[Nicko]

I would be interested to hear what some of you have to say about the amount of flavors in a dish? I have talked with some chefs who say that they don't like to work with more than 3 or 4 flavors with one dish. Still others feel very comfortable working with 10 or more flavors in a particular dish. What are your thoughts?

I think you can't set a limit. The dish has to work. I prefer the less-is- more tactic, but sometimes you need more. What I hate is over zealous, or over ambitious cooking. that's so 80's.... I think it all comes down to what really makes the dish work. the accutrement for caviar adds up to more than 3 or 4... for instance.... What i can't stand is when someone just puts things in for the way it reads on a menu or because it's an item that's IN or hip Now. Just pick a direction and make it WORK.

I agree, so many cooks want to put everything in the walkin in a simple saute. Too many flavors and you get a mish mash that doesn't blend well. I like to stay with 3 to 4 generally.

[Nicko]

For the most part I always stayed within a 3 to 4 flavors range. Once in awhile I would experiment with more, but I was always a minimalist. Especially if you look at the classics they most often stick to only three or four flavors with a dish.
For me there is nothing better than working with just three or four flavors and really bringing out their uniqueness and intensity, especially when the flavors are well matched and compliment one other.

[Pete]

Most of the time I believe in the phrase "Less is more". Working with only a few flavors really shows off the the true nature of the foods you are working with. Look at most of the great "classics" of the culinary world, they tend to let the true essence of the food stand out. But, every once in awhile I like to get crazy and create something very complex with lots of flavors going on. The key to this really knowing the product you are working with inside and out. And also restraint. You cant have all these flavors fighting for the forfront, they must all work in unison with each other, complementing and contrasting with each other