How to Taste: The Curious Cook’s Handbook to Seasoning & Balance

Becky Selengut has done it again, with another informative and fun book. You may recall my recent review of her cookbook Good Fish, devoted to Pacific Coast seafood. Well, she’s just released How to Taste: The Curious Cook’s Handbook to Seasoning and Balance, from Umami to Acid and Beyond with Recipes, a wonderful exploration of the components of taste and using them properly to improve the food we make.

* Complimentary Book Received for Review.

Probably the most important chapter in the book is right up front, “Principles of Taste.” Here Selengut explains what “taste” is and how it’s different from flavor. She describes the subjectivity of taste and how people can be divided into tolerant tasters, average tasters, and super/sensitive tasters (yes, those are real, scientifically established categories). This early chapter builds the foundation for using the rest of the book to enhance your cooking and enjoyment of food. She sums it up nicely: “Many people can make a good dish; this book will help you make good food truly great. Let’s do this.”

Subsequent chapters cover the different tastes and contributors to taste, as follows:

• Salt
• Acid
• Sweet
• Fat
• Bitter
• Umami
• Aromatics (A personal note: This chapter in particular has had the biggest impact on my cooking; it’s packed with information about herbs and spices, ingredients I only thought I knew about.)
• Bite
• Texture
• Color, Booze, and Everything Else
• The Total Dish

It’s presented with a healthy dose of humor and much wisecracking, which turns what could be an otherwise dry subject into an enjoyable and understandable read. Throughout the book, tidbits of information are presented by a little Cartoon Becky (which Author Becky says is “way cooler than actual me”). You can pick up a lot of information just flipping through the book and reading the many sidebars and callouts. Some are labeled as Fun Facts, some as Not-So-Fun Facts, and some are there to expand on or explain the subject under discussion. All are worth reading.

Also helpful as you work through How to Taste are the food experiments and recipes, which illustrate and showcase the taste featured in that chapter. The recipes include such gems as Honey, Rhubarb, and Thyme Jam in the Sweet chapter, and Fiery Roasted Thai Chile Chicken Wings from the Bite chapter.

Read How to Taste if you love cooking and want to take it to the next level, or even if you simply want a better understanding of your food. For more information and to watch Becky’s helpful and informative videos, visit her website.

Disclaimer: A. Bailey received complimentary products for review purposes & feature on The Classy Chics blog. No monetary compensation was received. A. Bailey’s thoughts, opinions and words are 100% her own. Your thoughts may differ.