The market · Nuts and seeds · The Middle East, Southern Europe
Walnuts
Rich, oily nuts with a slightly bitter, tannic skin — for muhammara, Georgian sauces and Persian fesenjan.
nutty · bitter · tannic
What to do with it
Rosa Ibarra's Clarified milk punch, mezcal and pineappleWalnut would soften its edgeIbu Sari's Sambal ijoWalnut would soften its edgeKenji Hara's Milk punch, with hojichaWalnut would soften its edge
LevantineMuhammaraA thick dip of roasted red peppers, walnuts, breadcrumbs and pomegranate molasses — smoky, sweet, sour and hot at once.No one here has made it yetPersianFesenjanChicken or duck stewed slowly in ground walnuts and pomegranate molasses until dark, thick and glossy — sweet and sour at once.No one here has made it yetPersianKuku sabziA thick, deep-green frittata that's mostly herbs, bound with just enough egg, often with barberries and walnuts.No one here has made it yetGeorgianSatsiviPoached poultry in a thick sauce of ground walnuts, garlic and spices, served cold.No one here has made it yetGeorgianPkhaliCooked vegetables — spinach, beetroot, leek or cabbage — chopped fine with walnut paste and herbs, shaped into balls.No one here has made it yet
GeorgianLobioRed beans cooked soft, partly mashed, with coriander, garlic, spices and sometimes walnuts, often in a clay pot.No one here has made it yetGeorgianKharchoBeef simmered in a thick sauce of ground walnuts, garlic and spice, soured with sour plum — a stew in the west of Georgia, a soup elsewhere.No one here has made it yetAsturianCasadiellesLittle turnovers of wine-and-lard pastry filled with ground walnuts, sugar and anise, fried and rolled in sugar.No one here has made it yetMexicanChiles en nogadaRoasted poblano chillies stuffed with a picadillo of meat and fruit, under a cold walnut cream and scattered with pomegranate and parsley.No one here has made it yet
PeruvianAjí de gallinaShredded hen in a thick yellow sauce of ají amarillo, bread soaked in milk, nuts and cheese, over rice.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Wet (fresh)
- New-season, in early autumn; peel off the bitter skin and eat with cheese.
- Dried halves
- The everyday kind; they turn rancid quickly.
- Pickled
- Green walnuts picked in early summer and pickled whole, an English tradition.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- From a shop that sells a lot of them, and taste one first — rancid walnuts are sharp and bitter. Keep them in the freezer.
- Worth knowing
- Toast them lightly and rub off the loose skins to soften the bitterness.
Kitchens that keep it in
Iran — the high plateau between the Caspian Sea and the Persian GulfPersianSaffron rice with a golden crust, slow stews made sour with dried lime and pomegranate, and a heap of fresh herbs on every table — sweet, sharp and fragrant at once.10 classicsGeorgia — the South Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the CaspianGeorgianWalnuts ground into sauces, fistfuls of fresh herbs, cheese breads and sour plums — cooking made for long tables and long toasts.10 classicsAsturias — the green mountains and coast of northern Spain, on the Bay of BiscayAsturianA kitchen of rain and mountains: big white beans stewed with smoked sausage, milk and blue cheese, fish from the Cantabrian Sea, and cider poured from a height.7 classicsLyon and its hinterland — the Rhône and Saône valleys, from Bresse to the DauphinéLyonnaisA city's cooking, rich and unfussy: pork and offal in the bouchons, cream and butter from Bresse, fish from the rivers, and the wines of the Beaujolais to wash it down.9 classicsGascony and the south-west of France — from Bordeaux and the Périgord down to Toulouse and the PyreneesGascon and the South-WestDuck and goose in every form, cooked and kept in their own fat, with white beans, garlic, walnuts, prunes and a glass of Armagnac.7 classics
