5 Ways You Can Enhance The Flavour of Your Food

Home cooking can be rewarding, healthy and cost-effective. The foods you enjoy eating are most likely the ones that you eat the most, so it’s important to make the taste a priority when it comes to preparing satisfying and nutritious meals. Good food is all in the taste and even just some simple additions or changes in techniques can make a huge difference in the taste and texture of your food, meaning that you’ll enjoy it so much more. 

Cooking like a pro doesn’t need to be difficult and enhancing the flavour of your food can be done in just a few easy steps, with a few tips and tricks learnt along the way. There are some very simple ways in which you can enhance the flavour of your food to make your meal bursting with flavour, so with that in mind, here are 5 ways that you can enhance the flavour of your food. 

Use Cooking Techniques To Improve Texture

There is one golden rule when it comes to enhancing the flavour of your food and that is texture. Crunch can make a huge difference to the overall taste of your food and learning how to make foods crunchy on the outside comes from perfecting technique. 

When you grill meat, using high heat can help to create that crusty brown or golden exterior that can make eating the meal so much more enjoyable. You can use other techniques to make foods crispy, for example using cornflour or plain flour to coat food in before cooking, which then creates a starchy coating. 

Learn How To Use Salt Correctly

In cooking, salt doesn’t just make food saltier, but it can actually enhance the perception of other flavours that might be present in the food. Salt is a flavour vehicle and the outcome changes depending on the way that you use it. Adding a pinch of salt to a sweet dessert can help to balance the flavour, whereas adding Himalayan salt to meat helps to create a deeper, meatier flavour. 

There are very few culinary situations where salt will not enhance the flavour of your food appropriately. When you cook vegetables, if you add salt during the cooking process, then this encourages the vegetables to release more moisture, which is good if you want to create crunchy and chargrilled vegetables. Adding salt to the simmering water, such as for potatoes, vegetables or pasta helps to create a balanced seasoning. 

Marinades Are More Than Flavour

When you think of marinades, you’ll probably think of them as a way of just adding flavour to food. Most typically used for meats, marinades is the process of soaking foods in well seasoned, acidic liquids prior to cooking. It is the modern equivalent of pickling and is a great way to drastically enhance the flavours of foods. 

Typically marinades are made up of three compounds – acids (usually wine, citrus or vinegar), oil (olive or sesame oil) and flavouring agents such as garlic, spices, herbs and citrus. Whilst these compounds massively improve the flavour, they can also tenderise meats and substitutes, making them juicier and more tender. 

Marinades are really easy to make at home and can be altered to suit your tastes and preferences, but if you want a wide variety of flavours ready to use during the week, then bottled marinades and savoury sauces are handy to have ready to go for quick mid-week meals!  

Invest in Good Quality Oil

Your choice of ingredients will make a huge difference to the taste of your food. Using good quality oil can make massive improvements to the underlying taste and flavour of your foods, especially if you use oil for a wide range of uses. Quality olive oil is the best choice as it is able to be used in a variety of different ways and for a number of dishes. 

It’s important to remember that some oils can hold very distinctive flavours, which can impact the taste of your food. Coconut oil, sesame oil and avocado oils are examples of this, so you want to ensure that the oil you choose to use for your dishes compliments the flavours of your foods. 

Slow Cooking is Your Friend

There is a reason why so many people love using slow cookers. This versatile kitchen gadget is not only convenient for busy schedules but can massively improve and enhance the flavours of your food, creating flavour-packed dishes. When you slow-cook foods, whether in the oven or in a slow cooker, the longer the process, then the more the flavours will develop. 

A lot of people are guilty of just whacking up the heat when cooking in an effort to get it cooked quicker, which then massively impacts the texture and flavour. This is down to a chemical reaction that happens in foods as, when cooking foods over a longer period of time, this reaction causes different flavour chemicals to be produced, which then gives dishes a more complex flavour profile. When cooking foods in the slow cooker, use a mixture of fresh ingredients to flavour the dish, as well as a range of herbs and spices.