In the first of an exclusive multi-part series, Chef Seeto explains how the five sensory receptors of smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight play equal roles for seasoned chefs.
At the beginning of the 2014 movie The Hundred Foot Journey, a young Hassan is pulled through the crowded streets of a Mumbai market as his mother frantically chases a man with a basket full of cawaki (sea urchin). As they arrive at the market stand with many others offering their money for the prize catch, the shrewd vendor carefully scans the crowd to decide who is most worthy of this delicacy.
As women scream for his attention, Hassan pushes through to dip his fingers into the rich, sea urchin roe. As his eyes roll back and a smile lights his face, the budding young chef savours the umami tastes of the sea. At such a tender age, this food experience is immediately imprinted on his brain.
As the market vendor quietens the crowd, he has made his decision — “Sold to the boy who knows” he declares.
Missing senses
This deep appreciation of flavour is one of the five elements of cooking, I believe, is missing with many local cooks. Is it because many don’t decide to become a chef until they are 18 or 19 years of age, skipping a lifetime of tasting new flavours at a young age, or is it a lack of interest in food as an art that has limited their palate? I suspect it is a combination of both.
Many cooks I have met in Fiji decided to become cooks because of the increased job prospects in our tourism industry rather than a true love or calling to make people happy through food.
Completing a certificate in cookery at our local schools will teach newbies the basic structure and skills to cook. But if you don’t understand or appreciate which of the five senses that are triggered in a dish, you cannot possibly know how good or bad it is. It is like an artist painting with just a few colours instead of a full rainbow of colours, or a guitarist playing his instrument with half the strings missing.
If a budding cook isn’t an adventurous eater, and rarely ventures out of their comfort zone to try new cuisines or new ingredients, it is like learning to speak with only a fraction of the alphabet.
Notes of flavour
When something tastes fantastic it literally sings in your mouth. And when something doesn’t taste quite right, we know that too even if we can’t always put our finger on what’s off or how we can fix it.
The elements that make up the unified taste are called the flavour profiles or notes; just like the notes of a song.
Have you ever wonder how top chefs and restaurant reviewers seem to know exactly what a dish needs to be perfect? Their distinguishing palates are finely tuned like a musical instrument triggered by the flavour notes of ingredients.
Creating a great dish is like writing a great song; it is poetry. We can break these tastes down into a flavour profiles and talk about four main components.
Low notes: These are the deep lingering flavours in foods that form the base or the backdrop for other flavours. Think earthy and umami (savoury) foods like mushrooms, soy sauce, tofu, seared meats and tomatoes.
Mid notes: Flavours in this range are much more subtle. They’re not as immediately identifiable and don’t hang around as long on the palate as the low and high notes. These include raw vegetables and chicken (which is why they often taste bland and boring without any other flavours to jazz them up!)
High notes: These flavours are the show stoppers, the eye openers, the wow. They fizz and zing and dance in your mouth like explosive fireworks, like that experienced by the mouse chef in the movie Ratatouille. This is the splash of citrus, the sharpness of pomegranate (anaar), the handful of fresh herbs, or chopped chilli.
Roundness: This is what brings all those notes together and connects them into a unified taste. You don’t often taste these ingredients themselves because they mostly function to bring other flavours out. It can be something mellow like butter or cream, or it can be a seasoning like boosters, MSG, salt or sugar.
Tasting food in your mind
A truly seasoned chef can use his cognitive skills to recall and taste all the notes to savour the imaginary flavour of the dish in their mind. This ability comes from a lifetime of cooking and tasting food created by others as well as their own creations.
Their brain is wired to record and imprint the taste of every ingredient he or she experiences. When it’s time to imagine what a combination of ingredients would taste like together, seasoned chefs can literally taste and smell the unified dish on their lips — licking their lips, smelling its aroma and imagining how it looks on the plate.
How do you learn to do this? It’s all about learning the “why” of cooking and it starts with understanding how each ingredient can alter the taste of the overall dish.
What does salt
to taste mean?
As you cook and taste, think about each of these components and how they work with each other.
Sometimes you’ll need to add an ingredient like a squeeze of lemon. Sometimes it’s more about finding the right balance of ingredients you already have, like another teaspoon of salt to bring out the brighter flavours.
Salt to taste, such a simple and innocent instruction. We’ve all read those words a million times over the years without thinking anything of it. But have you stopped to think what it really means to the dish?
As an ingredient, salt plays two very important roles. First, it reduces bitter flavours. Second, because it reduces bitterness, adding salt allows the aromas and tastes of the other ingredients in your dish to shine through. If you have a dish that tastes flat or bitter, a little salt might be the only fix you need.
Before adding more spices or seasonings, try just adding a few pinches of salt, sea salt preferred because it is more natural. Add a little more. Taste again. Try to ignore the instinct to taste for saltiness, you don’t actually want the dish to taste salty.
Then ask yourself how all the other flavours are coming through. Does your soup still taste like water or are the flavours bright? Can you taste the sweetness from the carrot? Does the radish still taste bitter?
So it’s ironic that when we are told to “salt to taste”, it doesn’t mean to make it salty in flavour. All we’re trying to do is to get rid of the bitterness which makes the rest of the flavours pop.
As we play with flavours and cook by feel, understanding how flavours in a dish work together is a key memory experience that must be second nature for a chef.
Taste as you cook
One of the reasons why a chef is never too hungry at work is because of the constant tasting of foods being cooked in his kitchen. Do you taste your food while cooking or do you wait until the end and hope for the best like many local chefs I know.
Tasting food during cooking might be second nature to some of us, but maybe not for all. Getting to know your dish in all its stages and what flavours taste good to you is a big part of learning to cook beyond the recipe. You may laugh, but it takes practice! Just ask my waistline!
Those of us who have had a great chef mentors can attest; “Taste! Taste! Taste! is one of the most frequently heard commands in a professional kitchen.
Chefs also smell their food while it’s cooking and can distinguish a good smell from bad. We see when the onions become translucent or a soup comes to a boil. Tasting is just taking this one step further.
Train the brain
Going from thinking “How is this supposed to taste?” to “How do I think this tastes?” is a difficult habit to break. It’s hard letting go of preconceived ideas of how something should taste or getting over the anxiety of trying a new recipe with new ingredients and having no clue how it should taste.
Try to zero in on whether or not you like the flavours. If you do, chances are that everyone else will too.
As you’re going about your cooking this weekend, pause now and again to taste what you’re making. Try each raw vegetable before throwing it in the pot so you see how the flavour and texture changes.
If you’re making a salad dressing, try it by itself first and then with a few ingredients from your salad. If you’re adding spices to a soup or sauce, taste the sauce after you add each spice to see how it changes.
Taste everything at the beginning, middle, and end of cooking to see how things change.
Go forth and taste!
Next week: In part two of this series, smelling the food from start to finish will ensure its freshness and transports the diner to a special place. It’s all in the smell.
* The author is an award-winning celebrity chef, culinary ambassador for Fiji Airways and the “Fiji Grown” campaign, and honorary culinary adviser to the Fiji Olympic Team.
