San Antonio chef and author Steve McHugh in front of a refrigerator case filled with local, ranch-sourced, dry-aged meats at Cured, his award-winning restaurant.
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Curing holds the promise of a magical transformation. In the kitchen, it is a way to stop time, to preserve and enhance flavor. In the human scheme of things, to cure means to restore and heal, to make something better and make it well.
For Chef Steve McHugh–six-time James Beard Foundation Award Finalist; chef/owner of Cured, a top restaurant in San Antonio, Texas; and author of the new award-winning cookbook, Cured: Cooking with Ferments, Pickles, Preserves and More, with Paula Forbes–it means all of those things and more. Not only does “cured” describe the innovative style of cooking that infuses almost every gorgeous and deeply delicious dish on his restaurant menu. “Cured” describes the happy outcome of his battle with cancer.
At age 33, McHugh was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Not surprisingly, food became an important part of his journey, and he discovered the curative benefits of fermented and preserved foods. “It was important for me to focus on the purity of natural ingredients and the hands-on, unadulterated methodology that enhanced my healing process,” he says. “Ultimately, to cure is to strengthen, to bolster reserves. It looks towards the future, to anticipate needs, and helps us save a tiny bit of today for tomorrow.”
McHugh determined to master the art of curing, fermenting, pickling and preserving, something not many chefs were focused on at the time. “When I first got into it, there weren’t a ton of books on curing, and the learning curve was steep.” But patience is the hallmark of a great chef. He set out to cure his first ham and, apparently, he got lucky. “I had to wait for 12 months to know whether it was going to be worth a damn,” he says. “Turns out, it was one of the best hams I’d ever eaten in my life. It was exhilarating. And that was the birth of Cured.”
Sustainability
The restaurant opened in Dec 2013 in an elegant century-old white brick building in San Antonio’s historic Pearl district, once a brewery complex with great architectural bones, now re-imagined as a hip culinary and cultural hub not far from downtown.
The Pearl, a must-see for San Antonio visitors, is anchored by the Hotel Emma (recent recipient of a two-key Michelin Award), the new Pullman Market (a Texas-style nod to New York’s Eataly) and a constellation of outstanding restaurants including Cured, serving modern American heritage-style foods with a focus on exceptional regional and organic ingredients. Cured established McHugh as one of the most talented chefs in Texas.
During the restaurant renovation, McHugh sought out reclaimed wood from an old tobacco manufacturing plant, upcycled the original double-door vault into a working freezer, incorporated original brass pieces into an inviting square-shaped bar, left the exposed brick and opened up the wooden ceiling rafters to reveal a tin-paneled ceiling, circa 1904. Behind a large glass case, haunches of Texas heritage hogs, along with a dizzying array of dry-aging strip and ribeye steaks, dry-age and cure.
Artfully preserved produce–relishes, salsas, pickled vegetables, jams and mustards–is integral to the kick-ass charcuterie boards and alchemical cocktails at Cured that change seasonally and sometimes daily: from Apple and Jalapeno Pork Rillettes, 60 Day Pork Loin, Smoked Duck Ham, 75 Day Cured Sobrasada to lamb and citrus terrine. Polyglot dishes like Boudin Empanadas (with smoked tomato ranch and bread & butter pickles) and Pickled Shrimp Salad with Heirloom Tomato, Preserved Lemon and Piquillo Pepper, reflect McHugh’s time in New Orleans, cooking with Creole chef Chris Brown, celebrity chef John Besh, and restaurateurs Dickie and Ralph Brennan of the legendary NOLA restaurant family–with a dash of local San Antonio flavor mixed in.
McHugh’s focus on fresh, responsibly sourced, sustainable ingredients began with his childhood on a small farm in Wisconsin and grew into a lifelong appreciation for the work of ranchers and farmers. (McHugh will participate in the Chefs for Farmers Food Festival in Dallas from November 1-3, with other top chefs and farmers, showcasing the incredible diversity of Texas cuisine.) “We cure our heritage Texas meats for anywhere from three to 12 months depending on the cut,” says McHugh. “It’s a process that, like healing, is delicate and takes time and patience.”
Most chefs are waste-adverse, but McHugh seems to take sustainability to an entirely new level. “Purchasing produce at the height of freshness allows the whole ingredient to be utilized in varied applications,” he says. “If you get tomatoes in their prime, you can then make and freeze tomato sauce to enjoy these flavors out of season, without stressing the global supply chain or using up enormous resources.”
Fermentation
The first chapter of his new book is called “Acid” (followed by “Ice,” “Dry,” Sugar,” “Fat,” “Cure,” “Ferment,” “Smoke”) and it starts with a recipe for a simple but sublime vinaigrette. If you stick with this book–which you will because it gets its hooks in you and you won’t want to stop until you’ve tried every recipe–you’ll work your way through kimchi, sauerkraut and preserved-lemon chicken soup, on up to beet-cured salmon, peach jam, grapefruit marmalade, and a range of increasingly more ambitious and delicious meals.
But preserving and fermenting your own food can be intimidating, which is where Cured: Cooking with Ferments, Pickles, Preserves & More comes in. You will learn everything you need to know to get it right, and, be warned, it becomes a bit addictive. “Fermentation changes the taste and texture of the ingredient,” he says. “And it takes an ingredient’s flavor from two dimensions to three.” Fermented foods can balance the richness of charcuterie, for example, which is why it’s such a classic pairing. “Ferments taste a little funky and a little sour; their flavor is slightly more intense than the raw ingredient before fermentation, but also segmented,” he says.
Food Activism
McHugh belongs to the Food Policy Council of San Antonio and is certified as a leader in the James Beard Foundation’s Smart Catch program, which focuses on sustainable seafood. He partners with the San Antonio Food Bank, which oversees several organic gardens, services 29 counties in Southwest Texas and feeds 100,000 recipients every week. He was a two-time participant in the James Beard Foundation Boot Camp for Policy and Change, helping empower chefs to become more effective leaders for industry and food system change.
Cultures around the globe have been preserving food for centuries, he says. “Curing originated as a means of survival,” says McHugh, which certainly resonates for him. “Inside the knowledge that our days are limited, there is the human impulse to prolong the rare and precious moments that bring us joy,” he continues. “Translating that to a modern-day restaurant, curing allows us to showcase and honor the hard work of our farmers and ranchers. But beyond the food, I wanted to create a space that would foster an appreciation for time, and provide room for friendships and community to cure, in the dining room and in the kitchen.”