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Chermoula Vs Chimichurri: How Do These Sauces Differ?

In the vast world of green sauces, there are many that look similar, even though they have key differences. For example, chermoula and chimichurri are two vibrant green sauces chock-full of flavor, yet they have completely different culinary backgrounds. Chermoula hails from North Africa, particularly Morocco, while chimichurri's origins trace back to Argentina.

Aside from their countries of origin, the main differences between these two sauces are their ingredients, uses, and flavor profiles. Both are beloved for being versatile enough to pair with various dishes, but each has its own popular hits. Chermoula is typically used in an array of North African and Mediterranean dishes, while chimichurri is synonymous with Argentine grill culture.

Both sauces get their green hue from fresh herbs, and while they might resemble pesto, there are no nuts or cheeses involved in either of these sauces. They're both typically made with a mortar and pestle or food processor, but you can also use a solid whisking session to emulsify the sauces. And while there isn't exactly a one-size-fits-all recipe for either of these sauces, there are some common ingredients that define each. Both are herb-forward, but chermoula leans more into its warm spices while chimichurri has a sharper, tangier kick.

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Chermoula Is A North African Flavor Bomb

White fish with chermoula sauce - L. Ganz/Shutterstock

Chermoula often begins with "el ras hanout" (meaning "top of the shop"), which blends spices like cumin and coriander. For the herb infusion, most versions of chermoula include parsley, mint, and cilantro. Additionally, this sauce is often flavored with preserved lemons and garlic, and its consistency comes from the addition of olive oil. From there, cooks can get creative, incorporating everything from chilis to ginger to onion and thyme. The flavor profile is complex, with the warm spices' earthiness balancing out the brightness from citrus and fresh herbs.

Now that we've covered what chermoula is, you may be wondering how to use it. Beyond its Moroccan home, chermoula is common in North African cuisines, specifically in places like Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. In addition to pairing it with fish (a traditional matchup), you can use it to marinate chicken, lamb, or steak before cooking. Some even suggest mixing it into a side of rice or couscous. You can use it as a dip or a base for salad dressing, or you can incorporate it into a stuffing for seafood or meat. We also recommend slathering it on vegetables or bread or stirring it into stews, like this slow cooker chicken tagine.

Chimichurri Is An Herby Argentine Classic

Gilled steak with chimichurri sauce - Jack7_7/Shutterstock

Chimichurri is popular far beyond Argentina (especially in Uruguay and Paraguay), and each place is home to occasional variations. Some chimichurri sauce recipes add red chili flakes, honey, or lemon, while others tweak the amounts of each ingredient. But the primary ingredients are generally fresh parsley, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and oregano. This sauce is zesty and refreshing, with an acidic tang from the vinegar (or lemon) contrasting the peppery bite of fresh parsley.

Chimichurri is a classic match for asado (grilled meats), especially steaks. Just about everywhere throughout Latin and South America, you're unlikely to find a choripán (chorizo sausage in a bun) that isn't slathered in the stuff. But you can serve it with pretty much anything, from vegetables, fish, eggs, and rice to empanadas and bread.

While no one can agree on how chimichurri got its name, there are several theories. One says it comes from a mispronunciation of "Jimmy McCurry," an Irish immigrant said to have created the sauce. Others say it first appeared among 19th-century gauchos (a type of local cowboy). Yet another theory suggests British soldiers in the 1800s were responsible for the term because of how they requested curry with their food. Still others say the name stems from the similarly pronounced Basque word "tximitxurri," which came to Argentina through the Basque people's mass migration to the area in the 19th century. However, Argentinian historian Daniel Balmaceda told the BBC in 2021 that the word comes from the region's Indigenous Quechua people.

Read the original article on Mashed.

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Steve Sando's Bean Revolution Advances With A New Cookbook Showing Their Versatility

NEW YORK -- Stop by Steve Sando's house for dinner and, if you're lucky, he might hand you a shot glass with a warm, murky liquid topped with a little onion, oregano and lemon juice. Bottoms up! You've just knocked back some bean broth.

"If you've cooked beans, you already have a sort of free soup," says Sando from his home in Napa, California. "It's just this little hot thing to start the meal. It's like you're starting out on a good foot."

Sando is something of a bean evangelist and has found a flourishing national appetite for his dried heritage beans, which are preserved in the Americas and passed down through generations. They are favored for their flavor, variety and even the broth they kick off.

Once a niche market, sacks of his heirloom beans fetch up to $8 a pound and have attracted 30,000 people on a waitlist to get quarterly shipments via his company, Rancho Gordo.

"It's a secret that was right under our nose," he says. "I'm the one who got obsessed about it, but beans have always been here. I mean, every culture, every civilization, has some kind of legumes."

Sando's latest cookbook, "The Bean Book," with Julia Newberry, shows off the versatility of the little guys, from a Moroccan Chickpea Tagine to a Cheesy Black Bean and Corn Skillet Bake to a Clay-Baked Cod Gratin with Onions and White Beans. The flavors incorporate tastes from Tunisia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Iran and, of course, New England.

It's a mind-blowing experience to anyone familiar only with cans of black beans or chickpeas from the supermarket, bland fingernail-sized beans that have been soaked and canned and whose juice is quickly poured down the drain.

"I prefer heirloom beans that have been lovingly grown," he says. "I try not to judge people after buying commodity beans because they're still pretty fabulous."

Beans are the ultimate slow food and Sando recommends soaking them for 2–6 hours, sauteeing garlic or some onion in a pot before adding the soaked beans and simmering for at least 2 more hours. You can tell if the beans are ready to eat if you remove one, blow on it and the skin wrinkles.

Adding chicken broth or a hunk of pork into the pot as the beans simmer is a no-no until you've enjoyed the heirloom beans for what they are. Adding meat just turns it into a meat dish, he argues.

"I just think there's this a-ha moment you have when you have a killer bowl," he says. "And you have to work so hard to mess up a pot of beans."

"The Bean Book," with contributions from chefs like Staffan Terje and Faith Kramer, is a place to celebrate the more obscure varieties Sando curates, ones with fabulous names like Eye of the Goat, Whipple and Scarlet Runner. Some are strikingly beautiful, like Christmas Lima or Snowcap, almost begging to be put in a glass jar as a countertop decoration.

Beans in the book have a way of ending up in all sorts of places, from salads and sauces to braises and on toast, as supporting players or the spotlight. Sando even finds a place for them in a dish of clams and Spanish chorizo, assembling all three main ingredients only in the final moments.

"The chorizo starts to render its own fat into the bean broth, and it's like it becomes something even better than it was where it had been sitting for hours," he says. "I actually think taking separate components and only letting them get to know each other for a few minutes is better."

Sando also enters the heated debate over whether or not proper chili should contain beans. He respects Texans' aversion to beans in their chili, but suggests adding big, beefy runner beans instead of meat to a dish with red chili powder, oregano, cumin, zucchini and corn.

"I'm proud of that recipe more than almost any of them, because it really took a lot of work and it took many, many tries," he says. "I understand their concerns, but I think I really took the spirit of chili to heart with this one."

Sando says he'll never forget the thrill he felt in 2001 after growing and then eating a bowl of simply cooked heirloom Rio Zapes, a pinto-like bean with a velvety texture that has trace flavors of coffee and chocolate.

"As someone who lives in Napa, where every obscure corner of European wine is known and European culture is quite well explored, I thought, 'Well, these are actually indigenous to the Americas. And why does the average home cook not know what a Rio Zapes is?'"

Because beans take so long to be ready, Sando suggests the home cook prepare a pot of them and use them all week, maybe serve them with chicken thighs one day and then in a salad for the next and later puree them for a third dish.

He's also not against swapping one kind of bean for another in his dishes: "You can interchange them," he says. "You don't want to get too hung up on 'I can only make this because I have this.' You can experiment a little bit."

A New Starlit Patio Serves Immaculate Moroccan French Vibes In Lincoln Heights

In January 2020, Frenchmen Maati Zoutina and Boris Macquin signed a lease with the intention of opening a hip French Moroccan restaurant in Lincoln Heights. Unpermitted add-ons and structures remained in the long-vacant former Salvadoran restaurant's 2,000-square-foot space, which meant the two spent four years gutting and rebuilding the entire restaurant.

Zoutina's architectural background proved useful while navigating various delays and the city's complex permitting process. The two persisted and built new seating areas, planted hibiscus bushes and palm trees, and waited for shipping containers from Morocco full of the restaurant's eventual decor of North African lamps, colorful tiles, chairs, and plates. Though they formed the idea almost eight years ago, their restaurant and bar Zizou finally opened in June 2024. "It took us four years to build up the courage, and four years to build Zizou," says Macquin.

Zizou entry. Peter Quinn

Located on Daly Street slightly north of Broadway, Zizou's charm comes from its visual details. The open-air rear patio is full of lush plants given ample time to mature. Circular lights and framed posters written in Arabic or French line the walls while colorful vases and tagines are placed throughout. Look up the term "vibe" in the dictionary to find Zizou listed as a moody, sexy, beat-driven, and candle-lit example.

For the restaurant's operations, Macquin brings experience from New York and Los Angeles, including at Los Feliz's perpetually busy Figaro Bistrot. Macquin also put his sound engineer experience to the test with the restaurant's PA system. A spacious lounge patio is the sonic heartbeat of the restaurant, filled with plants and two massive custom speakers. "[The speakers] were the first thing we built," says Zoutina. Zizou's musical choices are intentional with a custom mix of French hip-hop, soulful underground cuts, South African beats, jazz, Colombian cumbia, and electro from Eastern Europe and beyond. Groups or individuals congregate in front of them to dance. Though sizable, the speakers don't overwhelm the acoustics of the patio, assisting diners to maintain a conversation without straining their vocal cords.

Macquin was born in the U.S. After moving to Lyon as a teenager, Macquin met Zoutina (his father immigrated to France from Morocco), and they've been friends ever since. "We like to bring what we grew up with [to the restaurant], as close as possible to our childhood," says Zoutina. Many of Zizou's dishes are based on recipes from both families, such as the chicken tagine with apricot and almond or the Moroccan salad with heirloom tomato, charred bell peppers, cucumber, and red onion.

The first-time restauranteurs are betting that local LA crowds will appreciate a compact yet classic-leaning Moroccan French menu featuring a vegetable-heavy cous cous, spinach puff pastry, steak frites, Provencal stew with mixed vegetables, and mussels mariniere. Apple tarte tatin is the only dessert option. Two can dine for under $100 with appetizers priced at $14 or less with the most expensive entree ringing in at $28. To drink are ample selections of rotating wines from France, Chile, Spain, Croatia, and Greece, along with domestic beers including the near-ubiquitous Skyduster and Gardena's Two Coast Brewing.

It wouldn't be accurate to compare Zizou to other Morrocan restaurants in Los Angeles, such as Casablanca Moroccan Kitchens, Tagine in Beverly Hills, or Hollywood's Moun of Tunis. Though Heights Deli & Bottle Shop, La Morenita on Broadway, and Little Rodeo Mexican Restaurant are Lincoln Heights staples, Zizou's hangout space is closest to Moo's Craft Barbecue and Benny Boy Brewing.

Zizou plays host to regular community events, with a souk-influenced market selling local artist wares and specific playlists. It's also a convenient third space for the hundreds of artists who live in the adjacent live-work colony: the Brewery Artist Lofts.

Zoutina and Macquin believe Los Angeles is the only place where a restaurant like Zizou could have made sense. "I don't think we'd be able to open Zizou in Europe. The industry there is very closed-minded and complicated," says Zoutina. "The people and opportunities are more open here. Plus, we love LA."

Zizou is open Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5 p.M. To 11 p.M., and closes at midnight on Friday and Saturday at 2425 Daly Street, Lincoln Heights, CA, 90031.

Wine time. Mona Holmes Custom banquettes. Peter Quinn Soul room. Peter Quinn Zizou after sunset. Mona Holmes Patio. Peter Quinn Entry. Peter Quinn Sign up for the newsletter Eater LA Sign up for our newsletter.

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