5 EYE-OPENING PRINCIPLES OF HOW FLAVOR WORKS

JD

September 28, 2019

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cooking-tips

Cold Dulls Flavor

The microscopic receptors in your taste buds are extremely
temperature-sensitive. They work much better at warm
temperatures than at cooler ones; when you eat cold food, they barely
open, minimizing flavor perception. However, when food is hot, their
sensitivity increases more than a hundredfold, making food taste way
more flavorful. Cold food also has fewer aromas, which makes them
taste less flavorful. So, dishes meant to be served hot should be
reheated, and dishes served chilled must be aggressively seasoned to
make up for the flavor-dulling effects of cold temperatures.

Fat Carries Flavor

Fat is not only an efficient carrier of flavor, it also dissolves flavor
components, carrying them into sauce and other surrounding
ingredients. Some meat scientists claim that if you removed all of the fat
from meat you could not tell the difference between, say, pork and beef
because so many of the flavor components reside in the fat. Fat also
gives flavors roundness and, by coating your mouth, lets you savor them.
This is why adding a fat (such as butter, sour cream, cheese, or oil) to an
overly spicy dish can help counteract the offending ingredient and
balance out the flavors.

Brown Is the Color of Flavor

Whether from caramelization of sugars or the browning of proteins
called the Maillard reaction, when a food turns brown during
cooking, that indicates chemical changes that cause the development of
tons of new flavor, color, and aroma compounds.

Flavor Changes over Time

Have you ever noticed how some soups and stews taste better the
day after you make them? In addition to the changes that occur
with temperature, there are many other chemical reactions that
continue to take place even after cooking ends. The sugars in dairy
break down, the carbohydrates in onions develop into sugars, the
starches in potatoes convert into flavorful compounds, and you end up
with a deeper, more richly flavored dish. Flavors that may seem harsh at
first, like chile peppers, mellow with time. If a recipe specifically calls for
you to let the dish sit so the flavors can meld, do it; it will result in a more
balanced dish.

Salt Is Magic

Salt may well be the most important ingredient in cooking. It is one
of our five basic tastes and it adds an essential depth of flavor to
food. Salt also has the ability to change the molecular makeup of food
and is used to preserve and to add moisture to meat. For more
information, see this page.