Learning to Cook with Acids. Get started now!
Learning to cook with acids might seem tricky, but with a few simple tips, you can master the art of using ingredients like balsamic vinegar to elevate your dishes. Let's dive into how acid can become your secret weapon in the kitchen!
When most people talk about how they learned to cook, they often talk about following recipes. Recipes are fantastic for helping you recreate a dish you love or sparking inspiration for something new. But they often tell you what to do without explaining why you should do it. This can make it tough to learn how to fix something when it doesn’t taste quite right or to understand the patterns behind great cooking.
Samin Nosrat’s book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking aims to fill that gap. She breaks down the four key elements of cooking that contribute to flavor and take a dish from good to exceptional. By teaching you how to build flavor at each stage of cooking, Samin makes it easier to substitute ingredients you have on hand or adjust a dish if it’s tasting a bit flat or overpowering.
Once you grasp the basic principles, cooking becomes a fun, choose-your-own-adventure experience. Understanding how acids affect the flavor and texture of food is like having an ace up your sleeve. So, let’s explore what acids are, what they bring to a dish, and how to use them effectively.
What Are Acids and What Do They Bring to a Dish?
Acids are ingredients with a pH lower than 7—think vinegars, lemons, buttermilk, and wines. They bring a sour, tangy, or sharp flavor to foods, which can contrast beautifully with other tastes like sweet, salty, bitter, and umami. This balance is key to preventing one flavor from dominating your dish.
How to Brighten Flavors with Acid
If a dish tastes flat and you’ve already added enough salt, the next step is to introduce some acidity. Picture pickles on a sausage or a squeeze of lemon over your greens. If your dish ends up too acidic, balance it out with a bit of fat or sugar to mellow the sharpness.
Simple Ideas to Start Cooking with Acids
- Add Vinegar: The complex sweet-sour taste of balsamic vinegar can elevate dishes like dumplings in a beef stew or a Bolognese sauce. Even sweets can benefit from a touch of acid—try drizzling balsamic over vanilla ice cream.
- Get Creative with Sour Acids: A touch of sour cream can work wonders when paired with icing sugar or cream on top of a cake or biscuits.
Keep Tasting Along the Way
Samin Nosrat emphasizes the importance of tasting at every step. Fresh produce can vary in sweetness and tartness from season to season, so you might need to tweak a recipe as you go. A great way to practice using acidity is by making vinaigrettes. Experiment with different versions, adding more oil, lemon, or acid to balance out saltiness or soften acidic flavors. Start with a basic ratio of 1 part acid to 3 parts oil, then adjust to your liking.
Here are some ingredients to play around with:
- Extra virgin olive oil (either punchy or smooth)
- Balsamic or other vinegars
- Dijon mustard for complexity and creaminess
- Maple syrup or honey
- Garlic or shallots
- Salt and pepper
Layering Acids
Sometimes, a single acid isn’t enough. A dish can often benefit from using several types of acids, both during cooking and as a garnish. Cooking with acidic ingredients like beer in chili, wine in risotto, or tomatoes in pasta sauce helps balance the sweetness from browning or an aromatic onion-garlic base. These acids are subtle but essential, slowly transforming the flavors as they cook.
The Recipe is Just the Beginning
Recipes can make cooking seem straightforward, but the best dishes come from being present—stirring, tasting, and adjusting as you go. If you’re cooking a dish for the first time, Samin suggests reading several different recipes to understand common techniques and flavorings. This will help you know where you can improvise and where you should stick to the instructions.