Learn how and what to add properly.
The most basic way to season food is by adding salt to enhance its flavour. But even salt can come in different forms and totally change the essence of a dish.
For instance, table salt, soya sauce and fish sauce all make your food salty but they are characteristically different and affect the dish differently.
An experienced cook will know when to use the right seasoning, and the right amount to get that perfect mouth feel and have your diners smacking their lips for more. If you can work out how to season your food consistently to make it taste better, you’re on your way to becoming a better cook already! — Compiled by PATSY KAM
Kerabu mango. — Filepic
1 Taste your food throughout the process
This may sound silly as you’re probably thinking, of course I know what my food tastes like. But you’d be surprised to learn that a lot of people add salt and other condiments according to recipes or what their mothers told them, but never actually bothered to taste their own cooking before serving it.
When recipes write “salt to taste”, that’s exactly what it means – you should add enough salt to suit your taste buds, and not just specifically “half teaspoon” or “a pinch”.
Make it a habit to taste the dish while you’re cooking it as it will be different whether it be midpoint, each time you add a new ingredient or at the end.
And then, after simmering for an hour or more, it may taste different again as all the ingredients would have broken down, the meat softened and the seasoning fully penetrated into each and every item in the pot. That’s why some food tastes even better the next day as the seasoning and flavours have melded with the meat and vegetables.
Add salt to taste, literally. — Filepic
2 Add salt to your pasta water
When you cook pasta, it’s alright to add salt, and add plenty of it. I remember during a cooking class once, the chef said to salt it until it tasted like sea water! If your noodles taste bland, you will inevitably end up over-seasoning the sauce. Then the whole dish won’t shine as you don’t get the full flavours of the sauce which you might have put a lot of ingredients and effort into preparing. The only thing that will stand out is the saltiness. You won’t be consuming a lot more salt just because the pasta water is super salted, as it’s going to be drained away anyway.
3 Add more ingredients if you went overboard in seasoning
If you’ve accidentally put in too much salt, just add more ingredients. For soups or stews, add more water or broth until the taste balances out. For meat dishes, if you can add more meat or potatoes, or other similar types of vegetables to the ones that are already in the dish, the larger portion will even things out. Sometimes, a splash of vinegar or lemon, or a teaspoon of sugar can save the dish. This, however, may change the basic essence of the dish, so you are better off adding more ingredients.
4 Sugar is a type of seasoning too
You know how a bit of salt in brownies or chocolate chip cookies can make the sweet desserts taste so much better? In the same way, a bit of sugar in a savoury dish can make it pop too. It gives the dish a more subtle flavour and different taste note, so that it’s not plain salty. For instance, a little bit of sugar in marinara sauce goes a long way to enhance the flavour. If you’re making roasted vegetables like carrots and tomatoes, a sprinkle of sugar can lift the dish and make it stand out.
5 Cold food needs more seasoning
Somehow, hot food seems tastier than cold food. That’s because cold or room-temperature food needs a wee more seasoning. When you’re preparing salad dressing, a little more salt goes a long way. Asian salads such as kerabu and nyonya acar seem to have more impact on your taste buds because the seasoning is a little more heavy-handed than you would for normal vegetable dishes.
6 Salt ahead of time
There’s a reason why you should season your meat a few hours before you cook it. By adding salt and other condiments, it gives time for the seasoning to penetrate the meat all the way through so that the flavour doesn’t just stay on the outer surface. It also helps to preserve the meat better.
Seafood, however, is different and salting ingredients from the sea may have a negative impact on textures and taste – depending on the type of seafood – so be mindful of what you’re salting.
