Bulgur

The grain is the seasoning, the herb is the salad. Get the ratio right.

Menthol lifts the toasted-wheat heaviness off the back of the palate.

Acid does the hydrating. The grain swells sour instead of bland.

The grain holds the oil so the herb keeps giving on the second forkful.

Its juice is the cooking liquid. Salt the tomato first, then let it drain in.

Cracked wheat drinks oil like a sponge and stops being dusty.

Pounded raw into meat trimmed lean. The swollen grain binds it, not fat.

Sour syrup lands on toasted grain the way vinegar lands on chips.

Dry acid on a dry grain: sourness with no extra water anywhere.

Fruity slow heat, oil-bloomed, folded through while the grain is warm.

Tannic nut and toasted wheat share pyrazines and a mild bitterness.

Anatolian pilaf move. The fruit acid replaces the lemon and adds tannin.

Extreme acid against toasted starch reads like a lemon that never stops.

Shared pyrazines. Toast the grain harder and the cocoa stops being a joke.