This piece came out last week in the New Yorker: The Recipe Convention that Dooms Home Cooks. “Countless cookbooks instruct readers to ‘season to taste,’ but few of us know what we’re tasting for.”
Writer J.J. Goode got it exactly right. I got into an argument on Twitter with Chef John about it. (Click the tweet below to see what he said.)
It has everything to do with the skill level, experience, and palette of the person reading the recipe. Seasoned (pun intended) kitchen veterans have no issue with the phrase because they know what works for them. Learners are justifiably baffled and occasionally frustrated by it. I find cookbooks that discuss salt and seasoning in the frontmatter to make a lot more sense, since they make the author's working assumptions clear. It also provides a place for learners to take on some guidance about this important part of skill development. Salting early means better flavor (and less salt needed). Grind of salt, whether or not it's iodized, flavor profiles from one salt to the next...things like that are rarely given much real estate. Since so many eager kitchen acolytes are scrabbling to teach themselves, the least a chef can do is meet them where they are when putting out their guides to creating dishes that are usually second nature by the time they're writing about it.
I find everyone has their own salt tolerance. Learning to taste and adjust seasonings to what tastes good to you is an important aspect of cooking. But, baked goods and items where salt needs to be determined before cooking, such as meatballs, salt measurement needs to be in the recipe.
I read the article with great interest the other day when you posted it on Twitter. I was skeptical going in (I guess it's a chef-thing) but I agree, the writer did an excellent job.
One thing I learned from years working as a professional chef - how to say, "that needs more seasoning." One thing I learned after years spent teaching cooking to hobby/home cooks - do not neglect or take for granted the tiniest of details. I'm trying to take that experience into my recipe writing but I continue to fall into the "season to taste" trap...
I think it is helpful to provide measurements - even if they are suggestions as a starting point. Thanks for posting your earlier rant about salt...I believe I stand firmly in your camp on this issue (and I shall stop writing in my recipes to salt the water until it tastes like the sea - yikes)...
You converted me a long time ago, Dianne, to write more specific instructions for salt. Since my approach is brain- and heart-healthy eating, I tend to hold back on the salt in a recipe, but always advise a dash of Maldon to finish the dish as optional. Having it both ways?
Not everyone likes the same amount of seasoning. So that is a perfectly ok description as long as they know that the right amount of salt will enhance a recipe, too much ruin it and too little makes for a bland dish. But what that amount is is very hard to know as each cook has their version of right. It is the understanding of what the seasoning does that is important. Does it add heat or sweet to the dish? Salt, pepper and citrus are pretty obvious, but if the cook isn't knowledgeable about other spices maybe a description of what they taste like. And skip the words like "earthy". No one knows what "earthy" is. We don't eat the earth. My advice, would be to run articles on how to discer the different flavors herbs and spices. Is there a base into which you can add the herbs and don't forget the dried vs. the fresh. It isn't the people lacking the ability to taste, it is that people have not been give good advice on how to taste. We should also not dump on people who don't have the same taste as we do. I have a bolder version of taste that some of my older family doesn't. But there should not be a right or wrong - just different versions of the same thing.
Good points here. The recipe writer should put forth what they like. They are the expert on their own food. It's not up to the recipe writer to figure out what each reader would like.
I agree that few of us know what we’re tasting for, but taste is very subjective. It would be helpful to know what different spices chance or enhance flavor profiles as I mostly just default to salt.
Definitely need more specific instructions for saltine and seasoning in general. I like to explain, as so many chefs do, to season threw out the recipe. And then to taste at each point. You may find you have enough early on. But you still need to test at the end, adding ingredients may change the need for salt and seasoning. We can always instruct them to start light and learn.
I find the phrase a bit lazy, yet at the same time, everyone’s tastes are different. But tasting something which is too hot, or filled with fresh egg yolks, or raw meat, makes one squeamish and resistant to “tasting”.
I have so much to say about this topic that I don't know where to begin. Perhaps I'll expand on this later.
For now, "Season to taste" should be covered in the Introduction or Before You Cook section of a cookbook. Julia Child did this in the beginning of her iconic book under the section called Definitions. This section alone is great reading for a student of gastronomy.
If I had a say in the definition of taste (for a book), I would describe it as an ability that must be recognized and enhanced through discovery and experimentation.
You are most welcome. I agree that the intro is the best place to describe what “Season to taste” means. I will have to go to my bookshelf to see what Julia said. Thanks for that.
This is a great topic for discussion! To really understand how to season properly goes beyond what can be conveyed in a recipe I think, hence ‘season to taste’. It’s something I’ve always wanted to learn more about, and recently picked up this super book on the subject: ‘How to Taste’ by Becky Selengut, a great mix of science and fun.
What's hard? You're seasoning the food in the pan. Know your salt, taste first, taste along the way. Salt is a matter of taste -- I like more than less but have to be conscious of my guests, so it varies. Developing a sense of taste is what this is about. Learn to salt. Pepper too if that's your jam. (Personally, I tend not to use black pepper until the end. I don't cook it.)
I agree the direction is not perfect, but what is the alternative? My partner salts everything I cook, unless I warn him I accidentally over-salted it, in which case he usually says it is perfect. 'Salt until taste' is 'salt until you like how it tastes' and I know if I give an exact measurement, it won't work for everyone.
It doesn’t have to work for everyone. State the amount of salt in the recipe. If people like your partner like salt, they will add more. People who want less will use less.
But as has also been already pointed out, ingredients are always different. How much salt you'll need will rely on so many different factors in cooking (rather than baking) by specifying an amount I honestly think you're setting inexperienced cooks up for failure more than if you simply say 'season to taste'!
As a home cook who tries a lot of recipes, I prefer when the amount of salt is listed in the ingredients, at least as a jumping-off point. I don’t mind the “add salt and pepper to taste” at the end of recipes, but I agree it often doesn’t make sense in the middle as the flavors change as something cooks. Now that I’m more experienced with cooking I don’t mind as much, but I also don’t like instructions like “add some oil to the pan”-- how much oil? It’s why I liked baking so much more than cooking when I was younger: less guess-work, so more consistent results!
I'm Australian and, as such, tend to have an extremely salty taste bud. By comparison, I tend to find Americans have amazingly sweet tastebuds. (That'll be the result of Vegemite and toast from a young age :) ).
Even for an Australian, I have a really salty tastebud, however. If I salt something to _my_ preference, others tend to look a little aghast. So I learnt to adjust my seasoning.
My partner has high blood pressure, so I finally taught myself to cook without salt (to an extent - salty liquids are sort of essential in stir-fries!), and to season afterwards. I compensate with all the other herbs and spices available to me - which, given I specialise in Australian native herbs and spices, is a LOT.
It is interesting that the discussions are always about salt (and to a lesser extent, pepper). All other herbs and spices - as already pointed out - are given fairly precise results. "2 tsp lemon myrtle" or "1 tbsp soy sauce" or "1/4 cup wattleseed". But their flavourings can be just as subjective.
Is it because we've been frightened by the links between salt and blood pressure/other illness? And yet it's not regarded as vital to a dish as sugar, so salt is seen as expendable, while sugar isn't. (And often sugar isn't, of course; the chemical changes it brings about in sweets is vital to both flavour and texture. Does salt bring about the same textural change? Interesting thought ... ).
In recent years, I've been adding salt back into the cooking process, because I finally worked out that it really does make a difference. I'm trying to develop my own recipes using Australian native flavours, so I've had to learn how things change depending on when you add them.
Just a little. Just a touch. Even a teaspoon of salt in 20 litres of stock simmering away makes an enormous difference to the meat being poached in it, and thus the flavour that cascades down from that. Seasoning a little at the early stages often means no further seasoning is required at the end.
And now we're watching an Australian cook named Adam Liaw on his show "The Cook Up", which despite my decades of watching TV shows, I'm still finding one of the most educational (forgive me, Maggie Beer; but you still have my heart, I promise).
He did a "season to taste" and one of his guests commented on the difference between a home cook's "pinch of salt" (thumb and 1-2 fingers) and a chef's pinch of thumb and tips of all 4 fingers - almost a fistful. This led to a really, really helpful discussion about seasonings and the difference between home cook and restaurant flavours, and how you can often add more without spoiling the dish.
The first book from the series provides the same education and explanations.
Based on that, and this article and all the discussions from it, I think I'll go back and check my recipes, and treat salt/pepper the same way as my other herbs - and the other herbs the same way as salt. "1tsp salt, but you may require a little more". "2tsp lemon myrtle, but adjust until you can smell it".
Exactly. No one says someone should just add "oregano to taste."
The amount of salt someone wants to put in a recipe is up to them. I'm not really concerned with that. I just want them to state the amount that they use. People who like their food salty will use more and those who like to use less salt will use less.
Even after knowing all this, I undersalted a soup I'm currently making (because we're just coming out of winter here, and it's cold and wet and miserable and I like soup).
So I just went back, took a deep breath, and chucked practically a tablespoon of one of my herby salt mixes into the mix. I have spare stock (roast pork base, from a spit-roasted pig we did last year); I can easily correct any over-salting.
And of course, it's now almost-perfect; in fact, it can probably take a little more, but I'll wait for the chicken and sweetcorn to infuse a bit more.
We somehow need to re-educate the cooking palate to say "yes, ok, reducing salt a BIT for some recipes isn't a bad idea - but baby and bathwater and all that. You need SOME, or else food is flat and boring".
Most recipes written in the last 10-20 years would take the "modern" less-salty palate into account; reducing their salt quantities is probably going too far, maybe?
You are the expert on your own recipes. They should contain the right amount of salt for you. As for me, I made terrible soups for years because I didn’t know how much salt to use. So you can do the reader a favor and use the correct amount.
If I experience excessive saltiness in a restaurant my first thought is usually, "This chef smokes," as their deadened/killed taste buds often need more seasoning to register that something is "adequately" seasoned.
You are, of course, correct. Nevertheless, I take the phrase "to taste" to mean "whatever is your style." I apply that not only to salt, but pepper, paprika, nutmeg, etc. I rarely measure them. I do measure the "science" ingredients such as baking powder and soda. My pet peeve is on a related topic: bread dough instructions. "Knead until elastic"; how elastic? Like Glad-wrap or a girdle? "Add a little more flour if needed": how much is a little? a spoonful or a scoopful? And why does bread never turn out the same way twice? Thank you for attending my TED talk!
Hah. Maybe experienced home cooks have a "style," but other people might be making something for the first time, or using a technique that's new to them, etc. So they don't know.
Yes I also like specifics. Your Ted talk was quite worthwhile.
When I have a recipe and try to pass it to my friends, I always find it challenging to give them exactly amount of flavoring ingredients, because the taste-buds of each person are personal. For that reason, I feel the phrase "season to taste" reliable. However, a recommendation from the authors cannot be overlooked, because sometimes people go to far with their "season-to-taste" spirit so that they would throw off the balance. The authors, co-working many recipe testers, know there will be always a certain amount of ingredients that satisfied everyone. The adjustment will help people reaching the "delicious" level instead of "good", and this is where, tasting and re-seasoning skill take the spot light.
So, my answer will be: Yes, we need that phrase, but please use that wisely
The thing is, you are passing on your recipe. So you should use the amount of seasoning that seems right for you. You don't have to guess what everyone would like. That's not your job!
It has everything to do with the skill level, experience, and palette of the person reading the recipe. Seasoned (pun intended) kitchen veterans have no issue with the phrase because they know what works for them. Learners are justifiably baffled and occasionally frustrated by it. I find cookbooks that discuss salt and seasoning in the frontmatter to make a lot more sense, since they make the author's working assumptions clear. It also provides a place for learners to take on some guidance about this important part of skill development. Salting early means better flavor (and less salt needed). Grind of salt, whether or not it's iodized, flavor profiles from one salt to the next...things like that are rarely given much real estate. Since so many eager kitchen acolytes are scrabbling to teach themselves, the least a chef can do is meet them where they are when putting out their guides to creating dishes that are usually second nature by the time they're writing about it.
Indeed. What is second nature to a recipe writer is not necessarily the same for a home cook.
I find everyone has their own salt tolerance. Learning to taste and adjust seasonings to what tastes good to you is an important aspect of cooking. But, baked goods and items where salt needs to be determined before cooking, such as meatballs, salt measurement needs to be in the recipe.
Good ponts, Kristine. Great to hear from you.
I read the article with great interest the other day when you posted it on Twitter. I was skeptical going in (I guess it's a chef-thing) but I agree, the writer did an excellent job.
One thing I learned from years working as a professional chef - how to say, "that needs more seasoning." One thing I learned after years spent teaching cooking to hobby/home cooks - do not neglect or take for granted the tiniest of details. I'm trying to take that experience into my recipe writing but I continue to fall into the "season to taste" trap...
I think it is helpful to provide measurements - even if they are suggestions as a starting point. Thanks for posting your earlier rant about salt...I believe I stand firmly in your camp on this issue (and I shall stop writing in my recipes to salt the water until it tastes like the sea - yikes)...
Oh wonderful, another convert! Thank you Jack.
You converted me a long time ago, Dianne, to write more specific instructions for salt. Since my approach is brain- and heart-healthy eating, I tend to hold back on the salt in a recipe, but always advise a dash of Maldon to finish the dish as optional. Having it both ways?
Sounds logical to me! Looking forward to your book, Annie.
Not everyone likes the same amount of seasoning. So that is a perfectly ok description as long as they know that the right amount of salt will enhance a recipe, too much ruin it and too little makes for a bland dish. But what that amount is is very hard to know as each cook has their version of right. It is the understanding of what the seasoning does that is important. Does it add heat or sweet to the dish? Salt, pepper and citrus are pretty obvious, but if the cook isn't knowledgeable about other spices maybe a description of what they taste like. And skip the words like "earthy". No one knows what "earthy" is. We don't eat the earth. My advice, would be to run articles on how to discer the different flavors herbs and spices. Is there a base into which you can add the herbs and don't forget the dried vs. the fresh. It isn't the people lacking the ability to taste, it is that people have not been give good advice on how to taste. We should also not dump on people who don't have the same taste as we do. I have a bolder version of taste that some of my older family doesn't. But there should not be a right or wrong - just different versions of the same thing.
Good points here. The recipe writer should put forth what they like. They are the expert on their own food. It's not up to the recipe writer to figure out what each reader would like.
I agree that few of us know what we’re tasting for, but taste is very subjective. It would be helpful to know what different spices chance or enhance flavor profiles as I mostly just default to salt.
That would be good intel at the front of a cookbook.
Definitely need more specific instructions for saltine and seasoning in general. I like to explain, as so many chefs do, to season threw out the recipe. And then to taste at each point. You may find you have enough early on. But you still need to test at the end, adding ingredients may change the need for salt and seasoning. We can always instruct them to start light and learn.
That's fine if you have unlimited space in a blog. But you won't find that in magazines and cookbooks. Often there's not enough room.
I agree. I was actually sitting here planning a cooking class in my head was in cooking class mode.
And by the way I just reread my comment. I was dictating that and apparently did not proofread it. Shame on me!
Oh yeah that happens to me all the time. No biggie!
I find the phrase a bit lazy, yet at the same time, everyone’s tastes are different. But tasting something which is too hot, or filled with fresh egg yolks, or raw meat, makes one squeamish and resistant to “tasting”.
Exactly why you can't roast a whole chicken by "seasoning it to taste."
I have so much to say about this topic that I don't know where to begin. Perhaps I'll expand on this later.
For now, "Season to taste" should be covered in the Introduction or Before You Cook section of a cookbook. Julia Child did this in the beginning of her iconic book under the section called Definitions. This section alone is great reading for a student of gastronomy.
If I had a say in the definition of taste (for a book), I would describe it as an ability that must be recognized and enhanced through discovery and experimentation.
Thank you Diane for bringing up a good topic.
You are most welcome. I agree that the intro is the best place to describe what “Season to taste” means. I will have to go to my bookshelf to see what Julia said. Thanks for that.
This is a great topic for discussion! To really understand how to season properly goes beyond what can be conveyed in a recipe I think, hence ‘season to taste’. It’s something I’ve always wanted to learn more about, and recently picked up this super book on the subject: ‘How to Taste’ by Becky Selengut, a great mix of science and fun.
Interesting. I've been wanting to look into Becky's new book. Thanks Marina!
What's hard? You're seasoning the food in the pan. Know your salt, taste first, taste along the way. Salt is a matter of taste -- I like more than less but have to be conscious of my guests, so it varies. Developing a sense of taste is what this is about. Learn to salt. Pepper too if that's your jam. (Personally, I tend not to use black pepper until the end. I don't cook it.)
Cookbooks don't have room to address all these steps in every recipe. That's what makes it hard.
I agree the direction is not perfect, but what is the alternative? My partner salts everything I cook, unless I warn him I accidentally over-salted it, in which case he usually says it is perfect. 'Salt until taste' is 'salt until you like how it tastes' and I know if I give an exact measurement, it won't work for everyone.
It doesn’t have to work for everyone. State the amount of salt in the recipe. If people like your partner like salt, they will add more. People who want less will use less.
But as has also been already pointed out, ingredients are always different. How much salt you'll need will rely on so many different factors in cooking (rather than baking) by specifying an amount I honestly think you're setting inexperienced cooks up for failure more than if you simply say 'season to taste'!
Most cookbooks use table salt. If you want to use something else you should specify it.
As a home cook who tries a lot of recipes, I prefer when the amount of salt is listed in the ingredients, at least as a jumping-off point. I don’t mind the “add salt and pepper to taste” at the end of recipes, but I agree it often doesn’t make sense in the middle as the flavors change as something cooks. Now that I’m more experienced with cooking I don’t mind as much, but I also don’t like instructions like “add some oil to the pan”-- how much oil? It’s why I liked baking so much more than cooking when I was younger: less guess-work, so more consistent results!
100 percent, Kiki.
I'm Australian and, as such, tend to have an extremely salty taste bud. By comparison, I tend to find Americans have amazingly sweet tastebuds. (That'll be the result of Vegemite and toast from a young age :) ).
Even for an Australian, I have a really salty tastebud, however. If I salt something to _my_ preference, others tend to look a little aghast. So I learnt to adjust my seasoning.
My partner has high blood pressure, so I finally taught myself to cook without salt (to an extent - salty liquids are sort of essential in stir-fries!), and to season afterwards. I compensate with all the other herbs and spices available to me - which, given I specialise in Australian native herbs and spices, is a LOT.
It is interesting that the discussions are always about salt (and to a lesser extent, pepper). All other herbs and spices - as already pointed out - are given fairly precise results. "2 tsp lemon myrtle" or "1 tbsp soy sauce" or "1/4 cup wattleseed". But their flavourings can be just as subjective.
Is it because we've been frightened by the links between salt and blood pressure/other illness? And yet it's not regarded as vital to a dish as sugar, so salt is seen as expendable, while sugar isn't. (And often sugar isn't, of course; the chemical changes it brings about in sweets is vital to both flavour and texture. Does salt bring about the same textural change? Interesting thought ... ).
In recent years, I've been adding salt back into the cooking process, because I finally worked out that it really does make a difference. I'm trying to develop my own recipes using Australian native flavours, so I've had to learn how things change depending on when you add them.
Just a little. Just a touch. Even a teaspoon of salt in 20 litres of stock simmering away makes an enormous difference to the meat being poached in it, and thus the flavour that cascades down from that. Seasoning a little at the early stages often means no further seasoning is required at the end.
And now we're watching an Australian cook named Adam Liaw on his show "The Cook Up", which despite my decades of watching TV shows, I'm still finding one of the most educational (forgive me, Maggie Beer; but you still have my heart, I promise).
He did a "season to taste" and one of his guests commented on the difference between a home cook's "pinch of salt" (thumb and 1-2 fingers) and a chef's pinch of thumb and tips of all 4 fingers - almost a fistful. This led to a really, really helpful discussion about seasonings and the difference between home cook and restaurant flavours, and how you can often add more without spoiling the dish.
The first book from the series provides the same education and explanations.
Based on that, and this article and all the discussions from it, I think I'll go back and check my recipes, and treat salt/pepper the same way as my other herbs - and the other herbs the same way as salt. "1tsp salt, but you may require a little more". "2tsp lemon myrtle, but adjust until you can smell it".
Exactly. No one says someone should just add "oregano to taste."
The amount of salt someone wants to put in a recipe is up to them. I'm not really concerned with that. I just want them to state the amount that they use. People who like their food salty will use more and those who like to use less salt will use less.
Even after knowing all this, I undersalted a soup I'm currently making (because we're just coming out of winter here, and it's cold and wet and miserable and I like soup).
So I just went back, took a deep breath, and chucked practically a tablespoon of one of my herby salt mixes into the mix. I have spare stock (roast pork base, from a spit-roasted pig we did last year); I can easily correct any over-salting.
And of course, it's now almost-perfect; in fact, it can probably take a little more, but I'll wait for the chicken and sweetcorn to infuse a bit more.
We somehow need to re-educate the cooking palate to say "yes, ok, reducing salt a BIT for some recipes isn't a bad idea - but baby and bathwater and all that. You need SOME, or else food is flat and boring".
Most recipes written in the last 10-20 years would take the "modern" less-salty palate into account; reducing their salt quantities is probably going too far, maybe?
You are the expert on your own recipes. They should contain the right amount of salt for you. As for me, I made terrible soups for years because I didn’t know how much salt to use. So you can do the reader a favor and use the correct amount.
If I experience excessive saltiness in a restaurant my first thought is usually, "This chef smokes," as their deadened/killed taste buds often need more seasoning to register that something is "adequately" seasoned.
I think that too! Restaurant food is too salty overall.
You are, of course, correct. Nevertheless, I take the phrase "to taste" to mean "whatever is your style." I apply that not only to salt, but pepper, paprika, nutmeg, etc. I rarely measure them. I do measure the "science" ingredients such as baking powder and soda. My pet peeve is on a related topic: bread dough instructions. "Knead until elastic"; how elastic? Like Glad-wrap or a girdle? "Add a little more flour if needed": how much is a little? a spoonful or a scoopful? And why does bread never turn out the same way twice? Thank you for attending my TED talk!
Hah. Maybe experienced home cooks have a "style," but other people might be making something for the first time, or using a technique that's new to them, etc. So they don't know.
Yes I also like specifics. Your Ted talk was quite worthwhile.
When I have a recipe and try to pass it to my friends, I always find it challenging to give them exactly amount of flavoring ingredients, because the taste-buds of each person are personal. For that reason, I feel the phrase "season to taste" reliable. However, a recommendation from the authors cannot be overlooked, because sometimes people go to far with their "season-to-taste" spirit so that they would throw off the balance. The authors, co-working many recipe testers, know there will be always a certain amount of ingredients that satisfied everyone. The adjustment will help people reaching the "delicious" level instead of "good", and this is where, tasting and re-seasoning skill take the spot light.
So, my answer will be: Yes, we need that phrase, but please use that wisely
The thing is, you are passing on your recipe. So you should use the amount of seasoning that seems right for you. You don't have to guess what everyone would like. That's not your job!