Tips and Tricks from the Professionals
Flavouring
Through a small miracle of science, you can add vinegar flavor to dry foods like popcorn and kale chips, in addition to all the pickles and salads. A few summers ago, trying desperately to make some green beans less watery and waxy and boring, I tried to make a knockoff version of something I had …
Why are plastic canisters of Goya adobo seasoning so ubiquitous in Puerto Rican kitchens? Because the spice blend goes well with pretty much everything. When my parents got divorced, my dad didn’t know how to cook, but he knew how to shake a giant jar of Goya Adobo. He’d pour shocking amounts onto pork chops …
Adobo Seasoning and the Art of Puerto Rican Dry Marinade Read More »
The ingredient would have otherwise been too cheap to grace noble tables. Peasant food in action in Annibale Carracci’s The Beaneater, c. 1585. PUBLIC DOMAIN FOR THE 16TH-CENTURY ITALIAN NOBLE, garlic posed a unique, culinary dilemma. To demonstrate status, a person of taste and means served food prepared with the finest, rarest spices, such as …
How ‘Ennobling’ Helped Italian Aristocrats Solve the Problem of Garlic Read More »
Our taste system is conditioned so foods higher in energy taste better. We all love delicious foods, even if we know they may not be good for us. Foods high in energy – specifically sweet, salty and fatty foods – tend to taste the best. This is likely because our ancestors needed to seek out …
You might be able to train yourself to change your tastes Read More »
Occasionally, a rogue squid beak gets lodged in a sperm whale’s intestines. To protect its soft innards against the sharp irritant, the animal produces a waxy secretion called ambergris (“gray amber”), much like an oyster forming a pearl. Excreted ambergris is turned into a rock-like mass by saltwater and sunshine. By the time the weather-beaten …
Ambergris – The Whale excrement that once flavoured ice cream. Read More »
If you drink mango juice, you could be forgiven for thinking mango is the main ingredient, but that’s often not true. Food substitutions to enhance flavour are surprisingly common. In a world where modern chemistry has allowed almost anything to be flavoured or coloured like almost anything else, you can stumble across some surprising substitutions. …
To better understand the distant past, it can help to taste and smell it. 3,712 Some frescoes from Pompeii feature the panis quadratus. This one is now at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. CARLO RASO/FLICKR/PUBLIC DOMAIN TODAY THE BREAD IS CRISPED black as charcoal, and run through with cracks. A baker had kneaded and …
Dry white wine is popular with chefs because it adds notes of acidity and brightness to foods and cuts through fattiness. Good cooking is about adding layers of flavor and complexity to a dish. While any acid will add acidity and brightness, wine has a complexity that simple acids like lemon juice lack. Different wines …
If you are talking about biftek hache or just plain patties of ground meat, chances are they’re made the “French” way with suet wrapping, more fat than you’ll find in a burger, sometimes eggs or finely diced onions and garlic, and cooked in broth before being finished on the grill. I don’t know either of …
Photo: Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott Acid. Spice. Salt. Texture. Savvy chefs have tricks for bringing each of these elements to every dish, and Thomas McNaughton of San Francisco pasta temple Flour + Water is no exception. Potent pickled seeds are his game, which the chef deploys to lend a lightness and acidity that he …
In the universe of cooking, fond is the dark matter. Undetectable in a finished dish, these concentrated brown bits may seem small, but the impact they have on flavor is huge. Fond, quite simply, is the stuff that sticks to your pan after browning meat or vegetables on the stove top, or at the bottom …
Indian food, with its hodgepodge of ingredients and intoxicating aromas, is coveted around the world. The labour-intensive cuisine and its mix of spices is more often than not a revelation for those who sit down to eat it for the first time. Heavy doses of cardamom, cayenne, tamarind and other flavours can overwhelm an unfamiliar …
Who couldn’t use a little magic in the kitchen? Sometimes by the time dinner rolls around, I’m completely uninspired. I stare at a pot of steamed broccoli and sigh. Spices are a surefire way to add diversity and interest to everyday dishes. Local spice shops have lots of blends made from high-quality spices that can …
When you consider the tongue, what leaps to mind are the five canonical tastes – sweet, salt, bitter, sour, and umami. These sensations arise when receptors on the surface of taste bud cells are activated by your food, triggering nerve fibres that run to your brain and help generate the experience of a savoury roast …
My friend Emily talks about Ottolenghi’s vegetable paella with absolute awe. “At every step he adds flavour,” she says. It’s true, says the man himself. “I try to create as many outstanding moments as possible when eating a dish. I find an opportunity to add currants or sherry or something else that stands out.” Ottolenghi …
Peanut butter and jam. Strawberries and chocolate. Bacon and anything. Some food combinations are just meant to be. Esteemed chef Thomas Keller offers six tips for food synergy, including adding sourness to “bowl foods”. Since food that’s made in a big pot and served in bowls (such as stews and soups) tends to be rich, …
When asked: ”What are some unorthodox flavour combinations you have unearthed that give unexpected pleasure,” he responds gleefully. ”These flavours should normally clash, but they actually work together. Unusual food combinations awaken the senses and generate an emotional response in the diner.” He suggests we consider the following combinations: sardines, mango and black pepper; white …
Cold smoke Ideally below 20 degrees (up to 30) to limit spoilage (rancidity, bacterial) and physical changes to the food. Hot smoke Idealy 55-70 (up to 90) with this you want to ensure enough temperature to reduce bacterial numbers and degrade the physical structure of the meat/fish etc. There is a balancing act between dimensions …
When I make salmon ( mostly baked) I always add blackberry or blackcurrant to make it taste naturally sweet and sour. Mustafa Kurtay
Some flavour enhancers that have a load of glutamates, inosinates and guanylates that provide umami for vegetarians are: Soy Sauce Parmesan Cheese Seaweed (especially Kombu) Cooked Tomato Paste Cooked Mushrooms Miso Paste Fermented Tofu Fermented Black Beans Fermented Chili Bean sauce (Chinese/Szechuan) (a good substitute for Miso actually) Fermented Vegetables (Pickles, Sauerkraut, Kimchee and the …