Food can be either complex or pure in it’s flavour. So you can add lots of ingredients that work together well and end up with a new flavour profile. Rather like combining colours. Or you can emphasise one ingredient and intensify it’s flavour. Like a pure red. Either are good, just different. It helps to know where you’re heading with the dish you’re trying to create.
One of my mottos in life is ‘Maximum effect, Minimum effort’. And I apply this to food. I like to cook foods that are unfussy to prepare, yet deliver on flavour.
I tend to prioritise food on taste, health, price and presentation. In that order. Othes may have a different order. Eg they may put health or presentation first. This is just the way I prefer to do it.
At the moment I have a preference for a balance of salt, sugar and acid in many of my foods.
It can be helpful to think about the flavours you love. Not staple foods like bread or chicken, but the seasonings that can be used to add flavour. Eg I just LOVE tamarind and cardamom, and have created a sauce for chicken from these 2 favourite flavourings. What flavours do you love? Could you combine them in some way to create a new dish?
