Salt and Pepper Courtesy of brandi666 of Flickr under Creative Commons License
Recently, I was asked this question:
I find it hard to know about how much salt and pepper to put into my dishes. Half the time after I season a dish, it is too salty, or it is not enough. I also heard that if you smoke you are not so good at seasoning. What can I do to make it better?
First and foremost, quit smoking. There will be a lot of people who will call me biased, and perhaps they are right. I know that I had a great improvement in my palette after I quit. It has nothing to do with hating smoking in general. Much.
That aside, here are some ways for you to improve your taste buds:
- Be very suspicious of any recipe that calls for a finite amount of salt or pepper. You know the ones that I am talking of – 1/2 tsp of salt for the pasta dish. You just cannot equate that in taste. All salts have different levels of salinity. If you don’t believe it, try comparing sprinklings of kosher salt to table salt.
- Taste your food in stages. This is a crucial step. Nothing is more frustrating than tasting something a cook has put out that is bland and tasteless. Upon questioning, a shrug and, “I did not know it needed more salt before I sauced it.” Don’t be afraid to adjust as you go. In some cases, you must do this, or it will be too late.
- Adjust with each new ingredient. This one is easy to miss, except with logic. The last time I checked, the broccoli in that salad does not come seasoned, so why omit it?
- Season slowly. The best way to over salt a dish is to throw a handful into the dish. Why not salt, then taste, add more. You cannot take away, but you can add more.
- Ask someone. If you are not sure, ask someone to taste it with you. (Perhaps the person should have more experience than you.) Be prepared to have a difference of opinion though. Remember that the other person has their level of seasoning, so take their advice with a grain of…
I hope that helps you out in the area of seasoning your food. I am sure that I have forgotten something.
What is it that you do to improve your palette for seasoning?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
…and the best tip of all is “season to taste” may not even mean salt and pepper! I find the tiniest hit of acid– sometimes citrus sometimes different vinegars, is the very thing to bring something into balance. But like salt you want it to taste” bright” with out letting whatever acid take over the taste. GREG