Here are 3 things you can do today to get more pleasure out of your food.
- Learn the basics of flavor
- Eat whole foods
- Give your food the attention it deserves
Watch the video to find out more:
To enhance the flavor and deliciousness of your food do the following 3 things:
1. Learn the basics of flavor and use salt, fat, acid, and umami judiciously.
There are actually 3 ways we experience food: taste, aroma, and flavor. Taste occurs on the tongue with salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami. Aroma occurs in the nose with smell and it is how we can tell the difference between cilantro and parsley for example. Flavor is the taste, aroma, and every other aspect such as the texture and colors
- Salt enhances aromas. It not only makes food salty, it also brings out the actual aromas in the food and therefore enhances flavor. One great way to check this out is to salt meat or fish before cooking it. The thicker the meat, the longer it can be salted. Like Thanksgiving turkey needs to be salted or brined a few days before you cook it. This brings out the maximum aroma of the bird. Fish should be salted for much shorter periods like 15 minutes for light fish or 30 minutes for heavier.
- Fat carries flavor. So make sure you always have a good fat to carry the aromas and tastes of your dish. Try to match the oil or fat to the culture. For example when you cook Italian food, use extra virgin olive oil. When you cook Indian use ghee and yogurt. When you cook Mexican use avocados and pork fat. But most importantly, please do not leave out the fat.
- Acid balances flavor. Things like a dash of vinegar can make a world of difference in the flavor of a dish. Other cooking acids include tomato sauce and cooking wine. All of these sources of acid only continue to balance the flavor of food as they cook. So they’re great in stews, soups, chilis, and sauces. Use lemon, lime or other citrus to add acid at the end of cooking or fresh in salad dressings.
- Tomato sauce, fish sauce, parmesan cheese, mushrooms, seaweed, and cured meat can all enhance the flavor of most dishes by adding something called umami.
2. Eat whole foods
Whole foods have better aromas and flavors than processed foods. You may think that some processed foods taste good but they are pretty much concentrated on your tongue. So boring!
When you eat whole foods you will experience a much greater cornucopia of flavor and aroma than processed foods.
If you don’t believe me, try it out.
3. Give your food the attention it deserves
Your food wants to be relished you. At least I think it would if we could ask it.
Sit down, put away all electronics and stuff, close your eyes, and put the food in your mouth. Put down the fork. Pay attention. What do you taste? What’s the aroma? What’s the texture? Eat more slowly and give your food the attention it deserves.
These are just a few of the ways I help people to reinvigorate their relationship with food. Food should be pleasurable and it should be satisfying. If you put a little extra effort into seasoning your food, eat whole foods, and pay attention while you eat, you will automatically be improving the deliciousness and nutritiousness of our food!!
