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What  are Leeks?

Meet a Not-Too-Famous Onion

Discovering What We Don’t Know About Leeks

Alien Encounters:

Drumming Up Inspiration for Strange-Sounding Vegetables

A Week of Leeks:

Get to know Leeks, 7 Easy Ways

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White Fish and Leeks en Papillote    

Roasted Leeks and Butternut Squash Salad

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Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

13 Easy Recipes: Make

Leeks a Mid-Winter Favorite

© 2009 Culinary Concepts, Inc., Boulder CO

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Since leeks are in the same family as onions, it's reasonable to think they can be cooked in a similar fashion. Not true.  Onions are usually sauteed or stir-fried over medium-high to high heat, browning them to one degree or another.  Leeks wouldn’t tolerate such extreme cooking methods.   Their tender pale green hearts and thin white layers would toughen, char and end up tasting like burnt sugar.

So when a recipe calls for sauteing leeks, remember that in leek cooking, "things are not what they seem."  As likely as not, “sweating” is what’s really being called for.  Confusing these techniques is understandable, because sweating starts out like sauteing, with the leeks being cooked in a little oil.  But the process continues with the leeks essentially simmering over 1) lower heat 2) in their own juices and 3) for  a longish time until they are soft and tender rather than browned.  In other words, they are cooked right in line with the Patience Principle:  low, slow and moist.  

The two previous “frying” techniques produce leeks that are lovely and sweet, but also soft and tender.  Frizzling is a way to fry leeks so they actually look and taste more like a fried food, i.e., crispy and browned.  

Of course care must be taken to just crisp and brown, not burn and char.  Chef Andrew Zimmern accomplishes this with a “cold fry” technique demonstrated on HGTV:  Julienned leeks are added to 4 cups cold canola oil, then the oil is slowly warmed to 350 (F) at which point the leeks will have been gradually browned to a rich golden color.  

Interestingly, this technique goes directly against conventional wisdom that foods should never be added to cold oil.  While, I don’t doubt that Zimmern’s approach, I still shied away from it, for economic reasons:  4 cups of oil is pretty costly!  If the oil could be reused, it might be a different story, but oil used for frying should not be reused.  This is likely not a problem in a restaurant, where a chef could make several batches in the same oil all in the same night.  But in a home setting, that 4 cups of oil would have to be pitched after only one batch of frizzled leeks.  

So here is an “economical frizzling” adaptation that uses a lot less oil but still produces lightly crisped and browned leek strips that make a tasty and attractive addition to practically any dish, from soups to fish and chicken (and they also taste just great by themselves.)

Step 4:  Turn heat on medium low and then be patient.  Leeks will take 20-30 minutes to cook, depending on their size and how “frizzled” you want them.  

Continue cooking and stirring until most of the leeks are browned and crisped.  Being so small, it’s difficult to get them all browned to exactly the same point, but they will all taste great.   

Frizzled leeks are an attractive topping for Squash  or Carrot Soups.   

Cooking Leeks:  The Frying Pan Methods   

Sweating, Aromatic Sauteing, Frizzling

Step 4  Don't go overboard,though!  While it's good to cook leeks slowly and gradually, that isn’t license to forget about them.  That would render them mushy and tasteless.  So as the cooking time draws to a close, be sure to monitor every couple minutes and remove promptly when done.  

Step 1 Heat cooking oil over medium to medium-low heat, rather than the medium to medium high heat required for sauteing

Step 2  Add leeks when the oil is just warm enough to sizzle leeks gently--not when it is just about to smoke and make them "jump," as with sautéing.  At the proper temperature, tiny bubbles will sputter around the leek pieces, and the cooking leeks will make a soothing, gurgling sound, a lot like a babbling brook.  

Step 3  Cook slowly and gradually, stirring occasionally, until leeks soften and mellow (10 to 20 minutes, depending upon piece size and quantity.)  Leeks are done when sweet---and tasting is the best way to gauge this.  They will also be tender, but still have a little firmness.  If they brown at all, it will be only lightly.

Optional Step 5:  Covering  Try covering the saute pan after a few minutes of cooking and stirring.  While not critical, covering keeps more moisture in the pan, lessening the chance that the leeks will dry out and toughen.  It also seems to mellow them more fully and evenly.  

Sweating Leeks

Sometimes leeks are used as an aromatic, i.e., as one of several vegetables (like onions, carrots, celery and bell peppers) that form the background flavor in a dish.  In these cases, a recipe may call for sauteing the leeks along with the other aromatics.  While most aromatics are “tough enough” to handle the higher heat of real sauteing, the recipe instructions should be modified to account for leeks’ more tender constitution.

Add them after all the other aromatics, at which point the pan heat will be lower and the other aromatics will have begun to give off some moisture to cushion the leeks.  Likely as not, the main ingredients will be added to the dish shortly after the leeks, further protecting them.  If not, then consider lowering the pan heat to medium or medium-low and stir to prevent leeks from burning.   

Modified Aromatic Sauteing

Frizzling

Frizzled leeks can be deliciously adapted for so many uses.  One day we added roasted garlic to them for a divine side dish.  They are also excellent in Frizzled Leek and Roasted Pear Crostini.  

Roasted Garlic

Step 1:  Julienne the white and light green parts of 2 large leeks to make 4 cups.

Step 2:  Pour 2 Tbsp. oil into a heavy-bottomed saute pan large enough to hold leeks in a single layer (i.e., at least 11-12”.)  Flared sides are also an advantage.

Step 3:  Put julienned leeks into cold oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper  and then toss lightly with fingers to coat evenly.  

1/4” to  3/8” thick

Step 5:  Flip leeks when one side turns golden brown and then re-spread across pan.  Here, leek greens are being frizzled, since they take to this cooking method as well as the white and light green parts.     

MED

LOW

Don’t turn the heat on yet

Add and toss the leeks first