54
votes
Accepted
What is "layering flavors"? What does it accomplish and how do I do it?
It is mostly a fancy way of saying that they are combining flavors. There are no solid, physical layers involved anywhere.
Still, there is a reason why the "layering" metaphor is more apt ...
- 133k
49
votes
Is there such a thing as a dish being bland from too many flavors?
I think the description you're looking for is what is often described as "muddy flavors" or "fighting flavors" or "muddled flavors" (though the latter is also a term used ...
- 8,972
41
votes
Accepted
How much salt in "liberally season"?
You're not alone in being confused. Here's a few "weasel phrases" that recipe authors use:
"Liberally season"
"Season to taste"
"Season as required"
"Add enough"
"A bunch of"
"A generous quantity"
...
- 55.8k
38
votes
Accepted
Spice blends have no flavor?
Salt
TL;DR,
The ingredients you list in your local spice blend doesn't include anything that would primarily hit the salty, sweet, sour, bitter, or umami tastes. The commercial product you link to has ...
- 8,972
29
votes
Accepted
Is there such a thing as a dish being bland from too many flavors?
With your longer description, I can understand where you are coming from and why you don't like this version of the dishes (and also why somebody else might prefer them). But the term "bland"...
- 133k
20
votes
Accepted
What are the advantages of serving fries in a metal cone?
In a traditional British chip shop, you would have got your chips (fries for Americans) in yesterday's newspaper, wrapped into a cone shape. These days of course, it's food grade greaseproof paper, ...
- 10.9k
20
votes
Accepted
What does "season it to taste" mean?
Add your preferred level of salt and pepper
Seasoning usually refers to salt and black pepper, but occasionally to other flavor-enhancing ingredients in the dish such as acid (vinegar, lemon, etc.) ...
- 1,091
19
votes
Accepted
What's the secret to well-seasoned pulled pork?
The rub in this, and similar recipes, is a surface treatment. The same is true for marinades...all surface treatments. As is mentioned in the comment above, the finishing step in your recipe is to ...
- 70.4k
17
votes
How much salt in "liberally season"?
"Liberally season with salt" means - "use more salt than you would usually think was enough".
Why anyone would advise that depends on factors unknown to us.
Here is an SE "Seasoned Advice" post on ...
- 569
14
votes
Accepted
What is a non-pork substitute for Italian sausage?
By "Italian Sausage" I think you mean the seasoned pork sausage available in many supermarkets throughout the US.
I've found that a 30-70 mix of beef and turkey/chicken works reasonably well as a ...
- 73.1k
13
votes
Accepted
How do you season and cook to palates and preferences different than yours?
I have (nearly) no sense of taste and smell, and what sense I do have is heavily distorted. As a result, my senses are non-indicative of dish quality. Nearly every meal I cook is shared with at least ...
- 2,533
12
votes
Accepted
What does Jiro brush on his sushi?
He brushes soy sauce on it, because he knows how much is sufficient to season each nigiri. Actually not just any soy sauce, but nikiri:
A good sushi chef adds all the flavors the sushi needs before ...
- 4,772
12
votes
What are some ways to season that don't rely on garlic and onions?
Aliums (the garlic and onion family) can be a trigger of both allergies and food intolerance. Unfortunately, they're two of the most common flavorings in foods. There's already a question on here ...
- 77.9k
12
votes
Accepted
How to keep seasonings from separating in soup
You could use a bouquet garni.
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Bouquet-Garni
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouquet_garni
The bouquet garni... is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with
string ...
- 6,588
11
votes
Accepted
What are these crispy bits on top of rice?
Those are fried onions.
They're pretty recognizable, but for confirmation I did a search by image and found this blog post in Finnish containing that exact image. The caption underneath the picture ...
- 58k
11
votes
How much salt in "liberally season"?
I agree with @FuzzyChef's good answer, I'm adding this answer to extend it, not contradict it. Sometimes salt should be added at the beginning of a recipe because:
the salt needs time to work its way ...
- 73.1k
11
votes
What is "layering flavors"? What does it accomplish and how do I do it?
If you could link the video with the quote in question that would be helpful.
In the case of onion and garlic from your example, I would say "layering flavor" is just a way of saying "...
- 3,082
10
votes
Help me rescue my bland soup
If too much water is the culprit, then its a simple matter of reducing the soup on the stove top. Just put it in a pot and boil it with the lid off(so the water escapes) until you reached a desired ...
- 8,833
9
votes
Accepted
When should you season sauce that needs to be reduced?
First of all, people indeed often add some seasoning in the beginning, but are usually careful with the amount, especially with salt.
Flavor-wise, you could add it at the end, after the reduction and ...
- 13.3k
9
votes
Tomato Products containing Citric Acid
Citric acid in canned goods is just a preservative, nothing to do with "ripening in the can" as far as I know.
As you've noticed, it's plenty common in storebought canned food, but it's especially ...
- 58k
9
votes
Is hummus a condiment
Interesting question. While I realize that dictionaries are descriptive, they're what we have to go by for common usage, so let's consult three:
Wikipedia: A condiment is a spice, sauce, or ...
- 55.8k
9
votes
How could I cook industry like foie gras?
Foie Gras is fatty goose or duck liver. There is no machine or process to make it. It is harvested from the animals themselves. Restaurants have providers for their product. You will have to find one ...
- 3,022
8
votes
Physical method to season steaks
Use the fact that you have two hands*.
If you don't want to pre-mix your spices, open all containers you intend to use.
Assign one hand to be the "clean" one, one the "contaminated" hand.
Use the ...
- 57.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Is there a special reason why dry rubs are meant to work with grilling over other cooking methods?
Well, if you deep-fried something with a dry rub:
all the oil-soluble flavors would dissolve into the fry oil. You lose your flavor, and also probably greatly shorten the life of the oil. (How long ...
- 13.1k
8
votes
Making a vegan potato-puree like course without whole potatoes
You're vague about what's available at a reasonable price in your area, but there are plenty of things that are used to make vegetable mash:
Root vegetables. (Turnip, parsnip, yams, sweet potatoes, ...
- 77.9k
8
votes
Is there such a thing as a dish being bland from too many flavors?
I like the comparison to 'the colour brown' & yes, I would agree this is quite possible.
To try stick with this allusion let's consider a generic takeaway ['indian'] curry.
A poor one is ...
- 27.8k
8
votes
Is there such a thing as a dish being bland from too many flavors?
Okay, take a curry with 10 different spices (each of which you are familiar with) for example.
Will you be able to identify each spice in the curry with just one spoonful? If there were only one spice,...
- 3,571
8
votes
Spice blends have no flavor?
Spice blends are made from ground spices (which oxidize and lose volatile aromatics very quickly), occasionally salt, and a lot of fillers..sometimes yeast extract and/or MSG for umami...maybe some ...
- 70.4k
8
votes
Putting "Curing Salt # 1" on a steak
Here is the USDA full breakdown of how to use Nitrates. Nowhere does it say you can use curing salts as a finishing salt. I would always use Nitrates as directed by trusted recipes.
Maximum ingoing ...
- 4,437
7
votes
Can I make a hot mayonnaise?
You are basically talking about a Hollandaise sauce, which is similar to mayonnaise in that it is an emulsion of egg yolk and fat. The main difference is that in mayonnaise the fat is oil, whereas in ...
- 43.4k
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