casinyeam Chile Crisp Everything
Hello there! Mia here, the newsletter editor for New York Times Cooking, filling in for Tanya this week. You saw her excellent guide to the best takeaway at small New York City grocery stores, right? If not, take some time with that and I’ll meet you back here.
A long time ago (2018), I wrote about Lao Gan Ma’s spicy chile crisp for New York Magazine’s The Strategist. I gave my loving ode the headline “I Panic if I Don’t Have at Least Five Jars of This Spicy Chile Crisp,” and the sentiment still stands. I have not found a better (saltier, crunchier, funkier, tongue-tinglier) way to perk up pretty much everything I eat. Steamed vegetables. Scrambled eggs. Vanilla ice cream. I have been known to smear a spoonful of chile crisp on a bowl of hot rice and call that dinner, and I make no apologies for it.
But adding spicy chile crisp as a topping is only the tip of the chile-crisp iceberg. When it’s used as an ingredient — essentially, standing in for cooking oil — chile crisp adds warmth and dimension, its spiciness mellowing as it relaxes into the dish.
This carrot risotto from Alexa Weibel is an excellent example: The chile crisp melts into and balances the base of shallots, garlic and white wine, and it gives the sweet carrots a subtly spicy contrast. Also — that color! If there was ever a time for a vibrantly orange risotto, I’d argue October is it.
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