Taste food using a separate, clean spoon, with a small portion transferred from the pot to another container; a spoon that has been in your mouth must not go back into the pot. A spoon returned from the mouth can carry bacteria into the pot, and in starchy dishes, enzymes in saliva can change the texture. Taste at specific moments rather than at random, and let the food cool toward the temperature at which it will be eaten before tasting.
Use two spoons for tasting: one to take food from the pot and another to taste it. Use the stirring spoon to transfer a few spoonfuls from the pot to a small bowl or plate, then taste from there with a clean spoon. Set aside any spoon that has been in your mouth, and use a fresh one for the next taste. In a busy kitchen, keeping a glassful of clean dessert spoons at the corner of the counter makes this habit easier. Do not pour the tasted portion back into the pot; even if it has not touched your mouth, it has been sitting on the plate.
A spoon returned from the mouth has two drawbacks. First is hygiene: it carries bacteria from the mouth into the pot, and if the food will be stored until the next day, those bacteria have an opportunity to multiply during storage. The second is less well known: saliva contains an enzyme that breaks down starch. In muhallebi (milk pudding), rice pudding, béchamel, and soups thickened with starch, a spoon returned from the mouth leaves this enzyme in the mixture, and within a few hours the consistency starts to thin. This is often why muhallebi becomes watery in the refrigerator.
Taste at specific points. Take the first taste after salty ingredients, such as tomato paste, cheese, or bouillon, have been added. Take the second taste after liquid has reduced and the food has thickened, because salt becomes more concentrated as water evaporates. Taste once more just before turning off the heat, and adjust acidity, salt, or fat at that point. Tasting at every movement tires the palate and can mislead; a few meaningful tastes give a more accurate result than many random ones.
The tasted portion should represent the dish as it really is. For soup, take a spoonful with some solids, not just broth; in a stew, stir the bottom before taking a taste because salt and fat may be distributed unevenly through the pot. In a dish with oil pooled on top, a spoonful from the surface alone tastes oily and under-salted, while one from the bottom alone tastes thick and salty. A boiling-hot spoonful can burn the tongue and impair taste for several minutes; blow on the portion for a few seconds to cool it. For food that will be served cold, set the bowl in a container of ice water and taste the food at its serving temperature.
Some mixtures should never be tasted raw. Do not put mixtures containing raw ground meat, raw chicken, or raw egg in your mouth before cooking; check the salt in meatball mixture by cooking a small piece. Do not taste cake or cookie dough because it contains raw flour and raw eggs. If a tasting spoon touches a raw ingredient, do not put that spoon into cooked food. Avoid frequent spoon tasting of mixtures that are fermenting or rising as well, because anything carried by the spoon can affect how the mixture develops.
Comments (2)
Ayrı kaşık alışkanlığını edinmek zor ama bir kez oturduktan sonra doğal geliyor. Ocağın yanında küçük bir kâse duruyor artık.
Tencereden kâseye almak fazladan bir adım gibi görünüyor, gerçekten gerekli mi?
Gerekli, çünkü tencere sıcak ve tadım için fazla sıcak olan bir kaşık tuzu olduğundan az gösteriyor. Küçük kâseye alınan yemek birkaç saniyede tadılabilir sıcaklığa iniyor ve karar daha doğru çıkıyor.