As the saying goes, "The beauty of a dish lies in its flavor, and the beauty of its flavor lies in its seasoning." Proper seasoning makes a dish, while improper seasoning ruins it. It is evident, therefore, that seasoning plays a pivotal role in the quality of a dish. Qi Cuihua, a council member of the Shandong Nutrition Society and an associate professor of nutrition at Jinan University, told China Daily that the deliciousness of a dish comes from both cooking and seasoning. Cooking is the process of preparing ingredients into a dish through heating, while seasoning is the art of harmonizing ingredients and seasonings, using heat to eliminate undesirable flavors, enhance their natural freshness, and increase the overall deliciousness of the dish. Cooking also has its own mathematical principles; applying them skillfully can elevate a dish.
Borrowing Flavor from Other Foods
Flavor enhancement means adding or borrowing flavors from other foods. Although ingredients like tofu and various vegetables such as lettuce, potatoes, and wood ear mushrooms are highly nutritious, they are often avoided by many people because they lack their own umami or have very bland flavors.
For such ingredients, we can use flavorful ingredients or seasonings to "add flavor." For example, mushrooms, chicken broth, douchi (fermented black beans), minced garlic, fermented bean curd, shrimp roe, sesame paste, yellow bean paste, shrimp paste, oyster sauce, as well as infused oils like scallion oil, garlic oil, mushroom oil, star anise oil, chili oil, and Sichuan pepper oil can impart a rich and savory aroma to vegetables and tofu. Examples include shrimp braised with water bamboo, sesame paste hand-torn eggplant, stir-fried water spinach with fermented bean curd, and oyster sauce braised lettuce. "Claypot Tofu" borrows the rich flavor from chicken or meat broth. The wood ear mushrooms in "Muxu Rou" (a stir-fry with meat, eggs, and wood ear mushrooms) absorb the flavor of the meat and broth, becoming rich and enticing. Infused oils like scallion and garlic oil, mushroom oil, and star anise and Sichuan pepper oil can also be used for "flavor enhancement," as seen in dishes like Sichuan pepper oil potato shreds and golden garlic and broth amaranth.
Removing Undesirable Flavors
Flavor reduction means diminishing or masking the taste of a food. In contrast to ingredients that need flavor enhancement, some foods have unpleasant flavors. For instance, beef, lamb, seafood, and animal offal often have a fishy or gamey taste, while vegetables like spinach, water bamboo, and bamboo fungus have a slight astringency. They are difficult to eat if stir-fried directly.
For ingredients with a fishy or gamey taste, the following methods can be used to remove the odor. First, proper preparation before cooking is essential. For example, after scaling, fresh fish can be rubbed with dry flour, left for a moment, and then rinsed clean. This not only removes the fishy smell but also preserves the fish's freshness. Beef or ribs can also be blanched before stewing. Second, make good use of seasonings during cooking. Spices like Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, pepper, and star anise can undergo oxidation reactions with aldehyde and ketone compounds responsible for the fishy smell, thereby reducing the odor and adding fragrance. This is generally used for meats like pork and lamb. The fishy substances in seafood are often alkaline, so acidic lemon juice can neutralize them and remove the smell. Third, find good pairings. For example, white radish can reduce the gamey taste of lamb, tomato can mask the unpleasant flavor of beef, and tofu can neutralize the fishy taste of fish.
Astringent vegetables often contain a high amount of oxalic acid. Blanching them before cooking eliminates the unpleasant taste. Research shows that for vegetables like spinach and water bamboo, simply blanching in boiling water can remove 40% to 70% of the oxalic acid.