How To Add More Flavor To Your Favorite Dishes

By Mallory Knee | July 14, 2021

You’ve probably picked up a few tips and tricks throughout your culinary adventures. You’ve mostly figured out how to make foods the way you like them and use a lot of the same techniques in a variety of dishes. This is the building block of cooking. If you’ve started to experience a little bit of burnout with your routine meals, here’s how to add flavor to your favorite dishes.

Browning

This can refer to a couple of things. Primarily, browning is about cooking your meats at high temperatures. If you’ve ever had a really good steak, you may have noticed that the outside is brown and black with the inside being either a light brown or gray and pink in the middle. The reason the outside is brown is because of the cooking at high temperatures. The browning releases the flavor of the meat. But be careful not to burn it; too much charring will start to diminish the flavor released by the browning. Browning can also refer to caramelizing, used mostly with onions and mushrooms. This process allows the sweetness of onions to release and is an incredibly popular, easy way to add flavor to your favorite dishes.

Marinade

If you don’t marinade your meats by default, you need to get on it. Chicken and fish have muscle structures in them that easily allow marinades to seep into every inch of their meat. Steaks can be a little harder, as their muscles lay in such a way that marinades may not get all the way through unless you chop the steak into smaller bits. Using a marinade is a great way to pack a lot of flavor into your dishes. Most are good to go after a couple of hours, but if you leave them in the marinade overnight, you may never be able to go back to plain meat.

Condiments

Everyone’s got their go-to condiment. Ketchup, mustard, mayo for burgers, ranch, barbecue, and hot sauce for chicken, but you should consider expanding your palate by experimenting with different condiments. There are a ton of condiments used in different dishes all over the world that are perfectly suited for use with your favorite dishes. Whether you’re looking to up your salt, sweet, acid, or heat, trying out a new sauce or glaze is sure to bring out some new flavors.

You gotta eat, so you might as well enjoy it! Up your cooking game by experimenting with browning, marinading, and condiments. Be on the lookout for new ways to prepare your favorite dishes—you just might find a new addition to your cookbook!