1: #stonesoup » the absolute beginners guide to the art of seasoning [5 2- ingredients | 10 minutes] Comments Feed a FREE e-cookbook [5 -- 8- 9:the absolute beginners guide to the art of seasoning [5 ingredients | 10 10-minutes] -- 26- pepper and a pinch of salt and hope for the best. That was until I had 27: a bit of a seasoning revelation. 28- -- 45- 46: It was then that I realised that this is what seasoning is about – 47- tasting and tweaking – or fine tuning to bring out the best in the 48: food. After that, I felt more confident with the whole seasoning thing 49- and began to experiment with my own cooking. I like to think of 50: seasoning as an art that I’m continuing to practice and improve. 51- 52:what is seasoning? 53- 54: Seasoning is about improving the flavour of your food mostly via the 55- addition of salt and pepper. Although herbs, spices, sweet things and 56: acidic things can also be considered seasoning, we’ll focus on salt and 57- pepper for today. 58- 59:how do I go about seasoning a dish? 60- 61: There are two main times to think about seasoning – the beginning and 62- the end. For slow cooked dishes it’s a good idea to get some salt in 63- early so it can spread through the whole dish over time. For most other 64: things seasoning at the end is the best way to go. 65- -- 84- For salt, I keep two kinds. 85: i. Inexpensive fine sea salt for bulk seasoning things like pasta water 86- or for making brine. -- 108- 109:other seasoning tips 110- -- 112- One of the best ways to anticipate whether you’re going to need any 113: extra seasoning is to have a think about how much salt each ingredient 114- is contributing. If there are a heap of olives, anchovies, capers or -- 149- gross for some people, I’d much rather spit as I’m tasting and 150: seasoning and still feel like eating when I sit down to dinner, rather 151- than that feeling of being absolutely stuffed before the meal has even -- 217- http://api.tweetmeme.com/button.js?url=http%3A%2F%2Fthestonesoup.com%2F 218: blog%2F2010%2F06%2Fthe-absolute-beginners-guide-to-the-art-of-seasoning 219- -5-ingredients-10-minutes%2F&source=jules_stonesoup&style=normal -- 231- 232: The Wholestyle Network » Blog Archive » Seasoning 101 233- 31 July, 2010 at 12:01 am 234- 235: a beginners guide to the art of seasoning – the importance of sweet & 236- sour [5 ingredients | 10 minutes] -- 318- is not ingredients, recipes or technique – but understanding 319: about tasting and tweaking seasoning and actually do it each and 320- every time. -- 339- Jonathan 25 June, 2010 at 1:52 pm 340: Excellent guide to beginning seasoning. Thank you. 341- -- 346- dishes are over seasoned today. Think some people think the more 347: seasoning you add the better it should be? I can remember my mom 348- always complaining to me about my brothers cooking being way too -- 350- sister complained about her salt & fats. Thus I found most 351: seasoning preference depends basically where you were raised as 352- everyone has their own personal taste especially when it comes 353: to seasoning food. We were brainwashed based on how momma 354- cooked. What bothers me is when I see someone immediately start -- 384- Johanna GGG 26 June, 2010 at 8:13 pm 385: seasoning is still a mystery to me but I am learning to be more 386: bold with seasoning when needed – I have also found that a good 387- home made stock adds such depth of flavour – and that lemon -- 397- Tessa 27 June, 2010 at 3:52 am 398: Interesting post, but what about all the other seasonings 399: available? I struggle with seasonings because I cook meat dishes 400- for my husband, but I don’t eat meat (never have!) I make my 401: best guesses at seasonings and he is very nice and doesn’t 402- complain :) -- 436- believe how much it could elevate the taste, and make the meal 437: taste so much better. You’re right… seasoning with salt doesn’t 438- make it salty, it makes it delicious! I’m a total convert now! -- 441- Great post:) I like the idea of removing a little portion of a 442: dish and seasoning this as a guide to the amount required for 443: the whole dish. Rather than over seasoning the entire thing and 444- ruining it…which I’ve done! -- 480- you’re absolutely right – thai cooking is the ultimate in 481: seasoning with the balance of sweet, salty, sour and hot – and I 482- love the culture of adjusting to taste at the table – something -- 499- Emily 5 July, 2010 at 12:40 am 500: What a useful post!!! Seasoning is one of the biggest mysteries 501- of cooking to the new chef, and your guide breaks it down