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Base recipes for weeknight cooking

Bases Technique
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Many people like to prepare entire meals for the week or month, or to make a large meal on the weekend and use it for leftovers. Preparing foods in bulk can save money and time, but the problem with preparing a single meal for an entire week is that you have to eat a single meal for an entire week. This works for some people, but not for me.

Less common to the home kitchen is to do what restaurants do, which is to prepare sauces and bases, as well as other washed and cut ingredients. These simpler preparations can be adapted into several recipes quickly. The bases are easy to scale up, and they often hold well in the refrigerator or freezer, though restaurants rarely freeze their prep, since freezing can hurt texture and flavour. At home, however, there are many sauces and bases that freeze exceptionally well.

If you look back at the art of preserves, you’ll see a lot of foods that serve as bases for many different meals: red sauce, beans, gravies, boiled meats, pickles, vegetables, and so on. The practice is less common in kitchens today, and the art of canning both requires investment and practice, as well as specialized recipes that preserve well.

I’ve found that by following similar principles, but using the fridge and freezer, that I can have ingredients for dozens of meals at the ready. I like to call this proactive laziness, but honestly it’s proactive gluttony as well, as I love to eat a variety of fantastic foods with as little effort as possible.

Example bases

Here are some of the things I keep in my freezer:

Proteins, Stews/gravies, Stocks and sauces

And in my fridge: Pickles. Dressings/sauces, Prepped veg

Some examples of adapting a base into quick meals

Precooked ground protein bases

The Beef base is a great example and one of my favourites, as it can be transformed into so many different meals. The mix itself includes some form of the holy trinity, garlic, and mushrooms, and can be pushed towards pretty much any cuisine. We use this mix to make several quick meals:

  • American style meat sauce, adding the beef to a quick marinara, or an already prepared frozen red sauce
  • It makes a great base for a ravioli or tortellini filling (adding ricotta and herbs)
  • Taco beef, by adding half a tin of minced chipotles in adobo, and some cumin, which can be adapted to
    • taco salads and tacos
    • burritos, quesadillas
    • nachos
    • taco soup
    • taco pizza
    • (etc.)
  • A quick Canadian chilli, adding the taco beef to a few cans of beans, some red sauce (or whole tinned tomatoes), great with
    • mac & cheese
    • over fries
    • over salad
  • Szechuan beef, by adding Szechuan peppers, 5 spice, soy, and some ginger, great over
    • rice bowls
    • Asian style noodles
    • eggs
  • Bulgogi style beef , by adding a tin of Asian pears, ginger, soy, and 5 spice, also great for applications like Szechuan beef
  • Cottage Pie , by making gravy out of the beef, adding frozen veg, and topping with mash

I freeze my mince bases in 500ml and 250ml deli containers, which are portion sizes for 2-4 people, or 1-2, depending on the adaptation. As I normally prepare it using a pressure cooker, it’s extra tender and deeply seasoned. You can apply the reverse sear method to it if you want some browning, by heating it on high and stirring regularly. It will express any remaining water, reduce, and start browning in about 5 minutes.

Patties, sausages, and meatballs

I try to keep a dozen or so ground chicken patties in the freezer, for quick burgers, sandwiches, and noodle or rice bowls. The patties are made from ground chicken, with some added water and elevated pH, making the patties a bit more springy, and more substantial feeling than straight ground chicken (similar to Vietnamese or Chinese beef balls).

I also like to keep a kilo or so of breakfast sausage in the freezer, either in patty or hand-made link form. These are great for breakfast sandwiches and wraps, but are also great in a quick mac & cheese, chilli, or stir fry. They tend towards a mildly sweet and fennel-y flavour.

Meatballs are a fantastic freezer food, if frozen carefully. They can dress up a quick red sauce or pizza, they make great sandwiches, and they work surprisingly well in Italian or French soups.

Stocks and base gravies

Base gravies are a super power that I learned from a few BIR (British Indian Restaurant) streamers, who taught the art of take out style Indian dishes. You can make base gravies for other cuisines, similar to how Thai cooks use curry pastes, or Japanese cooks use curry blocks. These little flavour bombs.

A base gravy can be adapted into almost any takeout style Indian dish. Each adaptation is approximately half base gravy, added to a more specific spice blend, veggies, and protein add-ins. The result is more flavourful than a traditional curry dish, as it’s more layered (so more depth). I am biased, as many of our local Indian restaurants are similar to the British style takeout menus.

Stocks and gravies are a great way to make a traditional meat and potatoes style meal, or quick soup. They’re also great ways to fortify rice dishes, casseroles, and pan sauces.

A theory for better cooking isn’t exactly new

The French have a long history of codifying and categorizing food bases. Many of the French preparations can be adapted to freezer bases. A demi-glace , for example, freezes well and packs a bunch of flavour and texture, and can be adapted to dozens of different dishes. As I continue to learn to cook, I look to other cuisines and their history of sauces, bases, pastes, and pickled ingredients.

I enjoy cooking on my own terms, so I like to weaponize my love of cooking occasionally with my laziness, which is why I spent a lot of time filling my freezer with things that set my week up for delicious food.

Related

Al pastor marinade (pantry hack)

Mexican Bases
Al pastor is a tart and savoury marinade that begs for pork and fresh tortillas. Mechanic I don’t always have easy access to dried chilis. I do have reasonable access to ground dried and fresh chilis, so this is a pantry version that captures the basic intent of a Mexican chilli paste turned into a marinade.

Basic chicken ramen stock

Japanese Bases
This is the basic chicken ramen stock I use for my lunch ramen (when working). It’s a hybrid of a French and Chintan style stock with ingredients readily available. This recipe uses a pressure cooker and family-size pan (or stock pot) to reduce. It is possible to replace the pressure cooker with a stock pot, given 3-4x the cooking time.

Basic ramen tare

Japanese Bases
This is a basic tare and braising liquid for ramen style pork and tare used with simple broths. Keeps for a week in the fridge and freezes nicely (both the pork and tare). Inspired by Ramen_Lord and some tweaks for our tastes.

Beef base

Canadian Bases Meat
This is a savoury ground beef base for tacos, salads, in soups, casseroles, and sauces. Ingredients: 4 cups of sliced mushrooms 1 onion, diced 1 shallot, diced 4 cloves of garlic, diced Salt/pepper 2 tsp Accent (optional) 1.36kg/3 lbs of ground beef (or a mix of beef/veal/pork) 250ml chicken stock Italian style, add: 1 teaspoons fresh ground nutmeg 1 bouquet garni (bay, thyme, rosemary, peppercorns) (You can instead use dried herbs, placed in a cheesecloth or stainless steel tea infuser) Taco style, add: 2 tablespoons ground cumin 2 tablespoons chilli powder 2 teaspoons ground chilis (like aleppo, something sweet + spicy) 1 small tin of smoked jalapenos (185g/6.55oz) Directions: There are a few ways to make this, depending on the final texture you’re looking for, and what equipment you have available. My favourite method uses a pressure cooker, which takes less than 30 minutes and results in a softer texture than you can easily get with the more traditional methods (without cooking it for most of the afternoon).

Beef stock

French Bases Stocks
This is a rich stock that uses bones leftover when buying and breaking down whole cuts. Ingredients: 2-3kg beef bones (side cut is best, something like a knuckle or kneck is good too) 2 yellow onions (250-350g) 1 medium carrot (100g) 1 large celery rib (90g) 1 shallot 2 cloves garlic 2 tablespoons of tomato paste 2 teaspoons black peppercorns 3 bay leaves 1 teaspoon (or a few sprigs) of thyme and rosemary ~2 tablespoons Veg oil (to coat roastables) ~5L water (to cover) Directions: Roughly cut veg and toss with oil. In a 220C/450F oven, roast bones until browned, 30-60 minutes. Flip about half way through, adding the rough cut veg. Transfer to a pressure cooker, including any liquids and suc remaining on the pan. Add water and spices, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook on high pressure for 45-100 minutes, depressurize using the slow method (for a clearer stock). Remove solids, strain. Sample stock in a small bowl with a pinch of salt or soy and note if stock is strong or not (for whatever you plan on using the stock for). Reduce the stock by 50% for freezing or use within 5 days refrigerated. Notes: The reduced stock should cool into a solid and gelatinous state. I don’t bother skimming off the fat as I use it for starting soups with a bit of extra flavour. To speed up cooling, add a smaller pot filled with ice and water (or using a cooling paddle) Special equipment 6L pressure cooker.

Breakfast style sausage

American Bases
This is a quick breakfast sausage. It does not require casings, unless you have the equipment and time. Mechanic Salt runs 1–2% of the ground meat’s weight, and every other spice scales proportionally from there. See the scaling worksheet to calculate percentages automatically for a different batch size.