If you've spent a lot of time in the kitchen, chances are you've come across the most common and frustrating culinary inconvenience: over-seasoning a dish. While it can be daunting, especially if you have guests over for dinner, don't rush to throw the plate away - with a few simple tricks you can quickly learn how to fix an overly seasoned dish.
Steps
Step 1. Familiarize yourself with the four flavors
There are four flavors that are commonly recognized and that you can use in your cooking: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. When you cook, the aim is to achieve a balance between these flavors. An overly seasoned dish is likely to have a predominance of one of these flavors; you can solve this problem by fixing the other three.
Step 2. Learn which ingredients to use to fix each flavor
There are some basic ingredients, which you can use to change the flavors of your dish; it is useful to always keep them close at hand.
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The ingredients to make a dish more salty are: salt, soy sauce and fish sauce.
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The ingredients to make a dish sweeter are: sugar, molasses and honey.
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The ingredients to make a dish more sour are: lemon juice, wine and vinegar.
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The ingredients to make a dish more bitter are: beer and cocoa.
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Step 3. Evaluate your plate problem
Which flavor is not balanced? Once you have answered this question, correct the problem by adding some ingredients to amplify the other flavors. For example, if your dish is too salty, try adding some lemon juice and sugar to counterbalance. If a dish is too sweet, you can fix it by adding a pinch of salt.
Step 4. Dilute it
If you have a soup, stew, or sauce that is too seasoned, you can try to fix it by diluting it. Add some water and then taste the dish. By adding water, you will make the whole dish less intense, but if you season it too much, the result can be positive.
Step 5. Add a raw potato
If your soup or stew is too salty, adding a raw potato is a good method. Cut the potato into small pieces (to expose more surface) and then place it inside the dish you are preparing. The potato acts as a sponge for the salt, taking it off your plate. Cook the potato in the dish for several minutes and then throw it away.
Step 6. If your dish is too spicy, balance it with a little sweetness
If you've been hard on the chili, add some sugar or honey to correct the problem.
Step 7. If your dish is still too spicy, serve it along with a dairy product
Dairy products compensate for spicy foods well; casein, a protein found in milk, forms a bond with capsaicin, which causes the spicy effect in spices and chilli, preventing the latter from binding with the pain receptors in the mouth. Most cultures that have a very spicy cuisine take advantage of this knowledge. Spicy Mexican food is served with sour cream, spicy Indian curries with yogurt, and American-style chicken wings with gorgonzola-like cheese.
Advice
- Use ingredients appropriate for the dish. For example, if your homemade salsa is too salty, add sugar and lime juice. To solve the same problem in a braised pork you can add sugar and red wine.
- Taste the dish throughout its preparation; it's the best way to avoid over-seasoning it.
