Sometimes, when we give a new recipe a go, or cook after a long day, the dish doesn’t always wow with flavour. Luckily, you don’t have to wait for next week to try it out again – there are 10-minute (or less) flavour hacks you can incorporate while you’re cooking to boost flavour. Follow along as we list tiny add-ins and techniques you can use to boost flavour throughout the cook.
10-Minute flavour hacks
1. Add acid
Acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, helps balance out salty, sweet and umami flavours of a dish. Not to mention that the zingy acidic ingredients add to a dish, highlighting and bringing other flavours to life. Without it, dishes can taste flat or bland. The next time you’re making a creamy pasta dish, roast lamb, or braaiing pork chops, add a squeeze of lemon or orange juice, or a few drops of apple cider or champagne vinegar to the dish. It will taste lighter, brighter, and more complex.
2. Fresh herbs
Herbs are jam-packed with flavours, and depending on whether you use dried or fresh (or even both), they will add another dimension or complexity to foods. When using dried herbs, heating them is crucial to bring out their natural, flavourful oils. This is easy if you’re sauteéing foods like onions. If you’re making a cold or room-temperature dish, like a salad dressing, gently rub the dried herbs between your palms to wake them up and bring out their natural oils. For fresh herbs, chop them up and add them to a salad, sauce, or dish last minute. Herbs are very delicate when fresh, and don’t do well when heated for prolonged periods (the heat in this case dulls the flavours).
3. Add umami-rich ingredients
Umami is what makes a dish hearty. It’s a mix of savoury and complex flavours that help balance a dish while adding dimension, so it doesn’t taste flat or like it’s missing something. Add umami-rich ingredients like soy sauce, fish sauce, mushroom stock powder, oyster sauce, yeast-extract powder, Marmite, and even Bovril to hearty dishes like gravies, soups, stews, casseroles, and curries.
4. Start with an aromatic base
The best way to introduce flavour is to start cooking with an aromatic base. It makes it easier to flavour as you cook, and you’ll end up with a deliciously complex dish. Aromatics include onions, garlic, leeks, spring onions, chilli, ginger, chives, curry leaves, bay leaves and more.
5. Toast and bloom
We all know the wonders a mix of spices and seeds can do to a dish. They add punch, zing, heat, and nutty flavours. But you shouldn’t just pop them in during the middle of a cook or towards the end as is. Spices, especially whole spices and seeds, need heat to bring out their full flavour. Toast seeds in a dry pan until you can see them turn golden or smell their nuttiness. Bloom spices in a fat, like peanut or ghee, until they start bubbling and filling the kitchen with their magic aromas. You could take it one step further and toast seeds and spices and add them at the end of a cook, to bring in a fresher-tasting dimension to a dish.
Techniques that boost flavour
Many techniques in a cook’s repertoire boost flavour. Here are a few of our favourites:
- Season as you cook: Avoid seasoning a dish at the end of a cook (it will taste flat). Instead, add a pinch of salt and pepper throughout the cooking to make sure each ingredient’s flavour is pronounced. A word of caution – taste as you season to avoid adding too much and ending up with an inedible dish.
- Caramelise ingredients: Don’t be scared to turn up the heat and caramelise ingredients, especially onions, meats, and veggies. Browning ingredients and foods adds depth to a dish without you having to keep adding in more ingredients.
- Don’t serve food piping hot or ice cold: Foods that are served at extreme temperatures (unless required, like frozen desserts) dull the flavours. Rather, serve warm foods, room temperature, or cool.
Also See: The minimalist spice rack: 10 Spices that give you unlimited flavour
The minimalist spice rack: 10 Spices that give you unlimited flavour
