Combining and balancing flavors is the essential cooking concept that you need to understand to create flavorful dishes every time you cook.

Your body is your the best teacher. Your taste buds pretty much know what you are supposed to do with the dish and help you to build the recipe from scratch.

When I was a kid my job was to go from dish to dish still in the pot and taste, then let them know if that dish tasted right! They called me “little taster” because I was so little and I had put my nose in everything that my family was cooking. Lol!

Combining and balancing flavor is very prominent in Asian dishes and that is why they are so popular because they have such a dynamic and vibrant flavor.

There are five “tastes” that serve as the foundation for the flavors in every recipe: sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami. By the end of this blog, you should know how to balance the flavor of your dishes and use it efficiently. Some of the flavors may be more dominant than others in certain dishes than others. Knowing how to use these flavors will help you to be more confident and more comfortable cooking without a recipe.

The flavor can balance another flavor, which means it offsets or counteracts that flavor to achieve an even more harmonious taste. For example, prunes – sweet are added to Polish hunter stew, which is sour until they will give the dish a more vibrant flavor.

Depending on recipe development objectives, flavor profiles can be balanced as follows:

Sweet can be balanced with Fat, Sour, Salty, Bitter, or Spicy

Salty can be balanced with Fat, Sweet, or Sour

Acid/Sour/Tart can be balanced with Fat, Sweet, Salty, or Bitter

Pungent/Spicy can be balanced with Fat, Sweet or Sour

Bitter can be balanced with Salty, Sweet, or Sour

Fats can be balanced with the addition of ingredients and Sour

That light addition of any of those flavors amplifies the others.

When you are making soup and you feel like something is missing, you can add a little bit of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in the end and, it will bring out the flavor and make the soup more interesting. You can also think about dark chocolate with sea salt; that light addition of saltiness amplifies the sweetness of that chocolate.

Now let’s learn more about each of our five flavors.

Salty/Umami/ Savory

I’m going to put those flavors together because they share the same characteristics. Umami is the earthy, meaty and savory flavor that is naturally occurring and can be developed in others through gaining slow cooking, drying, curing and slow cooking. It is confused with saltiness, umami is a taste category unto its own, contributing depth to food that salt can’t necessarily provide by itself but they still share the same properties. Umami is best used to balance a  dish when something seems to be missing — or when it just doesn’t seem complete.

Usually, when you end up with a bland dish, it is under flavor. Don’t afraid to flavor your dish! If you mess up, you will know for next time but play, play, play with it!. Salt is flavor enhancer so adding a bit of salt to a dish recipe isn’t just about adding saltiness; it will enhance the flavor, and it can also balance unwanted bitterness in a dish.

Here are where this flavor is dominant: Beans, Egg, Arugula, Feta, Lamb, Tacos, Anchovies, Soy sauce, Miso, Seaweeds, Pickled vegetables, Hard cheeses, Bacon, Mushrooms, Tomatoes

Too much salt in the dish?- you can add more water or more sweet like sugar, honey, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar

You don’t have to use salt only to get that salty taste: use soy sauce, sea vegetables, anchovy, bacon, stock, cured meats, olives, or cheese instead.

Bitter

In general, most people are sensitive to bitterness, and we don’t want to add a bitter flavor to our dishes. Bitter flavor evolution-wise implicates that the plant can be inedible. On the other hand, many bitter foods are also good for us. Even more interesting: Bitterness in food and drink is gaining popularity, so perhaps bitter is better.

Here are where this flavor is dominant: Kale, Radicchio, Dark Leafy Green Veggies, Brussels Sprouts Leaves, Dandelion Leaves, Endives, Cacao, Bitter Melon, Grapefruit, Arugula, Horseradish.

Is the dish too bitter? You can add salt or add some bitter when you want to balance the cloying sweetness.

To enjoy bitter flavor add salt, sweet or sour.

Sweet

Sweet is not just for dessert! Sweet favor balance sour, spice and bitter, so if you have dishes or ingredients that have any of these flavor profiles, add a bit of sweetness to create something even more interesting. Sweet gives the dish a deeper flavor.

My favorite combination is sweet and salty or sweet and sour!

Here are where this flavor is dominate: Honey, Maple Syrup, Molasses, Coconut Sugar, Stevia, Yacoon, Fruits, Balsamic Vinegar, Coconut Flesh, Veggies (carrot, squashes, sweet potatoes, corn, beets, parsnip, fennel, sugar snaps).

Too much sugar in the dish? Add some sour ingredients: lemon juice, vinegar they will cut through and brighten the sweetness.

You can use sweet to balance bitter.

Sour

I think this flavor has the least fans! But it is my favorite! Even a small addition of sour flavor to the dish can bring a floppy dish alive. Sour balances spice and sweetness. That is why we add sour cream to the soup or yogurt to the curry or stew. It helps to counteract that heat, creating a new balance of flavors.

Here are where this flavor is dominate: Lime Juice, Lemon Juice, Orange Juice, Vinegar, Tomato Paste, Sour Cream, Kefir, Yogurt, Pickled Vegetables, Tomatoes.

If your dish is too sour add a bit of sweet to balance the dish out.

Hope that is helpful!

Enjoy your new creations!

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In Health

Angie