Bloom the threads before they see the pot

A dry thread dropped into a roaring pan gives you a red speck and a fraction of the aroma. The pigments move into water. The aroma can stand a simmer and leaves in a hard boil. Blooming is how you arrange those two facts in your favor.

The sequence

• Crush the threads with a pinch of sugar or a few grains of salt. The crystals break the dry stigma.
• Cover them with 2 or 3 tablespoons of water that has just come off the boil. Milk, if the dish is a milk dish. Stock, if the dish is a stew.
• Wait 15 to 20 minutes. The liquid goes gold. The threads soften and stay visible.
• Pour in the liquid and the threads. Fishing them out throws away the color still inside them.
• Add the bloom away from a rolling boil. A few minutes at a murmur carries it into the food.

Oil carries aroma and does a poor job of pulling color. If a dish is cooked in fat, bloom in water anyway, then add the bloom to the pot. For a clear company broth you can bloom longer and then decide whether the threads belong in the bowl. For rice and chicken, leave them in.

The bitter pot

An hour at a hard boil drives the aroma out and pushes the bitter note forward. Too much saffron does the same thing with the lid barely on. If a stew tastes like medicine, those are the two causes to look at before you blame the farm. The amounts in the next guide are the ones this suite cooks with.

Cold water will work if you give it much longer, even overnight in the fridge. Hot water is the weeknight version, and it is the one the recipes on this suite assume.