I get lots of compliments on my cooking. And lots of questions about how I do it. My first response is usually (with a glint in my eye, and humour in my voice) to strongly suggest the person asking comes on one of my cooking courses! After that, I answer the question as simply as I can – taste, texture and presentation – that’s the key! Oh and browning your meat, like REALLY browning your meat.
Learning to cook well is an evolution, like everything in life. The more you do it, the more risks you take with it, the more your confidence will grow, the more you will learn and at some point instinct kicks in – you just know when its right, or when it’s not.
So this post is all about how I cook – if you want more info or to see any of this in action, please come join me on one of my cooking classes (she types with a glint in her eye, and a smile!).
CLICK "READ MORE" FOR THE FULL ARTICLE
Learning to cook well is an evolution, like everything in life. The more you do it, the more risks you take with it, the more your confidence will grow, the more you will learn and at some point instinct kicks in – you just know when its right, or when it’s not.
So this post is all about how I cook – if you want more info or to see any of this in action, please come join me on one of my cooking classes (she types with a glint in her eye, and a smile!).
CLICK "READ MORE" FOR THE FULL ARTICLE
Taste
All ingredients have their own flavour but food needs different elements to make it taste good, balanced and interesting. It’s the combination of the following things, in the right balance that makes a dish taste great.
SALT - Salt – bring out the flavour in food. Food without salt is bland. You can use pure salt (I like Himalayan), or salty ingredients (capers, olives, anchovies etc.). Food without salt is like a cold bath – completely unsatisfying. Don’t over salt food as that will kill it, and you! If you are cooking food from scratch and not living on processed foods, the overall salt intake from properly seasoned fresh food should not be a problem. If need be, use low sodium alternatives
SHARP/ACID Sharp/sour – this really livens up food, and wakes up our taste buds. Food without this element tastes flat. I love citrus for this, a squeeze of lemon or lime, or even orange (which brings sharp and sweet to the dish). Vinegar works for this in dressings (though careful not to overuse) and tomatoes are a natural acid element. Something fun to use is pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar which bring a sharp and sweet flavour combination.
SWEET - Sweet – this balances out acidity in a dish. It’s not to say your food should taste like pudding, it’s a background element that brings balance as needed – I use chutney (only Mrs Balls), honey, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate and date molasses etc. as my go-to store cupboard sweet elements. Adding fruit brings sweetness (a few sultanas thrown in) as do sweet vegetables, especially when roasted such as butternut squash, red peppers. I like peas for their natural sweetness, and herbs like basil I think also bring a slight sweet element.
HEAT Heat – If you like chilli that is the obvious thing (leave the seeds out for a milder heat), but other heat elements include garlic, ginger, raw onion, mustard, wasabi or horseradish. You don’t have to add this element of taste but a little in the background of a dish does help boost the flavour. You can add a little mustard powder to the seasoning for beef, or add some wasabi paste or grated fresh horseradish into mashed potatoes.
BITTER Bitterness – Coffee, rocket, kale, grapefruit, walnuts, even olive oil have a natural bitterness. I do love these ingredients, but in my opinion people don’t like bitter food, and I don’t aim for it in my cooking. Sometimes green vegetables can be bitter (I taste my courgettes raw before using). Bitterness can be useful to counterbalance over-sweetness in a dish, so use it if needs be, or if you find your food tastes too bitter, counterbalance it with sweetness.
UMAMI Umami – this is a difficult one to describe – it’s like a savouriness that bring a richer depth to your food. Use umami rich ingredients to benefit from this flavour – tomatoes, mushrooms, beef, soy sauce, seaweed, asparagus, and cheese. The flavour enhancer MSG is a manufactured umami, but we don’t need that if we use naturally occurring umami in our cooking. Now maybe we understand why the classic old Spag Bol is so wonderfully satisfying to us – beef, tomatoes, and topped with parmesan – umami heaven.
TOP TIPS – taste your food while you are cooking it! The point being that if you taste, you can adjust the seasoning and taste elements as you go, and get it right. I can’t tell you how many people come on my cooking courses and admit to rarely tasting the food when cooking it. I regularly watch people cook a dish, and not taste it once. Tasting spoons left clean and unused on the table. It’s a sad thing. This is about layering up your seasoning at key points during the cooking process. I usually season at the beginning, and after a major change in the recipe/process, and then check and adjust at the end.
Texture
This is all about “mouthfeel”. That’s may sound far more exciting than it is, but essentially it's about how food feels in your mouth when you are eating it, more specifically, if it's interesting or boring.
 CRUNCHY NUTS |  PANKO COATING |  CRISPY ONIONS |
TOP TIPS - The aim here is to create contrasts, so pairing something crunchy with something soft, something rough with something smooth etc. – you get the picture. Some examples are: I serve my chilli con carne with crispy taco shells, rather than soft tortillas; I put crispy onions on top of soft rice (Mejadra); I use vegetable crisps or croutons as garnish for soup, I put caramelised nuts or crunchy seeds on salads; I use Panko breadcrumbs for schnitzels or fish goujons because it adds that extra crunchiness to it; I serve ice cream with rough praline, or a crunchy fruit salad, or even chocolate sauce and chopped hazelnuts; I love soft delicious avocado on toasted sourdough (don’t like it on soft bread)…you get the idea.
Presentation
This is how your food looks on the plate or platter. It’s how you make your food look enticing and interesting. Why? Because we eat with all our senses, and seeing is really important. We see the food, we think “Wow that looks amazing I want to eat that NOW!” If you don’t present your food in an appealing way, we may be seeing the food and thinking “OK, I’m really hungry so I will eat that…maybe” or “OK, thanks but no thanks I’ll give that a miss”. The food may taste absolutely fantastic (see “taste” notes above), but we are turned off by what we see. We want to turn people on when they simply look at our food.
 Pic:uFoodie - Pistachio Chicken |  Pic: Courtesy Chef Matt Lord |  Pic: uFoodie - Butternut tagine |
TOP TIPS – Don’t be scared of white space - allow your food a border between itself and the edge of the plate; When presenting on platters, don’t spread food out in neat lines, pile food high in the middle (think Ottolenghi salad displays); use contrasting colours to make food look more visually appealing; use garnishes to finish the dish – crispy onions, fresh chopped herbs, a scattering of colourful spice; get yourself some nice platters/plates and serving spoons and tongs. This is not expensive and wonderful very affordable items can be found in your local Ikea, Sainsbury’s or Homesense. I really like wide bowls with edges sloping up, so the food had space to show off rather than being crowded into a dish hidden from view. Use different shapes of plates/platters.
Oh, and browning
Please do this, and do it well. I think browning and caramelising meat really makes my food taste much better – it’s like an injection of naturally meaty flavour to the dish – maybe it intensifies the umami or maybe it’s in my head, but either way it works for me, and for those eating my food!
TOP TIPS –If you are making a stew, a chilli or bolognese etc, you should season the meat and then put the meat in first, and spread it out to fry it, so it gets lovely and browned. Don’t take it out or turn it too soon, really get a lovely colour on it. My mince is pretty much cooked through and getting a few crispy bits once I am through browning it. I use tongs to turn pieces of meat, or a wooden spoon for mince, to break it up as it browns. Don’t overcrowd the pan or it will just release juice and stew and will not brown. I never put raw meat onto sautéed mirepoire vegetables (chopped onion, carrot, celery forming the base flavour for soups, stews etc). I always brown the meat first because I don’t want any liquid or moisture from the veg in the pan. I then remove the meat to a bowl and add the vegetables to soften. If you like to do your veg first ('cos that’s how you have always done it), then fine, but remove it before doing the meat, and then add back in afterwards. I think by doing the meat first you get a better browning on it, and then when you add the veg, the moisture that is released helps to deglaze the pan – lifts the meaty sediment and crispy bits from the pan into the food itself.
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