flavors

I’m always saying that recipes are more templates than commandments — a starting point to creating meals that work for you. A recent conversation on the NOURISH Evolution Facebook page reminded me how important it is for every cook to balance flavors to suit his or her own palate.
A reader responded to a recipe for Speedy Chickpea Couscous with Pesto that we’d posted from Maria Speck’s wonderful new book Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. “Seemed like it was missing something,” she noted, “a shot of lemon juice or some vinegar.”

This piqued my interest, because our Facebook friend was on the right track. While the recipe leaves it up to the cook to use any type of pesto, we’d suggested using the Basil-Mint Pesto below. Indeed, when I developed that pesto recipe it needed a little splash of lemon juice to enliven and heighten its flavor. As it turned out, our Facebook pal had used some store-bought pesto she had on hand, which, we think, accounted for the flat flavor of the final dish.

That experience reinforced the importance of following your own palate to cook food you’ll love. “We all like to eat things our own way,” says Speck. “My Greek mom puts loads of lemon juice on everything — she loves the tang.”

Of course, you want to develop the flavors of a dish throughout its preparation, and some ingredients need to be added early in the cooking process. Dried herbs, for example, benefit from cooking to soften and mellow their flavor. But just before serving is a key opportunity to give a dish one last adjustment to elevate it from ho-hum to wonderful.

Some (very) basic tips for how to balance flavors:

Salt. If you’ve added salt a little at a time during cooking, you may not need much at the end. But a little finishing dash of salt can boost the flavor of a bland dish. Check out Salted author Mark Bitterman’s tips for how to use salt with finesse.
Sour. This is what our Facebook friend craved from her pesto, and it comes in the form of acidic ingredients like lemon juice and vinegars. A splash of acid brightens the overall flavor of a dish. As Harold McGee notes in his latest book, Keys to Good Cooking, acid also stimulates saliva production to make food, literally, more mouthwatering.
Sweet. If a dish is too sour, you can add a dash of sugar to balance it out. Similarly, sweet can help balance an overly salty dish.
Bitter. You’re not typically looking to add bitterness to a dish. You’re more likely to want to tame it. For that, try a touch of salt or sugar.
Umami. This is the so-called “fifth” taste and refers to savoriness. It also helps carry a dish’s aromatic qualities, McGee notes. If you taste a dish and feel like it needs some heft or roundness, you can add a splash of soy sauce or Worcestershire. A grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese also boosts umami.
Pungent. This isn’t one of the five tastes, but pungency is what you crave when you taste a dish and reach for the pepper grinder. Mustard and wasabi are other finishing-touch ingredients that add pungency.

Another tip from McGee: Season foods at their serving temperature. Heat accentuates flavors while cold tends to diminish them. Ever had cold leftovers for lunch the next day? Bet you needed to add salt or something to boost the flavor.

Of course, those are just some basics. You can play with all manner of ingredients–including fresh herbs, flavored oils, different types of vinegars and salts–all of which will add different nuances to your cooking. That’s where it gets really exciting and every dish becomes truly your own creation.

“Most important: Never hesitate to let your own taste buds guide you in cooking,” says Speck. “There’s is no right or wrong.”

Name the five flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and . . . having trouble? The fifth you’re looking for is umami. My mother, who is Japanese, translated the word for me as “good taste.” But umami also connotes a deeper meaning in both Japan and here in the West; savory, delicious, the “something” you can’t put your finger on that just makes a dish.

umami-post How Does Umami Taste?

It’s a sensation as much as it is a flavor. When something feels full in your mouth, like it coats your tongue with “mmmm, that’s umami.” It’s what gives wine mouthfeel and deglazed sauces their richness. It’s why a tomato sauce with mushrooms has so much depth and why a sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano does wonders to just about anything. These are foods and cooking techniques that unleash the power of umami.

What is Umami?

Our tongue is covered with receptors that are designed to perceive certain flavors. The most specialized receptors are those that identify the amino acid called glutamate (the amino acid most plentiful in protein), which creates the basic umami inherent in some foods. Other foods, when combined with ingredients that already have basic umami, activate nucleotides to send messages to the brain amplifying the umami effect in what’s called “synergizing umami.” Certain chemical reactions, too, can exponentially increase the umami sensation by breaking down the proteins of a food into its amino acid building blocks.

How Do I Create Umami?

This can be as simple as choosing foods already rich in basic umami, like ripe tomatoes and late-summer corn. But learning how to use “synergizing umami” techniques and ingredients will help you enhance the umami of almost any dish.

Use cooking techniques—Searing, roasting, stewing and braising are all techniques that develop umami; those little browned bits at the bottom of the pan that make the sauce so flavorful are denatured proteins—including glutamate—that our bodies can instantly use, cranking up a food’s umami index. Aging, curing and fermenting are other techniques that break down proteins into “free” amino acids and develops the umami in foods. Think aged cheese and steaks, cured meats, and fermented foods like kimchi and sourdough bread (wine and beer too).
Add ingredients—You can also amp up the umami and balance flavors in a dish by adding a dash of a synergizing umami ingredient. Mushrooms are renowned for their ability to enhance umami, which is why even a little bit of minced porcini added to a sauce can make such a grand impact. Darker fin fishes, like anchovies, also add umami; try adding a minced anchovy to a dressing and see how the flavor changes. Small amounts of cured meats can amplify the flavor of foods without making a meal meat-centric. Think of a lentil or pea soup with a bit of ham or bacon; much richer with than without. And if you’ve ever heard of someone’s grandmother adding a Parmigiano-Reggiano rind to a soup, now you know why—it’s for the umami it imparts. A splash of soy sauce, ketchup, fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce are also ways to heighten umami.

Jacqueline Church is an independent writer whose work has appeared in Culture: the Word on Cheese, Edible Santa Barbara, and John Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet. She often writes about gourmet food, sustainability issues and the intersection of the two on her blog Leather District Gourmet. Currently, she’s at work on Pig Tales: a Love Story about heritage breed pigs and the farmers and chefs bringing them from farm to table.

Tag Archives: flavors

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