Tasting for Flavors
A Guide to Palate & Classic Flavor Pairings
Welcome back, Friends 🥂
I don’t know about you but after the Shrimp Remoulade 🦐 drop I’ve been crushing chilled shrimp in that flavor-bomb of a sauce 🤤 . Perfect for the hot temperatures. 🥵
Understanding Flavors
Let’s dive in to how you can start discerning between different flavors. You’ll hear this referred to as a person's palate. Truth is, most people have dulled palates from eating hyper processed foods loaded with salts, preservatives and sugars.
Over time, your palate dulls because it is being constantly overstimulated to certain flavors. This is how people get hooked on junk food. When this happens people have low tolerance for bittering and sour flavors, especially, because their palate is jacked up.
Understanding flavors in food and beverage will make you a better cook. We are going to hit flavor in general and talk about some ways to “taste food more meaningfully”… Consider this a guide in developing your palate
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How Your Palette Works
As discussed before, 80-90% of flavor is perceived through smell, not taste. Think of it like this
Flavor = Smell + Taste
When food or beverage hits your palate, the tongue is immediately activated to perceive the 5 tastes:
Sweet
Sour
Bitter
Salty
While this is happening, aromatics are going through your olfactory (nasal) system which give a clear signal as to what flavor(s) you are tasting.
This is why if you have nasal congestion you will notice decreased flavors and people will generally put more salt on their food try and “bump up” flavor.
Taste Zones
You probably remember the tongue map from school showing the taste zones on the tongue. This was originally made in 1901. A new updated map was published after umami was a recognized taste.
So is this accurate?
Yes and no… the reality is that taste buds that can perceive the 5 flavors are spread all over your tongue, and even into the throat;, however there are some clusters that tend to be concentrated in areas.
Most people notice that sour ingredients will make the sides of their tongue water, and sweetness is very noticeable at the tip.
I find that bittering has a drying effect that is realized on the sides of the tongue as well.
The most important thing is to be aware of these flavors and how they impact your palate.
Discerning Flavors
Your palate is like a muscle. If it is not actively engaged it grows dull. The foods you eat also have a dramatic effect.
Being Present
This may seem overkill, but most people eat their food but don’t concentrate or have a present mindset on what they are actually tasting. Think of the scene in in Ratatouille where Remy is tasting food. He tells his brother Emil “don’t hork it all down!”. Most people either plow through their meal as a chore to be finished, or are eating with others and distracted by conversation or the sporting event on TV.
So…. slow down.
Being aware of what you are specifically tasting will put you leaps ahead in developing your palate.
Variety
Exposing your palate to a wide variety of foods and ingredients increase your palate’s “memory” and give a deeper context to work from when you taste food. This is why even “healthy” people who just eat rice, broccoli and chicken 7 days a week also have horrible palates.
I get it, life is busy… but being intentional about eating a variety of different foods and ingredients will help your palate and also you shouldn’t be getting bored of what' you’re eating.
Smell First
Related to this first point… being present and further, smelling your food before eating will give your palate a head start. You will also smell some things that don’t register on the 5 tastes. This doesn’t just apply to hot foods. Many cold preparations and sauces have aroma.
Aeration
Flavors of any foods that have a liquid component can be amplified by aerating via “slurping”. You’ll see this done in coffee, wine and olive oil tastings… and while you don’t want to be loudly slurping every bite when you’re eating out, this can be done subtly or just by yourself at home. You’ll be surprised how many flavors open up for you to detect.
Temperature & Flavor Curves
In general your palate is most sensitive and receptive to foods between 85-95F. However your palate perceives different tastes at different temperatures.
Overall, as temperature rises, perceptions of sweetness and bitterness tend to intensify, and perceptions of sourness and saltiness tend to remain the same. Because the effect of temperature is not uniform across compounds, it can be expected that the taste "profile" of a food will change as its temperature changes. If all else is equal, at hot temperatures bitter and sweet tastes should dominate salty and sour ones. ~Heat as a Factor in the Perception of Taste, Smell, and Oral Sensation
Put Yourself to the test?
I would be remiss to not mention sight. We eat with our eyes first. Visuals affect us so much when we eat that most people, when blind tasting, can’t tell the difference between chicken breast and pork tenderloin.. Or carrots and potato.
Yes, the power of sight influences our flavor perception “bigly”!
For fun, you can do blind tastings and see how successful you are. I did this a lot in the kitchen, but also blind tastings in wine, olive oil and coffee are normal for enthusiasts as well.
The point of blind tasting isn’t to make you feel dumb or confused. When tasting blind you are forcing more reliance on your senses of smell and taste.
Classic Flavors That Are Timeless
While most people now are encouraged with social media overload to “eXpErIMenT & cReATe” the best thing you can do is learn classic flavors, techniques and dishes that work…
That’s why they are classic!
This will give a solid base to work from, and expand on… which is a lot of what we are doing here.. you’ve just got a Cartoon Chef giving you cheat codes 😉
Here are some flavor combinations that work well together.
Green Beans, Almond, Dill
Carrot, Orange, Butter
Carrot, Coffee, Butter, Coriander, Cumin
Eggplant, Feta, Tomato, Red Bell Pepper
Crab, Avocado, Passionfruit
Bass, Fennel, Capers, Butter
Sole (white fish), Grapes, Butter, White Wine, Cream
Salmon & Harissa
Chicken, Lemon, Thyme, Butter, Dijon Mustard
Rabbit, Tarragon, Tomato
Rabbit, Pancetta, Prune, Sage
Pork, Cabbage, Apples
Duck, Corn, Bacon, Brussels Sprouts
Lamb, Mint, Yogurt
Beef & Horseradish
Beef, Mushrooms, Black Pepper, Madeira
Calves Liver, Bacon, Shallot, Sherry Vinegar, Parsley
Figs, Port, Thyme, Vanilla, Walnut
Guava, Cream Cheese, Vanilla
Apricots & Honey
Peaches, Thyme, Cream
Plums, Black Pepper, Balsamic
And you get the idea… these are just off the top of my head… it will be fun to keep diving into flavor combinations and recipes as we keep cooking togther.
If you see an ingredient listed that you haven’t tried yet, pick up a small amount or sample… start expanding your palate.
The biggest asset you can have as a cook is curiosity.
Curiosity is how I learned more, faster, than most of my peers… and the same applies to cooking at home. Another reason that shopping in different markets is beneficial. You will see ingredients pop up that you haven’t tried before… when I first started cooking I would just buy ingredients that were new to me… take them home, taste them raw and then mess around with cooking or manipulating them.
This is a lifelong process that you can never run out of things to try or learn… and I think that is incredible and exciting. 🙌
Keep an eye out for the next drop this weekend… we will be cooking more!