Although salt, pepper, and premade sauces can enhance the flavor of your meals, there are benefits to learning how to make your meals more flavorful using other ingredients! In today’s post, I will review some ways you can make your meals more tasty without always relying on salt, pepper, and premade sauces. First, let’s look at the benefits of trying these ideas!
Benefits
Health: If you are reducing salt and premade sauces by adding other ingredients instead, you are reducing the sodium in your diet. Heart diseases such as coronary heart disease are preventable diseases and one way to reduce the risk of heart disease is to avoid too much sodium in your diet. 1 Current dietary guidelines for Americans are to have less than 2300 milligrams (mg) of sodium in your diet. One teaspoon of salt is equal to 2300 mg of sodium. 2 When grocery shopping, prepackaged foods can contain large amounts of sodium. Just looking at some premade sauce from Trader Joe’s, I found how easy it is to eat more than the recommended amount of sodium by using premade products. For example, a pesto sauce purchased at Trader Joe’s has 960 mg of sodium in a one-fourth cup or one serving. There are three servings of pesto in this jar and 2880 mg of sodium in the whole jar.
2. Fun: Preparing and eating foods with only salt and pepper can get boring. Many pairings of spices, herbs, juices, and aromatics such as garlic can make your foods taste better. Also, if you like to experiment and try new things, trying out some spices adds to the excitement of cooking.
3. Honor your culture: You can add flavors you know and love to your meals. With the way trade has expanded since way back in history, it is possible to find ingredients from all around the world in your city. If you immigrated to America from another country, you will likely still be able to find something that you ate in your homeland.
4. Delicious: When you know what to add to your meal, you can prepare a gourmet meal you’ll enjoy eating and sharing. You don’t have to feel like you wasted food or embarrassed that your meal is bland. You can be proud of yourself for trying something that made your meal nourishing.
Ideas to Elevate Taste
Alternative Spices: Salt and pepper are only two of hundreds of spices you can add to your meal to make them more delicious. Some spices on the spice rack are paprika, cayenne, turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon. I have added cinnamon to soups and breakfast meals. For example, whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana tastes good with a dash of cinnamon.
Aromatics & Herbs: By aromatics, I am not talking about essential oils. I mean ingredients that produce a smell when we cook them, that we can almost taste, and that makes us want to eat. I commonly use fresh garlic, onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and pepper. Some common herbs include basil, mint, dried dill, parsley, oregano, and thyme. You can add aromatics and herbs fresh or dried. One of my favorite combinations is garlic, onion, and curry powder.
Acids & Juices: Acids such as vinegar, lemon, and lime juice balance a dish's sweet and bitter flavors. You can think beyond just adding them to salads. Sometimes, all a piece of fish is missing is some lemon juice. Imagine that?
Fats: Beyond butter and oils, some foods with fat content will make your dishes taste better. Some examples include- avocado, sour cream, yogurt, coconut milk, and unsweetened coconut flakes. You might add them to a salad, marinade, or sauce.
Powders: Powders are not quite spices but are dry and may function as spices. They may be sweet, nutty, bitter, or aromatic. Examples include cacao, nutmeg, garlic, onion, curry, or matcha. I have added spearmint-flavored matcha powder to chocolate cakes for a refreshing flavor.
Flavorful fruits and vegetables: Some vegetables -garlic, onion, pepper, mushrooms, carrots, and pepper- I have mentioned can function as aromatics. Tomatoes add flavor and acidity to meals. Ginger, can also be considered an aromatic. For me, ginger is a strong flavor that adds freshness and spice to recipes.
These are just six ideas to make your meals more delicious beyond the kitchen staples of premade sauces, salt, and pepper. There are probably more ways to make your meals tastier, these are some I commonly apply when I cook.
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