Crunchy > crispy

Sometimes I get mad at a recipe. Do you? For me, it most often happens when a dish, or an element of it, is described as having a quality I cherish — and it turns out, not so much. It becomes a recipe for disappointment, literally. And I’m not sure why, but it seems most often that the quality promised but not delivered is “crispy.”

Do I have unreasonable expectations for crispiness? I don’t think so. I just think it’s one of those things that’s easier said than done, culinarily speaking. And maybe that’s because so many things can get in the way: Too much dressing, or applied too early, can de-crisp a salad. Too much time in the steamer can de-crisp a green bean or snap pea. Too little oil can make a fried egg rubbery rather than crispy. Bake them too low, and your chocolate chip cookies might not get those delightfully crispy edges.

Table of Contents

• My next Zoom cooking class: BLACK BEANS!

• I break for animals: Darcy

• Recipe: Crunchy Spiced Roasted Chickpeas

• More favorite crunchy-food recipes

I’m no food scientist, but I can spot the common denominator across those situations: Moisture is crispiness’s enemy.

Sometimes, what disappoints is a food’s inability to keep its crispiness. If you’ve ever roasted or — better yet, IMHO — fried chickpeas (the latter is a Spanish delicacy, and maybe a topic for another newsletter), you know that what comes out of the oven (or oil) crispy doesn’t stay that way for long. The crispiness fades like an atrophying muscle.

For an even higher bar, try going for crunchy rather than crispy. Some folks might use the two terms more or less interchangeably, but I’m sure you know the difference. It’s a matter of weight: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Crispy versus The Unbearable Heaviness of Being Crunchy. Chips are (hopefully) crispy. Nuts are (hopefully) crunchy.

Once I tasted the ultimate in crunchy chickpeas — store-bought snacks by companies such as Saffron Road — I knew I had to try to make them myself. I worked and worked at the recipe, which ended up being one of the more time-consuming development experiences for “Cool Beans.” That’s because the key to getting them crunchy brought me back to that moisture issue, and only by finding ways to dry them out more and more was I able to get closer and closer to my goal — and to ultimately nail it.

I got the initial direction from the great and powerful Oz, aka Alton Brown, who found that leaving the chickpeas in the oven for an hour after roasting and as the oven cooled helped dry them out much like, say, little meringues. That gave me dependably crispy result. But for crunchy, more of that moisture needed to go: I fiddled with the roasting temperature, dropping it to 300 degrees, and I extended first the roasting time and then the cooling time, landing on a 1-hour roast and a 2-hour cooling period before I finally got a crunch that was deep, was loud, and perhaps most importantly, that lasted.

What you get has a multitude of uses. You can flavor them with just about anything you like — my favorite is probably chaat masala, the tart Indian street-food seasoning. And then? Use them to top a salad, throw in a wrap, add yet another layer of texture to one of my favorite soups, the Tunisian chickpea stew I mentioned last week called lablabi that I featured in my recent farm-to-table dinner at Rancho La Puerta.

The best use, TBH, is also the easiest: Just grab a handful, pop one or two in your mouth, and crunch, crunch, crunch.

My next Zoom cooking class: Black beans!

When I asked the students at my most recent Zoom cooking class, devoted to lentils, what they wanted next, the consensus was articulated by one of them: “You can never have too many beans.” Well, I couldn’t have said it better myself!

So on Sunday, May 3, from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be doing what I did with pinto beans a couple months back, and learning three recipes to make with a single pot of black beans — along with all my tips on how to make them taste their best (hint: no soaking!).

As always, you get 25 percent off a ticket to the class as a subscriber to this newsletter; just use the promo code “eatatjoes”! And don’t worry; if you just want to watch and not cook along, you’re welcome to do that. And if you can’t make it live but want to watch later, your ticket gets you access to a recording.

I break for animals:
Darcy

Recipe: Spiced Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas

I like to experiment with various spices and spice mixes as seasoning for these: use your favorite or keep experimenting.

Makes 1¾ cups // Storage: Serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.

• 1¾ cups cooked or canned no-salt-added chickpeas (from one 15-ounce can), drained and rinsed

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

• 1 teaspoon za’atar, sumac, Chinese five-spice powder, Madras curry, Tajin seasoning, smoked paprika, chaat masala, or other favorite spice or blend, plus more to taste

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Put a large rimmed baking sheet in the oven as it heats.

Put the chickpeas in a salad spinner and spin to dry. Transfer them to a line of paper towels and put another section of paper towels on top, rubbing gently to further dry. Let air-dry for at least 30 minutes. In a bowl, toss them with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and the spice(s).

Transfer the chickpeas to the preheated baking sheet and roast for 1 hour, until the chickpeas have slightly darkened and begin to get crisp on the edges. Leave them in the oven but turn off the heat and let the chickpeas cool in the oven (resist the urge to open the door!) as the temperature drops, about 2 hours.

Remove and let finish cooling at room temperature. When completely cool, drizzle with the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Taste and add more salt and/or spices if needed.

Serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.

From “Cool Beans” (Ten Speed Press, 2020), copyright Joe Yonan.

More favorite crunchy-food recipes

These are gift links to the recipes at the Post. Note that they require you to register but not subscribe. Gift links are free to access for 2 weeks, so if you want to come back to any of these recipes but don’t subscribe or want to subscribe, I suggest you find a way to save them!

Fresh Asparagus With White Beans and Crispy Cheddar

 Vegan BLTs

Winter Squash Croquettes