I love lemons and I love North African food, but somehow it took me a long time to try preserved lemons. They are made with fresh lemons, packed in salt in a jar; after time, the salt extracts the liquid from the fruit so it sits in its own salty, lemony brine. Yes, they are a bit obscure, but that was a poor excuse: usually I love sussing out unusual ingredients. Plus I’d seen them in specialty shops around Brooklyn, or online. Then a neighbor gave me one for Christmas and I finally gave it a go. Now I am seriously invested. In fact, they’ve become a bit of an obsession.

Actually, I think my issue was dealing with the preserved lemons once I had them, which seemed like a pain. Every recipe I read said something different and annoyingly exacting about how to use them—use the flesh, but not the rind, or use the rind and not the flesh, chop and deseed and more—and I hate being that fussy. Plus it seemed crazy to throw away any part of them. Then I read that you could grind them up, peel and all, and it all clicked into place. Preserved lemon puree. I was now able to throw a spoonful of the puree into any dish I liked, no fuss. I was pleased as punch. 

The flavor of preserved lemons is bright and lemony, with a gentle umami-packed saltiness, similar to an olive. It doesn’t have the sour punch of a regular lemon; it’s both mellower (in acidity) and more concentrated (in lemon flavor). Without having to balance its acidity or add salt, you can simply add more to make something more lemony. Know how you can add lemon juice to brighten up a dish at the end, but you have to restrain yourself a bit, as it can make things too tangy? Or you can make a salad dressing with lemon, but you need to use more olive oil than usual, or a bit of honey to make it palatable? Preserved lemon doesn’t have this constraint. I'd guess a regular lemon is far to one side on a pH scale, and a preserved lemon is much closer to the neutral middle.

So what to do with this treat, once you have it ground up? So many things.* Everything savory that you’d already do with lemons is a good place to start. Plop a blob of it in salad dressings, in marinades, on cooked grains, on roasted vegetables. It’s great in dips, on beans, in a pan sauce, in chicken/potato salad, in deviled eggs, on top of fish or shrimp. Its texture can be a bit adhesive, like an egg: one of my weirder but best creations is to dip boneless chicken in the puree, then in crumbs, then pan fry. It’s like a schnitzel but with the lemon flavor of the traditional lemon spritz at the end built in—that way it stays crispy. In short, preserved lemon puree is almost endlessly useful. While it goes with any cuisine that uses lemons, it goes especially well with North African flavors, of course—think olives, harissa, dried fruits, honey.

Here is the other amazing thing—a secret of sorts: the brine. Do not under any circumstances throw away the brine. Similar to the lemons themselves, the brine is a salty, liquid essence of lemon. A splash of this yellow liquid will finish off all sorts of dishes—both salt-seasoning and lemon-livening in one step. Use anywhere where you could use the puree, but when you want no bulk: dressings, marinades, sauces, soups. One of these days I’m going to try making a dirty martini with it—since I occasionally take a sip of the liquid straight from the jar (I have a salt tooth), I’m sure it would be even better shaken up with vodka until it’s ice cold.

Preserved Lemon Puree

Remove the lemons from the brine; do not discard the brine. Cut each lemon into wedges and remove the seeds and any stem. Chop roughly and place in a food processor. Process until pulverized. Place the puree in clean jars and stir gently with a chopstick to remove any air bubbles. Top the puree with a thin layer of olive oil—this will help preserve it—and keep in refrigerator. As you use the puree, keep topping it with oil and always use a clean spoon.

Preserved Lemon Brine

Keep the brine in its original jar or transfer to a smaller one, and don’t let anyone pitch it, thinking the contents have been ostensibly used up. They’d be so wrong.

*Top 5 Things to Do with Preserved Lemons:

Preserved Lemon Puree:

• Schnitzel: Pound out boneless chicken (per usual, I prefer thighs) or pork cutlets until evenly thick. Mix together a big spoon of the puree and of Dijon mustard, a pressed garlic clove, a sprinkle of thyme, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Dip the cutlets in the mixture, then in crumbs (fresh or panko). Pan fry or drizzle with a little olive oil and roast at 400 degrees.
• Hummus: add a dollop to your regular homemade (or store-bought) hummus, holding back on extra salt until you taste it.
• Cocktail or tarter sauce: replace the lemon juice with a blob of preserved lemon puree.

Preserved Lemon Brine:

• Dressing: mix with olive oil and pepper (and a little Aleppo if you like). Dead simple. Dress arugula, roasted veggies, steamed potatoes, seared fish, or cooked white beans.
• Moroccanish chicken: In a baking dish, combine a big blob of light colored jam (ever-handy quince jelly, or apricot or fig), a little less harissa, a hearty splash of preserved lemon brine, a spoon of ground coriander, olive oil, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more sweet, heat, or salt. Add bone in, skin on chicken parts (thighs are best), peeled shallots, and a sliced lemon and toss together. Arrange chicken skin side up, and bake at 350 or 400 degrees until chicken is cooked, about an hour for dark meat. If the skin isn’t crispy, broil it for a few minutes at the end, but watch it closely!