Flavour balancing in food
I’m using this blog as a spot to drop some thoughts that won’t fit into a 140 character tweet. It started with @manfredistefano’s tweet about his buck’s horn seedlings, whose purpose is generously described by the seed supplier: “Use in salads summer and winter for a pleasant bitter taste high note and crunchy texture.” Not only is the name interesting, for what appears to me a very ordinary-looking plant (and it has other names, just as weird), but how interesting for a bit of green stuff to do that to salads.
Let’s skip the ‘crunchy texture’ descriptor for now—texture in food is something that deserves its own focus. ‘Bitter taste high note’ refers to the senses of taste and smell, and reminds me of perfume descriptions and winetasting descriptions. I know little about perfumery or winetasting, or cooking, for that matter. But having an interest prompts me to ask a few questions that seem perfectly reasonable for a food consumer and home cook to ask.
Why are there not short courses available to people like me about flavour balancing? Someone new to wine can attend a winetasting course and learn about the broad categories of flavours, the broad categories of wines, taste stuff, do side-by-side or linear comparisons, and come away with an excellent foundation for subsequent experiential learning. There’s a lot you can teach yourself, and much that you learn from experience, but a good course when you are beginning gives your knowledge-base a kickstart.
We rely on words to exchange information about sense stuff—smells and tastes. And there are different ways that’s done. You sometimes see references to the mouth location that is stimulated by a food component, like the front or back of the tongue. Or to the timing of the flavour impact, for example with wines: early and up-front, or long and lingering. Or impacts may be described as reminscent of other flavour-producers, like floral, fruity, or woody, or ‘stinky saddle’, and so on.
Cookbooks instruct one to taste for the right amount of salt. (Whose right amount is the right amount?). I hear about sugar ‘bringing out flavours’ (where were they hiding beforehand?). Recipes tell us to make small additions of special ingredients to ‘give a lift’, such as lemon zest, parsley, or a splash of vinegar. (How are flavours lifted? Can they be dropped?). And they might instruct us to add such things only after cooking has ceased, so their aromatics are not lost, particularly certain herbs, like basil and coriander. I hear about the warmth of garlic, and I agree, it is a warm sort of sensation. (How is a flavour warm?) Obviously it’s complicated, and difficult to describe, but surely not so complicated that some some general principles might be explainable. There must be principles that apply across cuisines.
@frombecca says that at TAFE she was taught things about pairing foods that were so wrong she had to unlearn them—like that rosemary does not marry with lamb. @manfredistefano says it’s learnt from experience, not from TAFE. Okay, maybe TAFE doesn’t do a good job at it. But surely it doesn’t all have to be learnt from one’s own experience. And surely it should be available to people other than those aiming to make their living out of cooking. For example, @herbiespices, does an excellent job in his book ‘Spice Notes’, grouping spices into a small number of types and giving a rough idea of blending proportions for those groups. But it’s not enough. I want it for more than spices (and herbs). And I don’t just want to read about it—I want to be able to taste it and be told about what I’m tasting, and ask questions. There should not only be books, but short independent courses, like winetasting courses. I do have experience in the kitchen, and have picked up lots of things along the way, but I could use some structured information about flavour so that I can pick up any of my recipe books and make confident successful adjustments. It would be so helpful when cooking around what food is in season, what’s in the garden, and what fresh ingredients I have to hand that will be tossed if I can’t use them. And I’d like to be able to taste better, just for its own sake. I want it for my daughters who are just starting to cook. @frombecca says that people “developing taste will stop acceptance of inferior 'fast' foods, and so much more.”
