Simple tips that make your taste buds go wow

Great thread, and a great way to teach and learn at the same time!

The best tip I have learned and one I share with anyone who even looks like they might be interested is: use salt in everything, including desserts.

I can't tell you how many times I've eaten at a nice restaurant and gotten all the way to the dessert course and am presented with something that looks great but just tastes flat. For heaven's sake, put some salt in everything you make.

Bonus tip for getting carbonized messes out of the bottoms of pans: add 1/2 inch water, add a bit of baking soda, bring to a boil and the black stuff just wipes away:)

whenever I prepare a cream sauce, such as for fish, chicken, or pasta dishes, I always give it squirt of fresh lemon juice. I really brightens the flavors.

salt, pepper

I can't agree with you more. There is a trend these days, on the line of everyone jumping on the latest food fad bandwagon, to lower the salt content of recipes. I'm sure there are countless others, but the recipes in cooks illustrated are all undersalted, flat tasting breads, cakes, i always automatically double the salt in their recipes now. (Health is a concern, for sure, but i've read many contrasting hypotheses on this, some people's blood pressure rises if they reduce salt drastically, and reducing the salt of baked goods is a drastic reduction, because you add so little - and that not all people's blood pressure is sensitive to salt. And i know plenty of people who don;t salt the pasta water, but then add a ton of parmigiano - duh.)

I read somewhere - shirley corriher i think - that salt from trapani is really good and she fills her suitcase with it when she comes to italy, and i thought, here i am in italy, why don't i try it. Not easy to find even here, and I could only find it in a health food store, but i can't tell you how tasty it is. sounds bizarre, but it does taste different.

Black, and also pink pepper are also two amazing ingredients (stating the obvious probably, salt and pepper) but the trend to chili peppers and all that has pushed our nice black pepper to the background - black pepper doesn;t just burn (and only burns a little) but it has lots of flavor - but it has to be freshly ground. and pink pepper does something amazing for meat.

Make some herb oil by pureeing herbs in EVOO. Sometimes little squirt in your soups or on the plate can lift the dish from good to great!

Seriously I got this idea from IHOP's international crepes haha!

I buy lingonberry jam from IKEA and make it into a compound butter. Keep it in the fridge and spread on toast, waffles, crepes, pancakes, corn muffins, or even top a cake with it!

yes, coriander seeds and black and pink pepper, my favorite

I think I saw a review in Cooks Magazine that the cheap Tones black pepper from the grocery store is supposedly the best. I just got in some tellicherry from Penzeys and it is way better. A lot of the tips in Cooks Magazine seem to be aimed at cooking faster and not necessarily better.

My friends use no salt when cooking so when I go over there I add at the table but when it comes to steak etc it just isn't the same.

Most spices benefit from being dry roasted before being ground.

Check out the difference between using, say, plain cumin or corriander seed and the same recipe after you first roast the seeds.

Tabasco, and other similar hot sauces, are not just for turning up the heat in food. A small shake or 2 can really waken up other flavors in a dish.

My wife doesn't like Tabasco. Then again, she doesn't know how often she's eaten it in various egg dishes, soups, sauces and stews over the years. Sriracha garlic-chile sauce is another great one that should be used more often.

On the salt question, I do use it all the time, but probably on the sparse side. On ocassions when I eat processed or fast food, I can really taste the saltiness. Usually that is not a good thing. Like that time I was making a sauce and meant to put in two teaspoons of salt, not two tablespoons. Doh! Anchovies can add saltiness and subtle flavors to dishes without being fishy at all.

All your cooking will taste better if you keep your knives sharp. Honest, trust me.

mjb.

>This doesn't apply to peppercorns, does it? <

Yes, even black peppercorns can benefit from it French Fries, although not many people bother. Fresh ground, alone, is so much better than pre-ground as to make enough difference for most people.

It's hard to see them change color when dry roasting, though. So just heat them until they release an aroma. Cool and grind. You'll note a difference.

Most peppers, particularl dried chilis, release their flavor better in oil. So lets say you're making something that calls for sauteed onions which get added to something else, and includes dried red pepper flakes as well.

Try heating your oil, then dropping in the pepper flakes for 20-30 seconds, then toss in your onions. Makes a world of difference.

Great point, It is because a lot of the ingredients we use have fat soluble compounds in them that are activated by exposure to heat and fat. There are also some compounds in the ingredients we use that are soluble in alcohol. Even if the recipe doesn't necessarily call for it, a splash of wine could expose a new flavor into the dish.

• Clear as you go
• If you want to make a point and avoid an argument, apply copious ammounts of food
• Buy the best you can afford
• Even if you dont like celery, add it to soups and stocks. You wont taste it, but it will make all the difference
• Dont wash mushrooms
• If you're experimenting, write it down as you go You WILL forget
• Dont be a snob about using the reduced counter. It may be past its sell by date but that doesnt mean its off
• If you cant be arsed at dinner time, SEND OUT

Hey this sounds like a sequel to the sunblock song... Look out Baz

Sorry, I should have said.

No bacteria worries as they are grown in sterile conditions

Clean them with a brush or paper towel
They are little sponges and will quickly soak in water if you wash them

Dont add salt till nearly cooked, or they will release juices.

If they look like they need more oil 1/2way through cooking, they dont. They hold onto the fat til they're done with it then release it back into the pan

........ How do you clean mushrooms? How do you make sure you get rid of all bacteria that may be on their surface before cooking them?

uhmmmm, hopefully it is not too upsetting to know that mushrooms are a fungus.

you brush the dirt off the fungus and you eat it - sliced diced raw cooked - pick your poison.....

Rinsing mushrooms is actually a matter in controversy -- silly that people take this stuff so seriously, isn't it?

Mushrooms can be very absorbent and shouldn't be soaked before sauteing. On the other hand, if you're going to toss them into something that's already wet, likie a broth, it doesn't matter at all. If you've ever reconstituted dry mushrooms, you know the whole "don't get mushrooms wet" thing can be a little overblown.

Many good cooks rinse mushrooms quickly with the sink spritzer. Some don't. Some species are more absrobent than others. The regular white mushrooms, criminis (baby 'bellas), portabellas, and cepes are probably the most absorbent of all -- which figures because they're the most commonly avaailable. Although they're grown in a "sterile medium," I usually spritz and dry because of the particular nature of that medium. But if you decide to just brush them off with a soft brush, you're in very good company.

Now moving along to the next step -- if that happens to be sauteing. Your mushrooms should be dry. Your pan should be hot before you add any oil or fat to it.

Whoops! You wanted wow! tips. Always preheat your pan before adding oil. Always heat the oil before adding any food.

For mushrooms (as well as almost all sautees) that means a medium high flame, and just enough oil to fully coat the bottom of the pan.

Now add the mushrooms. Don't disturb them, don't stir them, don't put salt on them. Do one thing: Wait. The idea is to brown at least one side of the mushrooms before turning them -- agitating them will cause them to give up their moisture which will prevent them browning. After a minute or two, you'll start to smell them cooking.

Shake the pan and the mushrooms won't move much -- they'll stick to the bottom of the pan. Why? Because there's a chemical reaction occurring on the surface of the mushroom where it gets the heat from the pan that creates a kind of glue effect. When the reaction is complete, the mushrooms will release. That means that after another minute or two, when you shake the pan again, the mushrooms will move of their own accord. Now you can flip them, season them, add a few or some shallots; and when the second side has browned, you can add whatever else it is you choose to add.

Now take a mental step back and think about it. 92.7% of the people who made such a big deal out of not washing the mushrooms didn't cook them properly and caused them to give up moisture they ended up cooking in. Self defeating, n'est ce pas? But that's how it is. There are a lot of ways to mess up.

Here's another "wow," techinque, perhaps the biggest "wow" of all. It applies to salt and pepper, and to most other spices. It's called "tasting." Always start by underseasoning, then taste and adjust. Try and add your salt and pepper at several times through the course of cooking. This is called "layering flavors," and it's a big part of modern cooking.

If I could choose one techinical tip -- heck! I guess I did -- the one piece of "expert advice" that makes the most difference: it's frequent tasting to get seasoning levels, especially salt, perfect. More than anything else, that's what separates good cooking from average or bad. Even at the restaurant level.

Probably, the second most important and least understood set of techniques is learning to use a hot pan properly -- including knowing when and how to turn food. The mushroom example is just one -- and unfortunately it's a little bit specific. Most foods aren't quite that sensitive. But ... hot pan, cold oil. Then hot pan, hot oil, add food. Then, turn food when it's ready to be turned and not before. Those things are gold.

Cooking is a journey of discovery. At some point it all starts to make sense -- flavor combinations for instance. I know it all seems very complicated, like there are a million discrete, unrelated things to know. But, the more you learn, the better able you'll be to fit all the new information into some sort of organized gestalt. Trust me on this.

Bon voyage,
BDL

BDL- how can I learn more about flavor combinations? I've searched for cookbooks related to this but have come up empty handed. I would love to learn more about seasonings and the best times to use which spice. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Emily

learn to make homemade stock, and use it! What a difference.

Grow your own fresh herbs.

Make your own breadcrumbs.


(thanks for the thread!)


dan

As most of you know I am not an Alton Brown fan. But he did put the "don't wash mushrooms" myth to rest once and for all.

Through an actual experiment, using a very sensitive scale, he demonstrated that anything from a wipe with a damp cloth, spritz with the spray head, or actually soaking for up to a half hour, had no appreciable affects on mushroom weight.

In short, they did not, repeat not, absorb any water to speak of.

Amazing, isn't it, how many things there are that everybody knows which turn out that nobody knows after all.

I know a couple of people who can produce some good food - they follow recipes. But they can't really cook. There's no art or imagination driving the spoon and spatula, no heartfelt passion guiding their hand.

Given, say, some eggs, a slice or two of pancetta, a bit of cheese and a couple of roasted asparagus spears the folks here on ChefTalk could most likely come up with a pretty decent omelet or at least a tasty scramble. No recipe needed, you just know how to do it.

There are some folks who are just starting out on this journey of discovery and do need a lot of guidance and detailed instructions. The 'simple' omelet I mention actually involves a number of techniques, some that BDL mentions, such as properly heating the pan, the fat, are the fillings added cold or heated, how cripsly would you fry the pancetta, when to stir or shake or flip, etc. With experience a lot of it becomes automatic, you just know that sort of stuff. It all makes sense.

If you approach cooking as an unwanted chore, eating the end product will likely be the same sort of experience. If you approach cooking with spirit, energy and the joy of playing with your food, your taste buds will go WOW

mjb.

>Like: which compounds/ingredients will expose their flavor in wine vs oil? <

French Fries, there is not single source for this info that I know of. A lot of it is trial and error. And a lot of it is doing something traditionally without knowing about these chemical reactions. And a lot of it is just taste.

Every plant has some compounds which are water soluble; some which are oil soluble; some which are water soluble. That's the basis, in fact, of phytomedicine making. But whereas herbalists have a long history of knowing which compounds they are trying to isolate, cooks do not. Cooks just do what they do.

In your shoes, as you gain more experience, I would also do a lot of analysis. When you read a recipe that calls for, say, two tablespoons of white wine, ask yourself why? Are we adding the wine for it's own flavor? To affect the flavor of something else? A combination of the two? What would happen if we left it out?

Why do some recipes tell you to evaporate the wine, others instruct to burn it off? What's the effect on flavor either way?

Actually experiment. Make the dish with and without the wine, or using different amounts, and see how it changes the dish---if it does.

Same with oil. As a general rule, things with high levels of essential oils (primarily this means aromatics) release those flavors in oil. But there are so many exceptions as to make no never mind.

Here again, as you cook, try and figure out why you are doing what you do, and what effects it has on flavor.

>how can I learn more about flavor combinations?<

Penguin, this is such a broad topic that there's no way it could be covered in a single volume. That's why you're coming up empty.

One suggestion: make a point of studying cusines with a strong, identifyable flavor profile. Thai, North African, Turkish, the regional cooking of France and Italy, for instance.

You'll note that each of them uses certain herbs, spices, and other flavoring items over and over again. They're what give that food its identifying characteristic. But, more important, you can learn which of them work together, and how the combinations affect the final dish.

Try to isolate what is happening for use elsewhere. For instance, if you study Mediterranean cuisines you quickly realize that tomatoes and basil have a natural affinity for each other. Broaden out that idea, and use the combination elsewhere. You'll soon notice lots of natural pairing of that nature.

Also pay attention to when the flavoring agent gets added. That can have a great effect on the final dish. For instance, as a general rule, spices go in early, herbs go in late.

It all seems terribly overwhelming, I know. But over time it becomes second nature.

I saw that show, and have read a few articles and comments that support, or agree with, his findings. However, there is one thing that has to be considered: AB used white button mushrooms. One of the bits of information I came across while looking in to this matter is that different mushrooms may absorb or retain more or less water. My conclusion is that Alton's conclusion may not apply to all types of 'shrooms. And the condition of the 'shrooms may play a role in the amount of water that will be absorbed. A 'shroom with gills exposed may absorb more water than the same type that doesn't have exposed gills. White buttons are a type that can have either exposed or closed gills. Portabellos have exposed gills.

Two other myths, or old wives tales that have, AFAIC, been busted are that it's OK to store EVOO in the refrigerator or freeze it (it's not recommended) and that putting oil in the pasta water will prevent the pasta from either sticking or absorbing or holding sauce.

>Portabellos have exposed gills. <

Shel, don't you scrape off the gills on portabellos? You should, cuz they add a sort of soily, dirty taste to whatever you're making with them.

And if you are scraping them off, it doesn't matter if they absorb water or not.

I also prefer peeling portabellos, especially the really big one, because they, too, can lend an off taste to the dish.

As to mushrooms other than buttons absorbing more water, do you have the sources for that info? I've seen the same claims made; but that's all they were, blanket statements without experimental support. Basically, the same thing everybody always knew about buttons.

>...are that it's OK to store EVOO in the refrigerator or freeze it (it's not recommended)<

Wow! I'd never even heard that one, Shel.

Why would anybody want to do that?