Kitchen & Bar

On this phone

How to get around

The bar across the top scrolls sideways. These are the same stops, with the job of each one written out.

Seasoning

Correcting a dish that tastes wrong

Diagnosing which axis is off before adding more of everything, which is how a flat dish becomes a salty flat dish.

What you are actually controlling

  • salt
  • acid
  • fat
  • sweetness
  • bitterness
  • water
  • temperature

Naming the dials is most of the difference between cooking and following. Everything below is a way of moving one of these.

How it goes wrong

  • flat
  • too salty
  • too sharp
  • heavy
  • thin
  • muddled

If your result is on this list, the step it belongs to is named below and so is the way back.

The loop

Correcting a dish that tastes wrong6 steps. Each step shows the cue that confirms it worked below the step, and above it the way it fails together with the correction that returns you to the same step.GOES WRONGYou know it is off butcannot say how.1Taste it warm andtaste it plainLOOKS RIGHTYou can name what is wrongin one word.GOES WRONGIt gets saltier withoutgetting better.2Flat almost alwaysmeans salt or acidLOOKS RIGHTThe flavors that werealready there get louder,and no new flavor appears.GOES WRONGIt tastes like a sweetversion of the sameproblem.3Too sharp means fat,sweetness or…LOOKS RIGHTThe edge rounds offwithout the dish gettingsweet.GOES WRONGIt is still too salty andnow there is more of it.4Too salty meansvolume, not a trickLOOKS RIGHTThe proportion is rightagain, and there is simplymore dinner.GOES WRONGYou cut the fat and now itis thin and still dull.5Heavy means acid orbitterness, not less…LOOKS RIGHTIt becomes eatable inquantity again.GOES WRONGIt is better and you haveno idea why.6Change one thing ata timeLOOKS RIGHTYou can say which additiondid what.
Read down, not just across. Below each step is the cue that says it worked; above it, dashed, is how it fails and the correction that sends you back to the same step.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Taste it warm and taste it plain

    Cold food tastes less salty and less sweet than the same food hot. Judge it at the temperature it will be eaten.

    Looks right
    You can name what is wrong in one word.
    Goes wrong
    You know it is off but cannot say how.
    Way back
    Put a spoonful on a plate, salt half of it and squeeze lemon on the other. Whichever half improves tells you the axis.
  2. 2

    Flat almost always means salt or acid

    Flat is the most common verdict and the most commonly misdiagnosed. Try salt first, then acid, then both.

    Looks right
    The flavors that were already there get louder, and no new flavor appears.
    Goes wrong
    It gets saltier without getting better.
    Way back
    Stop salting. If salt is not doing it, the answer is acid, and after that it is usually browning, not seasoning.
  3. 3

    Too sharp means fat, sweetness or dilution

    Acid is loud and hard to un-ring. Fat mutes it best, sweetness second, and more volume third.

    Looks right
    The edge rounds off without the dish getting sweet.
    Goes wrong
    It tastes like a sweet version of the same problem.
    Way back
    Back off the sugar and use butter, cream, oil or a starch instead. Sweetness masks acid; fat actually carries it.
  4. 4

    Too salty means volume, not a trick

    Add unsalted liquid, starch or bulk. The potato does not absorb salt; it just gives the salt more to be spread through.

    Looks right
    The proportion is right again, and there is simply more dinner.
    Goes wrong
    It is still too salty and now there is more of it.
    Way back
    Split the batch and turn the salty half into a component — a sauce base, a filling, a soffritto — where it gets diluted by design.
  5. 5

    Heavy means acid or bitterness, not less fat

    A rich dish that has gone cloying wants a squeeze of something sharp or a bitter green, not less richness.

    Looks right
    It becomes eatable in quantity again.
    Goes wrong
    You cut the fat and now it is thin and still dull.
    Way back
    Put the fat back and add lemon, vinegar, pickle, mustard, radicchio or coffee. Richness is not the problem; unrelieved richness is.
  6. 6

    Change one thing at a time

    Salt, taste, wait. Then acid, taste, wait. Two changes at once means you learned nothing.

    Looks right
    You can say which addition did what.
    Goes wrong
    It is better and you have no idea why.
    Way back
    Nothing to fix in the pot. But write down what you did, because next time you will be guessing again.

Watch somebody do it

Third-party video. Opens in a new tab — nothing is embedded and nothing is fetched from a video platform until you click.

Reviewed video for this technique. Reading a cue is one thing; seeing it is faster.