Flavor Among Other Things
Methods to Enhance Flavor
My personal favorites to keep on hand are garlic, onion, and green onions. My cupboard usually has a variety of dried garlic and onion and I try to keep fresh ingredients on hand as well, but the dried versions are great in a pinch. Green onion is something that is also best when fresh and we like to re-grow it in a cup of water near a good source of sunlight to get the most out of it. You can even plant the bulbs and they will continue to grow, which we have found will keep longer than the water method.
One thing I like to do when I don’t have fresh garlic or onion is to warm up some olive oil and put the powders or minces into the oil to soak. This starts hydrating them and extracting the fragrance. This can be used in soups and stir fries to enhance the flavor.
The next thing I typically stock are different types of salt and salty ingredients. For me this ranges from different salts, such as: Kosher salt, table salt, sea salt, Himalayan salt, etc. Beyond these few mentioned there are other types and each have a slightly different crystal structure and mineral composition. In addition to straight up salt, you can find soy sauce, Worcestershire, fish sauce, miso paste, and coconut aminos in my pantry. From time to time, there are other sources I like to use, but I may not keep them stocked as I use them in fewer dishes. Salt is often used to unlock flavor and works as a preservative in food. That is why cured meats are salty and things such as fermented foods can be preserved.
Another component to flavor is fat and that is something that comes in many forms. The type of fat you intend to use is vital as it has its own qualities of flavor that it can imparted upon your dish. For instance, using coconut oil to fry an egg will leave a mild, yet unusual flavor on the surface of the egg. Different oils and fats have specific uses and smoking points unique to each of them and are not always interchangeable.
How to Enhance Flavor on a Low Sodium Diet
Using less sodium can be difficult, the component of sodium naturally is found in your meats and one part of compound that makes table salt. Instead of excessive amounts of salt and trust us using less salt takes time for your taste buds to adjust, I tend to use a generic garlic and herb seasoning as a base to whatever I am cooking. I’ve been happy with using the McCormick Salt-free blend of garlic herb, it is fast especially when you are working and taking care of others, and the bonus is that there is not an added amount of potassium due to the lack of salt. Potassium is often added in the absence of salt and when you have kidney issues can be a slippery slope.
Beyond this using fresh garlic clove helps with the lack of salt, even though it is not actually salty it supplements that type of flavor in dishes because it is a strong ingredient to use. Bulking up on stronger ingredients or adding more than herbs than you would have if salt had been used helps offset the flavor and strengthens it without the use of salt or using less of it at least.
Strong flavors to consider using are lemon, garlic, rosemary, basil, onion, paprika, spicy peppers, cumin and anise. They each have different uses, but when I think of strong, these come to mind. A few ways I can think of using these are:
Rosemary Garlic Compound Butter to use on steak.
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Olive oil with lemon, garlic, basil, onion, and rosemary on roasted veggies.
