Blending of Flavours and Seasonings
4 min readA dish is usually made up of more than one ingredient – in the few exceptions when only a single item is used, a number of different seasonings are always blended in to give the dish a harmonious balance and contrast.
The materials used in a dish are divided between the ‘main’ ingredient, and ‘supplementary’ ingredient(s). The main ingredient is the major item (usually meat, poultry or fish), and the supplementary ingredients (usually vegetables) are used to give the dish a contrast in colour, flavour and texture.
In selecting the ingredients for a dish or a course of dishes, attention should be paid to:
1. Quantity: the main ingredient’s colour, aroma, flavour and texture should be paramount. If there is no marked distinction between the main and supplementary ingredients, then equal proportions should be used.
2. Flavour: the main ingredient’s flavour should dominate the dish; the supplementary ingredients should be lighter in flavour. If the main ingredient itself is light in flavour (such as bean-curd or tofu, etc.), then heavily seasoned supplementary ingredients should complement the main one.
3. Texture: the texture of the various ingredients can be similar, or in contrast which offers a more interesting result.
4. Colour: colour will affect presentation of the dish and its flavour – overcooked ingredients lose their bright colours as well as their natural flavours.
There are five basic flavours in Chinese cooking:
1. Sweet (flavouring agents: sugar, honey, fruit, jam, etc).
2. Sour (vinegar, plum sauce, tomato sauce, etc).
3. Bitter (almond, orange peel, herbs, etc).
4. Hot (chilli, chilli sauce, peppers, ginger, mustard, etc).
5. Salty (salt, soy sauce, soybean paste, etc).
Two additional flavours are often included in most regional styles of cooking:
6. Fragrant or aromatic xiang (wine, garlic, spring onions, Sichuan pepper, sesame seeds, sesame oil, spices, etc).
7. Delicious xian (monosodium glutamate, oyster sauce, shrimp sauce, chicken and meat stock, etc). It is interesting to note here that the Chinese character for xian is made up by joining ‘fish’ with ‘goat’ – the Chinese seem to have discovered long ago that the combination of fish and meat produces a perfect balance of flavours. In a different context, xian also means ‘fresh’, therefore, it would seem that the Chinese also link freshness with deliciousness.
Out of these basic flavours, a Chinese cook can create several combination flavours – such as sweet and sour, hot and sour, aromatic and hot, etc. The question of using monosodium glutamate (MSG) in Chinese cooking has been controversial in some circles. I think that you should know a few facts about it before making up your own mind on this matter. First of all, monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, an amino acid and one of the most abundant and important components of proteins. Glutamic acid and its various salts like potassium, calcium and so on are generically referred to as ‘glutamate’, which is a natural component found in virtually all foods such as meat, fish, milk, and vegetables. The Chinese have been using MSG in its liquid form as soy sauce for centuries, but the chemical compound known as monosodium glutamate was first discovered by a German named Ritthauson in 1866, and its use as a flavouring agent in cooking wasn’t utilized until 1908, when the professor of chemistry at the Imperial University of Tokyo, Ikeda Kikue, extracted MSG from seaweed, which became Aji-No-Moto (‘the element of taste’ in Japanese). Then in 1923, the Chinese started making their own MSG from wheat protein, known as Ve-Tsin (‘the essence of taste’), or Gourmet Powder. Its popularity was phenomenal – within years it truly became an indispensable item to both the catering trade and the better-off households – for as the makers claim on the package: ‘A sprinkling of Ve-Tsin will bring out the fullnatural flavour of your dishes and render them surprisingly delicious.’ Extensive research conducted worldwide clearly demonstrates that MSG is safe for human consumption, since it contains less sodium than the common table salt we use everyday. Some Chinese restaurants may claim that they do not use any MSG in their dishes, but what about soy sauce, oyster sauce and all the other bean sauces? All these condiments contain MSG – that’s why they taste so xian (delicious).
Should you decide to use MSG at home, just remember that you only need a tiny amount of the powder each time. Do not use it in every single dish you are serving. Another point to bear in mind is that it should never be added to the food until toward the end of cooking – nor should it be sprinkled on at the table like salt and pepper – for in order to acquire its proper effect, it has to be dissolved completely with the food at the last stage of cooking.
