here in LA. They serve an heirloom tomato salad with strawberries, whipped feta, cilantro, and burnt harissa. It’s divine, and the whipped feta cools the spicy burnt harissa (which is very similar to chili crisp!).

I think if you mixed some crème fraîche with crumbled feta (which is Bavel’s recipe for their whipped feta) and used that as a bed for the tomatoes and chili crisp, you’d feel like a true kitchen genius!

What recipes have you tried, and how did you make them your own? Let us know by clicking below to leave a comment. And tell us what “viral” recipe we should test next!

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That’s it for this week! As always, if you make our recipes, tag us on the ‘gram (@kitchensitch & @elizabethkarmel), and use the hashtag #whats4dinner. Happy cooking!!