Helpful Cooking Tip #7 - Use different textures to make your food interesting

Helpful Cooking Tip #7 - Use different textures to make your food interesting

In addition to using good quality ingredients, it is important to utilize texture. An ingredient like a potato can be soft, fluffy, creamy, or crispy, all depending on how it is cooked. The same is true for most veggies.

Use the textures of your ingredients to enhance whatever your dish is showcasing. Take a classic from childhood- the cupcake. I personally have a deep spot in my heart for the "yellow" cake based treats- I love the subtle egginess that nicely contrasts with chocolate frosting, and of course topped off with rainbow colored sprinkles (I prefer the flat disks over the miniature pill shaped ones). Looking at the cupcake through a different lens, we see it balances the soft texture of the cake itself with the creaminess of the frosting on top (also giving you a little sweet lubrication so you don't start choking on the dry cake) and of course the tiny crunchy bits provided by our sprinkles. A simple harmony of textures that makes a cupcake interesting to eat.

Think of the foods you personally enjoy, and try to figure out the multitudes of textures that intertwine in the dish. Vietnamese Pho, a good sandwich, spaghetti and meatballs, a taco (Mexican or American style), a gyro, and most salads are all examples of foods that utilize a diversity of textures to help achieve their deliciousness. In some cases, these different textural elements just stack to provide an extremely complex result. In others, the addition of a singular contrasting element can help reinforce the texture you are trying to showcase. What better way to make a baked potato interesting than by adding sour cream (smooth/creamy), diced scallions (crisp veggie texture), and bacon bits (very crispy/crunchy). While texture is important, I imagine these ingredients are also chosen because they bring some contrasting flavors to the somewhat naturally bland potato.

Think of cooking like art, and use texture as a tool just as painter or sculptor might use it to highlight and enhance their end product.