Culinary Corner: Taste Interactions

Guest blog by Elizabeth Hinds
 
We’ve all experienced that moment in the kitchen when you dip into the bubbling pot on the stove to taste… and something’s missing. You can’t figure out exactly what it is, but it needs something. For the longest time, I would throw different spices at the problem, and though the kitchen smelled wonderful, the dish was still bland. As it turns out, the answer is simpler than you might think. More often than not, when something’s missing, the key tastes are unbalanced.

There are five basic tastes that our taste buds recognize: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami. Umami is the meaty, savory taste we associated with cooked meats, stocks, and mushroom. For the home cook, the answer is usually to add salt or sour, but you can adjust all of the tastes using this handy guide.

	Sweet	Sour	Salty	Bitter	Umami
Sweet	↑	--	--	--	↓
Sour	--	↑	↓	↓	--
Salty	--	↓	↑	↓	↑
Bitter	--	↓	↓	↑	--
Umami	↓	--	↑	--	↑

Salty, Sour, and Bitter all interact and reduce the strength of one another.
Don’t like very bitter greens? A pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice will do the trick. Accidentally oversalted? A bit of lemon juice will tone it down a notch. Very sour vinegarette? A pinch of salt will balance it out.

Sweet and Umami interact and reduce the strength of one another. 

Want to enjoy a steak? Stay away from sweet sauces that dull the meaty taste. Is your stir-fry so sweet it’s giving you a toothache? Try a dash of soy sauce.

Salty and Umami strengthen each other. 

Does your soup or stock smell great, but doesn’t have much taste? Add a bit of salt to really make it shine.

Where to find the five tastes

Salt: Salt, soy sauce, feta, olives, capers, cured meats (ham, bacon, prosciutto, etc.), salted butter
Sour: Lemons and limes, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, red and white wine
Sweet: Sugar, maple syrup, beets, cream, agave nectar, honey
Bitter: Greens, coffee, dark chocolate
Umami: Meat, soy sauce, liquid aminos, mushrooms, aged cheese, seaweed

Recipe in action: 
Arugula is famously bitter, but this refreshing vinaigrette is just the thing to tone it down a few notches. The sour lemon and a pinch of salt reduce the bitterness of the greens. The mustard in this recipe acts as a binder for the vinaigrette to keep it from separating right away, but doesn’t contribute a whole lot to the flavor. If you really dislike mustard you can opt out, but you’ll be doing a lot of mixing and shaking to bring the vinaigrette back together to serve.

 Arugula Salad with Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette

• ½ cup lemon juice 
• 1 ½ cups canola oil 
• ½ tsp whole grain mustard 
• ½ tbsp sugar 
• ¼ tsp salt 
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped 

Apollo arugula in the field

In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, salt, sugar and thyme until the sugar has dissolved completely. Slowly pour in the canola oil while whisking. Store in an airtight container (such as a pint sized canning jar) and shake before serving. (makes two cups)