Recipe Development Process
The process for developing dishes is a very involved one. It requires a creative streak and a knowledge base that takes years to build, but once you have it, it’s a game changer. While different for every Chef, there are a few main things that are to be considered:
Seasonality of ingredients.
The main protein, and how it’s to be cooked.
The cuisine in question.
Textures of the dish.
Balance of flavours.
Since we can buy ingredients all year round in supermarkets, it can be very easy to overlook the difference between a Spring Onion, and one harvested from a commercial farm designed to produce constantly. Ingredients in season are on another level, from freshness, flavour and texture, they are incomparable to their over produced counterparts. The use of seasonal ingredients lifts a dish from good to great, and also affects how you put a dish together. Preserving and fermentation are great ways to use the high quality of seasonal ingredients outside of their harvest period, while also adding a depth and complexity to the flavour.
When I develop a dish, it usually starts with figuring out what I want the main component to be, or a client has a protein in mind and I work from that. While I have my preferred cooking methods based on my own tastes and my own experiences, the enjoyable challenge from dealing with a client that might not have access to a piece of equipment, or they might have a cuisine based restriction that means a different method might be more appropriate, for example, I’m not going to suggest braising chicken for a yakitori based client. Once the main protein is decided and the cuisine is established, that gives me the flavour profile to consider.
With the main component of the meal and the flavour profile set, I begin to consider what ingredients I can use to make what textures. I personally always try to have something soft, something creamy and something that has a bite to it on a dish. A prime example is my Leek and Potato Soup with the Sourdough Crisp and Spiced Yogurt. A variety of textures allows for the diner to have a multitude of experiences when eating, and keeps the dish from getting boring.
When considering the balance of flavour I like to think about:
Salt
Sweet
Acidity
Umami
Fat
Heat
Salt is very much a “to taste” situation, hence why almost every recipe says “season to taste”. This is also true when developing a dish. I will often use very little salt for the first trial run as I feel it allows the flavours I am working with to show me what is missing in the dish. Adding salt too early in the testing process muddles your ability to tell if something is missing, be it acid, sweetness, umami or any other component.
For sweetness I like to utilise either sauces on the sweeter side, or incorporate it into the vegetable portion of the dish, for example the balsamic glazed shallots on my Smoked Mackerel Risotto add both a touch of sweetness and acidity to a dish that would be difficult to add any more fat or umami to.
Many Chefs use acidity from citrus, pickles, or vinegars. Acidity is most necessary when accompanying a fat in my opinion. This is because the acidity will refresh the palate after the fat. It also combines with the fat in order to create more depth of flavour, and complexity, which is why so many restaurants finish their Jus or Gravy with a splash of vinegar.
Umami is a complicated flavour for many to grasp, as it is something that’s only recently been considered in western cuisine. Umami means “meat taste” and by that it is a savoury flavour that adds depth and intensity. Umami comes from seaweed, meat, mushrooms and a variety of other ingredients but perhaps the most commonly known form is Monosodium Glutamate also known as MSG. MSG is created from seaweed, and is essentially a more concentrated form of the flavour enhancement from seaweed. Adding Umami to a dish is similar to adding salt in that it enhances the flavour, but unlike salt, the flavour is more complex, and mixes with other flavours to create something new.
I like to keep the fat content coming from the main protein unless it’s something lean like a white fish, in which case there are ways to add extra fat in the form of a butter sauce, or incorporating the fat into the sides, like poaching carrots in buttermilk. Avoiding the use of overpowering fat flavours like beef tallow when using delicate flavours like Hake or Halibut is also a deeply important consideration regarding fat content.
Heat is a subjective flavour, as many people don’t like too much, and the cuisine also limits the type of heat that can be used. For example the spice from Cayenne pepper is completely different from the spice found in Gochugarou, both of which are red peppers, but have vastly different flavour profiles. I know that I tend to enjoy my food on the spicier end of things, so in order to ensure that my dishes aren’t too spicy for most, I tone it down and add a little bit of a sweetness element in order to counteract some of the spice while maintaining the integrity of the flavour.
I will have another post coming up about how flavours interact and how to balance them.