Seasoning Guide :
Tips and recipes for properly seasoning your dishes
What is a
If the dish is the base, the seasoning is truly what gives it personality, makes it unique. A major component of the kitchen, seasoning is used to significantly improve the flavor, texture and visual appeal of dishes.
It is defined as the art of adding flavors, aromas and textures to a dish to give it more taste and accentuate its flavors. There are a wide variety of ingredients and seasoning techniques that can be used to add taste, texture and balance to dishes.
Thus, a wide variety of ingredients such as spices, herbs, aromatics, condiments, oils, vinegars, salt, pepper and other aromatic substances can be used.
The secrets of
Some tips for properly seasoning your dishes
To succeed with your seasonings, it is important to respect a few basic rules in order to cook dishes that are balanced in taste and nutritional content.
Taste as you go through the recipe
Remember to taste your preparations throughout the recipe. Because, beyond the taste and taste preferences of each person, it is important to properly measure the quantities of salt, pepper, spices, aromatics... In order to give taste and enhance the flavors of the dish while limiting excesses.
Choose flavors that work well together and find the balance
Select your seasonings according to the flavors you want to bring out in your recipe but also according to the aromatic palette of each food in order to find the balance of flavors.
So, to find the balance, play on the balance between flavors based on the main principles:
- The sweet balances the bitterness, the acidity and the spiciness and enhances the salty,
- The salty balances the bitterness and enhances the sweetness,
- The spiciness balances the bitterness and the sweetness,
- Bitter balances sweet and salty,
The acid balances the spicy and sweet and enhances the salty.
Some spices go well together like:
Use quality products
For your seasonings, choose herbs, spices, salt, pepper and herbs of natural origin and quality. Quality products that have not been modified or industrially treated have more pronounced tastes, purer flavors but also better nutritional qualities.
When it comes to salt, choose natural sea salt (unrefined, unwashed and unbleached). Natural salt indeed has many contributions and minerals (magnesium, sodium, potassium) that refined salt does not have: after its refining, the salt is often iodized and is only provided with sodium.
Did you know ?
Le Guérandais crystallized salts and aromatics are natural, unrefined, unwashed and unbleached salts and aromatics. For more than 35 years, the Le Guérandais cooperative and those who make it up have been committed to preserving ancestral know-how, united, respectful and deeply rooted in a strong and authentic territory: salt farming in the Guérande salt marshes.
Every day and throughout the year, salt workers work together with the ocean, the sun and the wind to create quality salts with the greatest respect for nature.
Some recipes and seasoning ideas
Vinaigrette, brine, flavored oil, sauces, mixture of salt, herbs or aromatics… The choices of seasonings are very numerous and depend on the type of food you are cooking, the recipe, the season, the tastes , but also the type of cooking.
Crystallized aromatics
Crystallized aromatics are herbs and aromatics (thyme, rosemary, onion, shallot, etc.) crystallized with salt. This crystallization allows them to fix and multiply all their flavors while giving them a lot of crunch.
Jardin Intense Le Guérandais crystallized herbs are crystallized with Guérande salt. Guérande salt releases the strength of flavors and the power of the aromas of herbs and aromatics with each turn of the mill. A seasoning full of intensity, subtlety and crunch.
Crunchy red onion, crunchy garlic and chives, crunchy shallot or crunchy thyme and rosemary... Crystallized aromatics enhance all dishes and can be used both in cooking and in seasoning. They give a lot of flavor and crunch to meats, grilled meats, raw vegetables, fries, fish or soups…
All kinds of seasonings
Salt and pepper
Salt and pepper are two of the most fundamental seasonings in cooking. Salt is used to enhance the natural flavors of foods and balance sweet and sour tastes, while pepper is used to add heat and complexity to dishes.
Our Le Guérandais salts are natural sea salts, unrefined, unwashed and unbleached. They are collected by hand by salt workers in the salt marshes of Guérande using ancestral methods.
The Fleur de sel is the true treasure of the marshes. Its fine, delicate and crunchy crystals form on the surface of the carnation water under the light breeze of hot summer afternoons. It is sprinkled delicately and accompanies fruits and vegetables, meats but also desserts with subtlety.
The result of the high concentration of salt, coarse salt is deposited and formed on contact with the clay at the bottom of the carnations. Raw, crunchy and naturally gray, it can be enjoyed and used in cooking water, on meats or in a salt crust.
Ground sea salt comes from grinding and drying coarse dry salt. Its fine and authentic taste is suitable for all uses and all dishes, in the kitchen or on the table.
Spices
Cinnamon, ginger, cumin, paprika, cloves… Spices are substances of plant origin used to flavor or color foods. They generally come from seeds, berries, bark, roots or flowers of plants. Spices are used in small quantities to add flavor to dishes: they are generally crushed or ground and are often used to flavor meats, vegetables, soups or sauces…
Aromatics
Aromatics are also substances of plant origin used to flavor foods.
They are often fresh or dried and may include herbs, leaves or green parts of plants. Aromatics are often added in larger quantities than spices and can be used fresh or dried. Examples of herbs include basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary and mint.
Condiments
Mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, soy sauce and vinegar are condiments. Condiments are substances added to foods to give them taste, texture or to make them more appetizing. They can be of plant, animal or mineral origin and can include a wide variety of ingredients, including spices, aromatics, sauces, vinaigrettes, pickles... Condiments are often used in larger quantities than spices or aromatics and are very effective for accompanying or seasoning a dish.
Oils and vinegars
Oils and vinegars are basic ingredients in cooking. Oils are plant liquids obtained by cold pressing seeds, nuts or oleaginous fruits. They can be used to sauté, grill or season foods, while vinegars add flavor and acidity to dishes and can be used in salad dressings, marinades and to add acidity to a dish.
Sauces and marinades
Sauces and marinades are used to add flavor and tenderness to foods. Sauces are used as condiments or ingredients in dishes to which they add taste, texture and sometimes spiciness, while marinades are used to marinate meat, fish or vegetables before cooking in order to permeate them. of their flavors or even prepare them for cooking.