Dirt Candy: Roasted Carrot Buns

Dirt Candy: A Cookbook. Flavor-forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant

By Amanda Cohen and Ryan Dunley, with Grady Hendrix

Charlotte Potter Publishers, 2012, 224 pages

I don't normally review cookbooks here, but I made an exception for Amanda Cohen's Dirt Candy, because it is absolutely unique: part recipe book, part graphic novel, part vegetarian manifesto, it doesn't apologize for its hybridity, but instead embraces it. The result is both fun and invigorating.

I am not a vegetarian, and neither is anyone in my family. But, like many, I am trying to reduce the amount of meat we eat. I limit red meat, trying to feature chicken or fish when possible, which is easy enough. But doing without animal flesh altogether is more of a challenge. I personally like beans and pulses, but not everyone at home does. Once you eliminate those, it's hard for me to think of filling vegetarian dishes that aren't pizza, pasta, risotto, or some sort of root vegetable gratin. Which I guess isn't too bad, but it gets to be a lot of carbs and/or cheese.

Cohen correctly points out that the French tradition has conditioned us to think of vegetables as a side dish. Even great chefs can be guilty of this: she humorously recounts that most of the tasting menus she has been served consisted in a series of salads. Cohen also makes astute observations about how vegetarianism in the West has been mostly associated with those dreaded words, “healthy eating,” and has been framed around denying yourself things.

The recipes at her New York restaurant Dirt Candy (where I have not yet eaten, but am now desperate to) put vegetables front and center, and make unapologetic use of frying oil, strong sauces, and butter to keep things interesting (although it is worth noting that each recipe has a vegan version). Whereas most of us don't do much to our vegetables beyond boiling, roasting, or sautéing them, Cohen uses a variety of techniques on them. She smokes them, she dehydrates them, she fries them, she turns them into carpaccios, mousses, doughnuts, and more. There's even a recipe for broccoli ice cream.

One reason I want to eat at Dirt Candy in the near future is that many of these recipes require a lot more skill and patience than I have. Many of the dishes in this book, it has to be said, are quite fiddly. Techniques like smoking and dehydrating are perhaps more trouble than many home cooks would be willing to go through. A squash salad with four kinds of squash, an elaborate dressing (which, to me, means having to mince things), smoked squash slices that mimic bacon, and cheese croutons sounds delicious, and is something I would have tried making back maybe half-a-decade ago. Now, with two young kids, I simply don't have the drive or the time. Sure, I could use just one kind of squash, and skip the fake bacon and croutons, but then I'd just end up with a regular salad.

The recipe I chose to make, the roasted carrot buns, clearly illustrates the problem. I omitted only one component (the carrot halvah). Even so, it took a long time to make, between caramelizing the carrots in the oven, making the carrot juice-infused dough, shaping and assembling the buns, and steaming them. Not to mention making the carrot hoisin sauce and the accompanying salad. 

Still, while this book has not entirely resolved my problem regarding highlighting vegetables in my cooking, it has given me some new ideas to try, as well as more reasons to try them. Also, in addition to cheerleading for veggies, the book entertainingly tells of Cohen's experiences in the restaurant business (aficionados of chef memoirs will recognize the gruelling reality of the job), with much humour and honesty. 

I won't feature the carrot bun recipe, as I did not adapt it in any positive way, and certainly didn't do a great job. I do like the concept, and the filling, which is supposed to imitate the texture of char siu, was quite tasty. But, worried that the dough wouldn't rise (the yeast isn't awakened with warm water but by the friction of the food processor in which the dough is made), I overworked it and ended up with a tough, rubbery texture. Still, aren't they cute?