Today’s chefs are doing way more than adding a squeeze of lemon to food. Take a peek at the modern chef’s acid arsenal.
Molly Mitchell of Rose’s Fine Food in Detroit candies the ruby-hued fruit (with hints of berry flavor), great for chopping up and serving atop breakfast, like on Rose’s French toast.
“It has the fruitiness of an orange but the acidity of a lime,” says Jose Salazar of the pucker-inducing citrus. At Cincinnati’s Salazar, he squeezes it over scallops; at home it goes in margaritas.
Think grapefruit with less bitterness and more rind. “We rip it apart cell by cell,” says Beverly Ki, of Chicago’s Parachute. “It gives nice texture to fish dishes.” (You can just eat it in segments.)
The team at Revival Market makes marmalade using the grape-size kumquats grown by its Houston neighbors. Chef Ryan Pera then uses it to fill kolache, a Czech pastry.
Ori Menashe of Bestia in L.A. preserves Meyer lemons—thin-skinned varieties with some of oranges’ sweetness—then chops them up and adds them to salsa verde.
Alon Shaya of New Orleans’ Shaya adds the super-sweet juice to butternut squash that’s been sautéed with black-garlic butter. “It cuts through the richness of the butter,” he says.
The bumpy citrus doesn’t yield much juice, but pros love the fragrant zest. At Bar Goto in NYC, Kenta Goto uses yuzu bitters (made by infusing shochu with zest) to give drinks a beautiful aroma.
Want some more interesting citrus in your life? Check specialty grocers, or visit Rising C Ranches for mail-order options.
If you have a lemon, here's what you should do to it: