Introduction

An Introduction to Persian cooking.

There are many different aspects of Persian cooking. Many traditional Persian cooks and those that cook at home but were taught by parents or grandparents make foods outside of a recipe book. They depend on taste and memories of what the dish is supposed to taste like or look like. Others like to try new versions or add little things here and there which are different from the original recipe. Therefore, every household you go to might have a different version of the same dish because each family, each region is different in their cooking methods.

One commonality in Persian cooking is the use of spices and particularly the use of saffron. In almost all the dishes, saffron is used either to add flavor to the main dish or to the rice that is served on the side.

Saffron is Persia's gold!

Even a variety of desserts contain saffron in their recipe. Saffron has such a great flavor and aroma that it's hard not to love.

Another component of Persian cooking is that a lot of time the meat is substituted for chicken. Originally, lamb, or sheep was used as a main source of meat for different dishes. A small amount of dishes contained chicken. Most of the time, families would each vegetarian meals because meat was either expensive or scarce.

There are two secrets to Persian cooking:

1) Perfecting the rice and tahdig

2) The length of time that stews or soups are left to boil at low temperatures - this extracts the maximum flavor out of your sauce.