TASTES
Taste and flavour are different things. Taste is about the mouth – flavour is about the nose.
There are hundreds of flavours, but only a handful of tastes.
What you want to know about your favourite foods is how they taste, and to which Taste Families they belong.
There are five classic families - bitter, salty, umami, sour and sweet - to which we can add three others - astringent, spicy, fatty.
There are two ways to create Taste Pairings - tastes that complement, and tastes that balance.
Complementary tastes show up in a Salted Caramel Flan (salty and sweet). Balancing tastes show up in a Tomato and Rocket Salad (umami and bitter).
Taste Families are the second of the three Foundation principles.
There are eight tasty families listed here that will tempt your taste-buds (even astringent!). Pairing different tastes creates dishes that are yummy, delicious and scrumptious. If in doubt about which foods belong to which Taste Families, try conjuring up words that are similar, e.g.
Bitter - cutting, acerbic, tart
Salty – marine, briny, brackish
Umami - savoury, yeasty, bone-warming, hearty, malty
Sour – lip-puckering, tart, acidic, citrussy, vinegary, tangy
Sweet – dulcet, saccharine, honeyed, fresh, ripe, sugary, zippy
Astringent – biting, harsh, sharp
Fatty - greasy, lardy, oily
Spicy – hot, fiery, peppery, piquant, racy
TASTES Payoffs
Getting good at ‘reading’ recipes. Armed with your new knowledge, you will avoid taste crashes. If the recipe includes words like ‘complement’, you can tell for yourself whether the tastes are doing exactly that.
Starting to understand which foods you can substitute, based on taste. In no time, you’ll give yourself so many more options.