How to make your food taste DAMN good

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People sometimes ask "what's the secret to good food?" or "how do I jazz up (insert boring meal here)?" or "how do I take my cooking to the next level?" Of course, there isn't just one neat trick to turn your food amazing, but an arsenal of techniques that you can pick from to make food taste great. This list will overlap heavily with Salt Fat Acid Heat, because that book really does capture the fundamentals of cooking. Go buy it if you haven't already!

Salt:
Possibly the most important ingredient to master. Salt isn't a spice; it enhances flavors already there. Learn to "salt to taste", which is as simple as tasting something, adding salt, and tasting again. Learn to add salt during the cooking process, so your food is evenly seasoned. Even if you have to cook for people with different tolerances for salt, at least add some minimum of salt during cooking.

Fat is flavor:
Yes, fat is calories (so are carbs and proteins), but calories aren't fundamentally bad. Not only can fat provide flavor of its own, it also carries flavors and distributes heat.

Really brown your meats:
Browning doesn't just mean "cook until it's not pink anymore". Browning creates new flavors and in my opinion no spice enhances the flavor of chicken more than a good sear. Figure out the sweet spot of stove temperature and time that gives you a nice brown crust without burning.

Deglaze your Pan:
The "brown bits" stuck to the bottom of the pan after searing are full of flavor. Remove the food from the pan, and add a liquid (stock, broth, wine, even water in a pinch) and scrape. The brown bits will dissolve and create a super flavorful liquid. I do recommend letting the pan cool slightly before doing this or your liquid may instantly vaporize and take all its aromatic goodness with it.

Build on top of an aromatic flavor base:
This technique is so common in savory cooking that you'll almost never see a recipe that doesn't use some form of it. An aromatic flavor base is simply aromatic ingredients cooked in a fat, on top of which you build the rest of your meal. Usually the ingredients are minced or even pureed because the point is to get all of their flavor into the fat. It can be as simple as minced onions sautéed in butter, or a complex blend of fresh spices and vegetables as you might find in Indian curries. Specific aromatic bases are often the foundation of a region's cuisine and you'll easily notice them if you follow enough recipes.

Add Umami for "Bass Notes":
The savory/umami flavor is often described as "deep". This taste occurs naturally in a lot of ingredients like meats, mushrooms, cheeses, and tomatoes, but you can take it to the next level with umami rich ingredients like fish sauce, anchovies, tomato paste, or just plain MSG (which is completely okay unless you have a specific intolerance to the stuff). These ingredients are very potent so add them a little at a time (using the "taste as you go" technique).

Add Acid for "High Notes":
Acidic flavors are often described as "bright", and contrast well with the umami bass notes. Ingredients like citrus juices, vinegars, fruits, and wines will add an extra dimension of flavor to a dish. Of course, on its own, sour is an unappealing taste and if you use too much you can ruin a dish. So, use the trusty old "taste as you go" technique to add just enough acid to make your dish sing.

Mind your textures:
How food feels in the mouth can be just as important as its flavor. Broccoli that still has a bit of crunch tastes much better than broccoli boiled to oblivion. And no matter what doneness you like your steak, you probably like it that way because that's where the texture of the meat is just right. Getting the right texture is usually a matter of controlling your temperature and will take practice.

For vegetables just pick one out and taste it, and decide if it's the texture you want or if it needs more time. For meats, you just have to get used to what temperatures and what times produce the results you want. With meats you'll often want to cook at two different temperatures: hot/fast and low/slow, to better arrive at the perfect destination. An instant read thermometer is a godsend for getting your meat to the right level of doneness.

Balance and Contrast your flavors:
The human tongue loves contrast - both between flavors and textures. Crispy with tender, crunchy with creamy, salty with sweet, savory with sour, smoky with spicy, the list goes on. When we say a meal is "balanced", that often means that there's many different dimensions of flavors and texture that we can sense at the same time, with none of those components taking away from the others.

To help you understand this concept, the next time you're eating a meal you really enjoy, think of all the words you could use to describe it, aside from words that just mean "good". Those words will reveal the contrasts and balances that make that dish great. For example, take a Rueben sandwich: you have crispy and tender bread, crunchy and acidic sauerkraut, sweet and creamy dressing, salty and savory corned beef, and salty and creamy Swiss cheese. Or take the taco, which in its infinite variety of forms often balances the deep and savory flavor of its filling with the brighter flavors of its salsa.

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