Reinforcing Flavor

One of the things chefs often strive for is building strong, pure flavors. Some of the techniques they use to accomplish this are easy enough that anyone can do them at home. Other techniques require some ingenuity, but we can handle that. Right?

Don't dilute flavors, reinforce them.

• In meat dishes, use stocks made from the same meat type instead of other liquids. Similarly, use meat fats from the same meat source, such as chicken fat for chicken dishes.
• Low temperature cooking for long periods of time (sous vide cooking, braising, stewing, slow cooking, etc.) tends to intensify flavors. High heat breaks down flavor-bearing molecules. Consider broccoli. Lightly steamed, it is bright and flavorful. Overcook it, and it becomes tasteless mush.
• Use the fond. You know how when you cook meat there are little bits of stuff stuck to the bottom of your pan afterward? That stuff is called fond, and it is a potential source of concentrated flavor. The easiest way to use it is to deglaze the pan with a bit of liquid. If you're clever, you might be able to think of other ways to use it.
• Create sauce reductions. Reducing a sauce is easy. You maintain a controlled boil, allowing some of the liquid to escape as steam. What's left over is thicker and more intense. Don't want a thick sauce? Reduce it anyway, then dilute it with an appropriate stock.
• Use salt wisely.

Do you have a favorite technique? Let me know in the comments.

Image by Abulic Monkey