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Years ago while watching PBS and Justin Wilson had his cooking show he began his recipe by starting the ingredients but would blend his spices in usually one at a time allowing the ingredients to absorb the added spices (I think he called it letting them marry). Then after a short time, he would proceed to the next step in the process.
Does cooking this way really change the flavor of the finished product? Most recipes now seem to state 'combine' the dry ingredients, then proceed with the recipe.
Marrying the flavors does make a huge difference, but in my experience it's about letting all the flavors combine as the food cooks; it's not really adding them one at a time but more a matter of not tossing them in at the last minute. It's the difference between having a curry-flavored sauce and a sauce with a layer of curry on top of it.
Are you baking a cake or making a stew/braise ? When it comes to the latter - or similar things - the best way to marry ingredients is to make them the day before. Refrigerate overnight - and reheat the next day. So the flavors can develop. Robyn
Are you baking a cake or making a stew/braise ? When it comes to the latter - or similar things - the best way to marry ingredients is to make them the day before. Refrigerate overnight - and reheat the next day. So the flavors can develop. Robyn
In some cultures, you bloom the spices in a warm pan or in warm oil before adding other ingredients so that the spice's natural oils fully release into what you're cooking. Indian cooking does that, and Mexican "fried" sauces are another example. Tomato paste is an ingredient that tastes better if you cook it on its own a bit first before mixing it into the other ingredients. I recall Lidia Bastianich "making a hole" in the aromatics in the pan, adding the paste and stirring it into itself for a bit before incorporating it into the rest of the pan.
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