When food is thoughtfully crafted, and eaters take the time to notice and savor food, it can lead to new levels of enjoyment. There are four basic flavors at the core of our food experience — salty, sweet, sour and umami — as well as the critical sensation, texture, that contribute to our joy of food. Certainly, there are other flavors and sensations, such as bitterness, spiciness, and ambiance, however, a deeper familiarity of these four basic flavors and the sensation of texture greatly improve our everyday understanding and enjoyment of food.
At Whirligig Brewing & Bistro, we love to geek out on flavor elements and food-related sensations like texture. When we develop dishes, we constantly ask questions like, what elements might we add to give a touch more sweetness or sourness, how might we better temper richness from fat, and what might we add that could create more textural diversity? By asking these questions, we improve our understanding and enjoyment of food we make and eat!
Pictured: Our poké bowl, with a house poké sauce, vegetables, kimchi, Japanese 7-spice, and nori.
Salt and Umami
Salt is a flavor enhancer, and when food is properly salted, it lifts all the other elements in a dish, making the experience of it more enjoyable. Salt also acts as a preservative, and is a crucial ingredient in pickles, fermented foods and cured pantry items like sausages and hams.
Like salt, umami, the Japanese term for savoriness, enhances the overall flavor of the food we eat. Umami encompasses the savory components in food called glutamates, and exist in many foods we enjoy. For example, mushrooms, aged cheeses, soy sauce, nuts and tomatoes have high levels of glutamates. While difficult to describe, glutamates help to create satisfying and lingering flavor experiences on the tongue, interplaying particularly well with salt.
At Whirligig Brewing & Bistro, we utilize foods like cheese, kimchi and tamari to naturally add layers of salt and umami, and positively elevate the proteins and fats we use in our dishes. Particularly, we love turning a bland block of tofu into a flavorful morsel using tamari, sesame and miso.
Pictured: One of our specials, inspired by Cacio e Pepe, local Trencher’s Farmhouse fresh pasta with a house miso butter compound and Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound.
Fats
Fat brings richness and depth to dishes by carrying and enveloping a dish’s essence — many of the flavors that we love to taste in food dissolve into, and are carried by, fat. At Whirligig Brewing & Bistro, we use a mix of fats, such as mayo, sesame oil, and smoked meats, to add richness to our dishes, helping to carry our dishes beyond the first bite. Every type of fat, whether grassy and piquant olive oil, nutty coconut oil, or creamy butter, also has its own rich flavor that contributes to our enjoyment. When cooking, fats also help to distribute heat to other ingredients, which is why fats are used in sautéeing, frying, roasting, and braising.
Sweet & Sour
Both sweet and sour ingredients help bring balance to dishes. Sweetness is almost universally enjoyed, and the addition of honey, maple syrup or sugar to foods that are otherwise savory is a wonderful way to tame the intensity of spice or bitterness. Sourness, or acidity, cuts through the richness of fat and adds bright notes that make dishes sing. At Whirligig Brewing & Bistro, we employ ingredients like honey, maple, rice vinegar and lime juice to balance our dishes.
Pictured: Our Cubano-Inspired Sandwich: House smoked pork, house mustard mojo sauce, with pickles and crisped house mixed cheese, on a shokupan-inspired local milk bread.
Texture
Texture refers to the physical sensations experienced during eating, such as crunchiness or creaminess. For example, at Whirligig Brewing & Bistro, we add crunchy textures to our rice bowls to offset the heavy smooth and silky textures of rice, vegetables and protein. Texture plays a crucial role in enhancing food experiences. Understanding how cooks and chefs employ the tools of taste and texture allows eaters to appreciate the artistry that goes into creating food, and simultaneously, gain greater enjoyment from eating it.
Pictured: One of our specials, a Korean tteokbokki-inspired dish, made with gochujang-based sauce and Korean rice cakes.
Putting it All Together
If you’re a cook or just an enjoyer of food, understanding the basic tastes and some of the ways that texture can be used to enhance and punctuate dishes can help you better appreciate the food you eat, and if you’re a cook, improve your culinary skills to create better dishes. At Whirligig Brewing & Bistro, we’re super nerdy about food, and get super excited when we talk about flavor and texture. We hope you can stop by sometime to have a bite!
Pictured: One of our specials, a Japanese-inspired curry on fresh ramen finished with scallions, Japanese 7-spice, and nori
Read the story on VTDigger here: Flavor & texture: Elevating our food experience.