I love the sound that food makes when it hits the pan. For me, that sizzle is an emotional experience. Ann Burrell describes it as the “applause” you hear when food hits heat at the correct temperature. The sizzle tells you that the food is happy and you are treating it with respect.
Cooking should be a total body experience. The food “knows” if you are present. It is felt by the people who eat your food. They will not be able to put their finger on it…but they will know.
Many years have taught me that making great food involves ALL of your senses. For example:
Hearing – You can tell when the pan is at the right temperature by listening to the sound? Yes, listen for the applause. Is that bread ready? I don’t know, tap on it, it will tell you. Is that stock simmering correctly? You tell me. How often do you hear it bubble?
Smell – Christmas in New Jersey, making chicken parm with my brother in law Bruce (side note, he makes insanely good ratatouille). He was frying the chicken. I’m making the sauce (gravy) on the other side of our inlaw’s huge kitchen, I say to him, “the chicken is done”. Bruce says, “How do you know?” My reply, “I can smell it”. He looks at me like I’m crazy, but we check it… done. How did I know that smell? I learned in it my neighborhood from the moms and dads who made the great food of my childhood.
Sight – It is a well known cliche to say that you first eat with your eyes. That fact is absolutely true. Even people who don’t cook know what I mean. But as cooks we learn things, are the sear marks on this meat the way I want? Is that breading golden brown and delicious? Is that banana all spotted brown and past it prime?
We also learn that to make a dish really special, the sight process happens from the start, even before you cook. To create a plate that people want to eat means seeing it in your head, even before we even touch a knife. How will this be plated? Is the plate going to make the food inviting to eat? Does the meal have the right colors? Is there texture that needs to be considered? Is the sauce going to ruin the beautiful crisp on the fish because I put it on top?
Feel – Does that meat feel like it’s done? Learn to use a good thermometer until experience tells you what “mid-rare” feels like. Then after you think you know what “mid-rare” feels like, keep using a thermometer until it is second nature.
Push pasta dough around until feel tells you if it needs more liquid, more flour, or is it just right. Only feel works, as temperature and humidity change every time you make it.
Is that butter still cold enough for me to make a pie crust with it? Feel it. Is that fish still fresh? If it feels slimy, maybe not so much. Our sense of touch becomes as much of a tool as any pot or pan.
And last… but certainly not least…
Taste – Clearly in the end this is the most important and most discussed part of cooking. We have the 4 basic tastes: salty, sweet, bitter, sour. We know these tastes and if we understand food, the need to have all them all represented in almost everything we cook. The funny thing is that we associate certain tastes, with certain meal courses, and so that is all we focus on. We expect dinner to be savory, with salty playing the lead role. We think of dessert as sweet forward.
The reality is that to make memorable food… food that makes you stop and think… all the tastes need to be represented. A great dessert caramel has a kiss of salt, that works so well with the sweet and lemony acid of a slice of cheesecake. A salad dressing, a vineagrette, needs sour (acid), salt, sweet (some honey?), maybe a little heat (some spicy mustard or chili paste) to complement the bitter of garden greens.
Then there is the more obscure taste, Umami. In the western world, we are still learning what that means. It has been described as the “pleasant savory taste”. Here is a great article from the Spruce Eats that does a much better job than I explaining umami, its history, and its importance.
And there are even more tastes vying for attention. The website LIVESCIENCE does a great job discussing the new tastes.
It was quite a few years into my food journey before I realized that true culinary understanding comes from being 100% present and to use every sense during the concept and execution of every dish. I am still learning and perfecting those skills. That learning only comes through time and practice. Let’s continue to learn together.
The sizzle is not just the sound of the pan but also that feeling that keeps me cooking every day.