What is taste?
Taste is a signal which is sent to the brain by the taste
buds. If food has the right balance or meets certain criteria, it will send
signals which are pleasing to the brain, and that enhances our eating
experience.
Taste is subjective.
When we order food in a restaurant, or we are presented with
food at home, we have a set of expectations connected to the food we have
ordered or are presented with. This expectation is based on our previous
experience of tasting the same food, and also on the ingredients to which we
have been exposed so far. To give an example, if one orders a stir fry and the
chef decides to add fresh ginger and citrus peel in it, someone who has never
tasted fresh ginger will recognized the citrus peel but not the ginger. This
can have different effects depending on the person who is eating it.
Some people are quite adventurous when it comes to food, and
are always on the lookout for new tastes and combinations, while others are
more conservative, and tend to stick to the tastes which they are accustomed
to, or to those tastes which they used to eat at home. This is why it is advisable to introduce as many different tastes as possible to children.
Below are a few flavour enhancing tips which can be used
either separately or in a combination.
It is a
scientifically proven fact that Browning food ( it is called the Maillard Reaction) enhances flavour not only in meat, but also in vegetables. It is necessary to DRY meats and veg destined for browning in fat because moisture interferes with the process Before you
make a stock with fish bones, meat bones or vegetables trimmings, always brown
them in some fat, either in a pan or in the oven, before adding on the liquid.
Sugar is an acquired taste, and our brain will recognize its
presence in food even if the quantity is minute. If added to food and sauces in
modest amounts, it will make the consumption of food more pleasurable. Those of
us who cannot or will not add refined or brown sugar can use natural fruits which
will obtain a similar result.
Salt is also an acquired taste, so for those of us who are
used to it, food which is lacking in salt is labeled as “tasteless”. Since it
is advisable to limit the amount of ‘added’ salt to foods, one can instead add
on more herbs, spices to bring out the flavour. Certain herbs which are highly
aromatic and hardy can be added early on during cooking, while the delicately
flavoured ones need to be added at the end, or used as a garnish.
A couple of things to remember are that reducing a sauce or
stock (by letting it boil for some time ) will make it more salty, so if you
taste it early on make an allowance for that. When tasting pasta sauces just before you add
on the pasta, the sauce should have a strong taste because once we add the
pasta, the strength will diminish.
When we brown meat or veggies in the pan and we have those
residues stuck to the pan, these are deglazed by adding liquid ( wine, stock or
hot water ) and that can be sieved or filtered and added to the sauce or gravy.
Marinating meat cuts will not only make them more tender ,
but they will also help for them to cook quicker and have more flavour. A dry
rub of herbs and spices can have a similar effect, although to a lesser degree.
When marinating meats or fish, ensure that you have an acidic ingredient like
citrus, tomato, vinegar, wine because these help to break down the enzymes and
make your food cook faster.
On some occasions when I cook dry carbs like rice or
couscous, I make sure to add them to the sweated onion with all the spices
which will have cooked for a few minutes. A dry food will absorb the first
liquid it touches, so the carbs will absorb all the flavours before we add on
additional liquid.
Long slow cooking of meats in stews allows the meat to become
more tender and concentrates the liquid, so we may want to add the veggies half
way through the cooking process unless we want all the veggies to disintegrate
and disappear within the sauce.
Words by Eric Bugeja.
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