How to make your food taste wonderful

Seasoning food properly, to make your dishes sing

Seasoning is very often the missing piece of the puzzle with home cooked dishes. Almost all savoury dishes do need seasoning to taste good and bring balance to a dish. 

Salt is absolutely essential to build a delicious dish. So many people spend time cooking lovely meals with good ingredients, taste them and find they are missing something they can’t quite pinpoint. It is so often salt. It’s really important to taste food as you cook, and when the seasoning is right, you should immediately think that it tastes delicious. If you are underwhelmed by the flavour you taste, try a little salt and taste again. Repeat if you need to. Some sweetness and acidity can also help.  That could be a little sugar or honey, a squeeze of lemon juice, or a dash of vinegar, for example. Properly seasoned food should simply taste fantastic, and not salty.
Remember too, that when you cook a dish, it needs to be seasoned from the start, rather than as an afterthought, so it's a habit to try and get into when you cook if you don't already.
 
My preference is to cook with sea salt. I use Maldon, Cornish Sea Salt, Halen Môn and Blackthorn sea salts, always in flake form. I also like to serve flakes in a little dish or cellar on the table. 
 
Don’t forget the pepper. Freshly ground is by far the best. Consider the peppercorns you use. It is worth buying something good. You will likely be surprised by the flavour. I strongly recommend trying these peppercorns from Lakeland. In fact, if you're interested in learning more, it's really worth reading about pepper. This book by Christine McFadden is a great place to start. The best pepper mills I’ve tried for the table and the kitchen are made by Peugeot. Keen cooks like me have one for black pepper, white pepper and nutmeg to hand.

Great butter

Great quality butter, even used sparingly, is another game changer. Salted or unsalted? I mostly cook with salted, and prefer it as a table butter. Occasionally, unsalted butter is best for specific recipes, which are often sweet, such as curd or pâtisserie.  

I strongly recommend trying this one from Aldi and these from Trewithen, Abernethy, Fen Farm's Bungay Butter and Ivy House.

And if you use ghee, try the peerless products from Happy Butter Ghee.

Good oil

Good cooking oil is also one of the best ways to make your food taste fantastic. You will be amazed at the difference it makes. I like to have a good extra virgin olive oil and rapeseed oil to hand. I use a neutral rapeseed oil when I want something fairly flavourless, for example, when making a mayonnaise, or cooking a casserole. Mellow Yellow is my favourite.

I cook a lot with extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Arbequina or Koroneiki olive varieties are favourites. Buying a single variety oil, rather than a big-branded blend is usually a better way to get quality and value for money. Mid-priced oils I really rate include Olive Branch, several from Belazu and Aldi's Puglian EVOO. I will cook with all of these, as well as using them as a dip or drizzle.

Something more special for finishing salads or breads is more of a treat, and I love Brindisa, Colonna and Ravida. These all make lovely gifts. Please don't keep good oil for best though, as it turns rancid quickly. Use it up well within a year. This advice extends to nut oils, too.