Cook as Alchemist

A Cook’s View of Eating

This is not a review of digestion, but breaking down the aspects of eating I feel are relevant to a cook. I think of cooks as alchemists, defined as a person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process. This web definition fits perfectly how I think of cooking. It is a series of magical processes that combine to make a dish we serve to ourselves and others. The processes I am speaking here include:

• Aroma is what happens in our nose-to-brain connection as food is is cooking and we get a whiff of the dish. We recognize the smell (or not) and it sparks a memory or raises our expectations of the dish’s taste, texture and flavor.
• Presentation is a eyes-to-brain connection as food is served. This stage indicates to us if we want to taste the dish or not. The looks can spur an appetite, or create a revulsion feeling where we do not want to eat.
• Taste is what happens in our mouth with the tongue-to-brain connection, and we often quickly react to the tastes (bitter, sour, spice, sweet, salt/umami).
• Temperature is recognized by our lips, face and mouth as we bring the food up to eat. Is it hot, warm, cool, or cold as we expect it to be.
• Texture is what our mouth (and sometimes hand) feels when consuming food. Is it rough, smooth, mushy, crunchy, liquidy, or hard, etc. It refers to the physical attributes of a dish.
• Flavor is best described as the intricate combination of all these aspects of eating.

Aroma

The whole point of the Mirepoix is to create the base aroma and foundational taste of a dish. It fills the house with their smells, and people will come to the kitchen asking, “what are you cooking,” or say “it sure smells good in here.”

This is the actual start of eating, the aroma released into the air is being inhaled by everyone and digestion is starting. As people smell something good, their bodies are receiving the signal that food is coming. Appetites are being teased with the aromas and some people’s stomachs start growling in anticipation.

Scientists claim that the aroma of food plays up to 80 percent of how we perceive flavor, compared to 20 percent for taste .

Presentation

When I count cooking time, I include preparing the food for presentation. A good looking plate of food forces us to pause a little in order to appreciate the look of the food, before diving in. The better a food looks, the better it tastes. Presentation can also enhances the mood of the diners.

Taste

Dr. Stuart Firestein is quoted as saying, [t]aste refers to our five sensitivities — sweet, sour, salt, bitter, and umami — while flavor is a “hedonic” sense involving smell, texture, and expectation.

Bitter

Bitter is a taste I am not as fond of as others, and children especially do not normally like bitter things. To my taste most all raw green veggies are a bit bitter.

• Drinks: Coffee and coco, beer, and grapefruit juice
• Veggies: broccoli, spinach, kale, endive
• Spices: Ajwain,  bay leaf, celery, clove, cumin seed, fenugreek seeds, horseradish, juniper, mace, marjoram, oregano, savory, sichuan peppercorns, star anise, turmeric, and thyme.

Salt + Umami

I am combining the two tastes because often the salt and umami taste come from the same food item. Anchovies, Soy Sauce, Tamari Sauce all are salty and umami for instance.

The top mistake all Chefs have commented on about home cooks is that we do not use enough salt or salty ingredients. The result is a bland dish. Salt is not only a mineral, but it is naturally in a variety of foods.

• Fish/Sea: anchovies, fish sauce, oyster sauce, seaweed and kelp.
• Meats: bacon, sausages, pork backs
• Sauces: soy, miso, or tamari sauces
• Picklings
• Veggies: mushrooms and tomatoes
• Parmesan cheese adds umami-ness to dishes

Sour

These foods can make me pucker. It can cause an immediate physical reaction, including salivation .

• Fruits: lemon, lime, orange, sour orange
• Condiments: Vinegars, tomato paste, yogurt, and sour cream.
• Veggies: tomatoes.
• Spices: amchur, sumac, and tamarind.
• Sauerkraut + Sauerkraut Salad
• Blaukraut (German sweet + sour red cabbage)

Spicey

These food items cause a burst of flavor.

• Herbs/spices: horseradish, wasabi, dried chilies and mustard seeds.
• Condiments: mustards, hot sauces, and chili combinations from Harissa to Korean chili garlic sauce.
• Veggies: arugula, radishes, radish sprouts. Spices in this area include variations of pepper.
• Shichimi Togarashi Baked Tofu

Sweet

Our bodies can crave sugar and quick instant energy and tastiness. Interesting is how we like salty-sweet (salt caramels) or sour-sweet (those sour worm candies kids eat).

• Sweet Sugars: sugar (cane or beets), stevia, honey, maple syrup, agave syrup/nectar, allulose, and coconut and fruit sugars.
• Sugar-based condiments: Thai spicy sweet chili sauce, catsup, molasses, and certain vinegars (balsamic, apple).
• Veggies: sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, beets, some squash, and sugar peas.
• Spices: allspice, cloves, anise, basil, caraway, cassia, chervil, cinnamon, dill seed, fennel, and Nutmeg
• See my sweet tagine vegetables dish which uses the sweet veggies along with sweet spices to make the dish

Temperature

Temp Hot: Nothing is worse than hot food served cold, or cold food served hot. We expect to have hot porridge, cold ice tea, and those expectation play a part in the enjoyment of food by meeting those expectations.

Spicy Hot: Likewise with spicy hot food. My expectation plays a part in my enjoyment of the food. I expect spicy hot tacos or Indian food, but not spicy hot oatmeal.

Texture

Texture is important to how we perceive the goodness of food. People often talk of pizza crust in terms of its crunchy hardness or limp, with the expectation that limp is bad. Think of hard fruit, indicating not yet ripe, and softer fruit indicating ripeness. Or raw but soft sweet potatoes, indicating rotten, and hard uncooked sweet potatoes as ready to cook. The wrong texture, as experienced by the diner, will make or break a recipe. This is why cooks always taste their food, not just for seasoning, but also texture.

Flavors

There are multiple spice shops on the internet. As experts in spice, I rely on them to give me hints as to the variety of spices that suit a aroma and taste I am looking for; I have certainly not tasted all the spice that is out there! The information on spices in this post is from my own experience, and SpiceInc.com and Oaktown Spice Shop, I have linked specific recipes, if I have them, to show the flavor.

Cooling

These are food items that give a cooling and refreshing element to the food. Like a minty or lemon iced tea on a hot day.

• Herbs: spearmint, dill, anise, fennel, sweet basil.
• Veggies: cucumbers
• Fruit: watermelon
• Greek Watermelon Salad
• German Cucumber Salad

Earthy

I often think of two things, potatoes and beets. They both have an “earthy” taste of soil and something that reminds me of earthen cellars.

• Veggies: potatoes, yams, and beets.
• Herbs: Achiote, Cumin, Saffron
• Winter veggie roast and Salad with beets

Floral

Floral food items fall into tisanes for me, sweet and fragrant teas.

• Herbs: coriander, lemongrass, rose petals, saffron, sweet basil, thyme, and lavender.
• Herbes de Provence
• Earl gray and lemon loaf
• Hibiscus, mint + strawberry tisane

Flowers can be eaten directly as well according to Gardeners, TreeHugger and CityFlowers. I will list just a few, by family, to give an idea of what you could be cooking with. Just note that not all flowers you see in your yard may be eaten. If in doubt do not eat, if available in your local veggie store you can be assured they are edible.

• Alliums. Chives, leeks and garlic flowers. Remove the central stem from the flower cluster to release the separate florets.
• Nasturtiums. Peppery flavored blossoms of various colors and varieties for salads or garnishes.
• Marigolds. Use the tiny citrus tasting flowers from Lemon Gem and Tangerine Gem.
• Mint. I have read that all mint flowers are edible. I have only tasted my backyard garden mint and they taste good in tea and food.
• Squash blossoms. I have stuffed and fried or baked these blossoms and they taste neutral to me, usually all I taste is the stuffing in the blossom. But the presentation looks great.

PennState writes: Consumers should proceed with caution when growing, buying, and eating edible flowers. As with every new food item, slowly introduce edible flowers into your diet to see if you will have an allergic reaction. Consumers with allergies to pollen should proceed with caution before eating any flowers. Also, taste flowers before using them in dishes to insure that the flavor is desirable. Remember I am speaking of organic, pesticide free food for herbs, spices or flowers. Best is if you grow your own, next is buying from a specialty spice and herb shop that vouches for their sources.

Fruity

Start with fruit and their wonderful aromas. These foods generally taste exactly as they smell to me.

• Spices: anise, fennel, nigella, savory, star anise, tamarind
• Fruit: fruit juice or zest (orange)
• Orange Sweet Potato
• Tomato Peach Berry Salad

Herbaceous

Foods that one would call herbal in taste and aroma.

• Spices/herbs: dill weed, lavender, oregano, parsley, rosemary,  sage, savory, tarragon, thyme.
• DIY Italian Herb Salt
• Tarragon Spring Veggies

Nutty

This is a food taste that we describe as nutty, perhaps creamy, and has a mouthy feel.

• Nuts: cashews, almonds, peanuts and walnuts.
• Spice: ajwain, allspice, black cardamom, caraway, coriander seed, cumin seed, fenugreek.
• Seeds: mustard, poppy, and sesame seed.
• Almond milk
• Seed + Nut bread

Piney

This is food stuffs that taste like pine trees smell. Only a bit of food seems like this to me, mainly herbs.

• Herbs: bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme
• Pepper gives me a piney flavor as well

Pungent

Sources: Spices, veggies and herbs include the expected onion, but lots of others as well. 

• Veggies: Celery, Collard Greens, Endive, Escarole, Kale, Mustard Green, Parsley , Turnip Greens, Citrus Zest, Radicchio,
• Drinks: Coffee 
• Spices: black pepper, garlic, ginger, horseradish, marjoram, mustard, turmeric, star anise, dill, wasabi, and cayenne
• Grain: Buckwheat
• Herbs: Dill
• Horseradish Sauce

Sulfery

I think only of some marinades using Garlic, Garlic Chives, and Onions. But under the umbrella of sulfur is also these foods.

• Alliums: onion, chives, scallions, shallots, and garlic.
• Garlic Confit
• Cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.
• Other plants: kale, mushrooms, collard greens, radishes, asparagus, and rutabagas.
• Eggs and Cheeses

Wow, who knew the act of cooking involved so many concepts. But cooking is an art form and part of the art is developing a sense of what goes together and how to explore different dishes. Hope this helps.

— Patty

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Recipe: Dried Apple Slices Cook longer and the apple chips get very crispy (like actually crunchy), if you like them chewy do not cook as long. Personally I could eat these chips all afternoon. Very tasty even without added lemon juice or cinnimon.

Tip: Having worked now at 4 knife skills workshops I can say confidently that the number one knife issue people have is holding the chef knife correctly. Untrained folks seem to always hold knives by wrapping all their fingers around the handle, or by placing their pointer finger on the top of the blade. Both are wrong and dangerous. The proper way is to hold the knife is with your thumb on one side of the blade and your pointer finger on the other side, the remaining three fingers should be wrapped around the handle.