Taste

[Avatar]

As I mentioned in my other post, the Galley has been a bit quiet lately, so I thought I'd post this topic which I've been thinking about for a while.

Now we all know that that for taste, there is no accounting, but is that really all that there is too it? It all began when I accused my GF of being a lazy cook, because she'd rather use an instant gravy, (you know, add boiling water), than take the time to make it from scratch, the way I always do. (She doesn't like my gravy, says it's too rich. (I ask you! It's meant to be rich! )) So whenever we have a meal that requires it, I make my own, and she adds boiling water to hers.

And the worst of it is, she genuinely seems to believe that hers is better. I just can't get my head around it. Of course, our tastes are fundamentally different anyway, and we often have two completely different meals, her being a vegetarian and all.

But anyway, the point is, why? How can something that tastes so great to me, be so awful to her, and vice versa? Is there anything to it other than that indefinable question of taste?

Who the hell knows where this topic will go (if it goes at all), and I certainly haven't really managed to make clear what I was trying to say, but hell, I'm confusing myself. Maybe we can make sense of it? Good eating.

--Avatar

[hanna]

Taste is a matter of education. You can educate your palate in any direction - towards organic fruit/veggies, or towards sugary lovliness. While you're chewing, the food releases chemicals that immediately travel up into your nose. These chemicals trigger the olfactory receptors inside the nose. They work together with your taste buds to create the true flavor of that yummy slice of pizza/piece of chocolate/apple by telling the brain all about it!

Taste is part brain, part taste buds. It's like, if you absolutely HATE some type of food (I abhor celery) chances are, when you were a kid, you'd a bad experiece that you brain has associated with that food. The food tastes exactly the same to everyones taste buds, but my brain is programmed to interpret the signals from celery as "Dear God, no!" However, I once upon a time felt the same about Prawns, fois gras, and a few other things. You can work on the brain bit, and if you try to tell yourself you'll like it, and keep at it, you can overcome you brain. As it were.

There's an arguement to be made that when you taste the ready made gravy, your brain is already programmed to think it's not as good as real gravy. Alternatively, it must be said that ready made gravy is cr@p!!

[High Lord Tolkien]

I read this and starting thinking about gravy, (I know, not your point!).
I hopped online and typed "how to make gravy" and do you know what?
After about a 1/2 hour I discoved about 5 million different ways to make it!

Here's the way I was taught:

Roast Beef Gravy:

Heat 2 or 3 cans of beef broth and the beef drippings to a boil.
In a small pan, melt 1/2 stick of butter and add flour until thick paste is formed (I think its called a "rhue"?)
Using a wire wisk gradually stir rhue into the boiling broth.
Add pepper and salt.
Boil until thickens stirring constantly.
(Sometimes I throw in some wine but I never noticed a difference in taste)

Voila! Gravy!

And hanna you are so right about smell being important to taste!
I was worried that I was losing my sense of taste the last few years.
Then I started having sinus problems a few month ago.
Went to a specialist and the first thing he asked me was how my sense of smell and taste was doing lately.
Seems I have lots of polups in my sinus'.
I'm getting them removed next month.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how much my sense of taste improves too.

[Nathan]

There's probably some psychological element to it, but I've done some tests in the area and the things I dislike I still dislike if I don't know what they are (ie they're mashed up and I'm blindfolded).

On the other hand, at school once some crisps were swapped between packets and fed to children and the non-blindfolded ones identified the flavours wrongly because they looked to the packaging and not the flavour.

[hanna]

Well, Best of Luck with that! I hope it goes very well and you are soon able to taste that wine in the gravy!

[hanna]

Hi Nathan,

If you dislike a thing, regardless of whether you can see it or not, you're still going to
a) know the taste, and therefore know what it is; and
b) have your brain tell you that you hate it.

I'd love to be able to convince myself to like celery (see below) but I can't. While the idea of foodstuff that takes more calories to digest than it contains it attractive, celery is the food of despite.

Booo celery.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I have a special dislike of celery but it's not because of the taste, though I could rave against it for that reason too.
No, I hate celery because of it's addition to salads found behind the deli counter and in sandwiches.

Begin rant

HELLO!
When I buy seafood salad by the pound I do NOT want to pay for celery thank you!
STOP RIPPING ME OFF!!

If I buy a pound of hamburger I don't get an ounce of celery so why do I get it in chicken salad?
Because they're RIPPING ME OFF!!

AARGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

[hanna]

LOL. I Know! Seafood by the pound = seafood. Burger = Beef. Not bloody celery.

[onewyteduck]

And the worst of it is, she genuinely seems to believe that hers is better. I just can't get my head around it. Of course, our tastes are fundamentally different anyway, and we often have two completely different meals, her being a vegetarian and all.

This reminds of one of the most heated arguments my husband and I ever got into to.......about 15 years ago, in the grocery store about what ingredrients were going into the tuna salad. To this day, we never have tuna salad unless he's out of town and I fix it the way I want it! He's gotta go to Maine in a couple of weeks.........

[sgt.null]

Avatar: most store bought package gravies contain chicken stock...is this a concern for your gf?

[Avatar]

It would be Dennis, but she makes sure to get only ones that contain no animal products.

Hanna, you saying that it's actually my problem? Actually, you're absolutely right though. It's one of my fondest beliefs that life itself is psychosomatic. Still, I'm one of the fussiest buggers around, and I'm pretty sure it's not as a result of bad experiences with food.

Mainly it seems to be the textures that get me. Apparently is called "Tactile Defensiveness," and it affects my sense of touch as well.

HLT, yeah, is called a "rhue" although I'm damned if I know how it should be spelt. I would have said "roux" myself. Never made a gravy with one, must admit. Use it as the base for cheess sauce instead, (and it's pretty much all of a white sauce.) Must say, the GF makes Cheese sauce from scratch, (OK, I Insist) and damn good it is too.)

I fill a saucepan 3/4 with vegetable stock, heat it slowly, add good dollop of tomato sauce (proper tomato sauce that is, not some flourescent fake stuff), a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt, basil, pepper, tablespoon of mustard, same of mint sauce, stirring all the while.

Then mix 2 or 3 teaspoons of a caramel-based thickening agent (this has no "caramel" flavour really though) and a teaspoon of cornflour into a paste, and add once the stuff in the pan is pretty hot (not boiling though) and stir careful until it thickens. Once thickened, I add red wine until it's a good consistency, and pour in the juices of whatever meat I'm cooking. (Ingredients may vary a little, depending on what's in the house and what mood I'm in.

--A

[hanna]

No, it's not your problem at all. Gravy from granules/powder is wrong. Although, for a veggie, it must be hard..... Cheese sauce from scratch?? Yes please.

OneWhyteDuck - I have a similar story. My boyfriend and I now refer to it as "the omlette incident".............

[Avatar]

Haha, I was just teasing you. But you're still right. (If you're making Cheese sauce, make it really thick, then thin it a little with white wine just before serving. Awesome!)

--A

[hanna]

How about fondue.......Chees, wine and bread, all in one........ Drool!

[Avatar]

Oh man. I've had to swear off fondue for a while. In the "Worshipping at the shrine of the chocolate gods" thread is my last adventure with chocolate fondue, and somewhere else I've mentioned my beer fondue sufferings. Fantastic, but heavy on the liver and stomach.

--A

[hanna]

Things we like are bad for us. Life's cruellest joke. I like cheese and wine and beer and chocolate and chilli and bread. Sigh.

[ur-bane]

You know what? You can't go through life constantly avoiding all these "things that are bad for us."
Those things can be enjoyed in moderation.
It's not "the things" that are the problem: it's our own lack of control when it comes to consuming them that is the problem.

EDIT: Sorry, this post would probobly have been better suited for the Obesity thread in the 'Tank.

[hanna]

Indeed......

Hm, to go to that forum or continue on here. You know what I love? Fresh Cheese Bread, with butter on it. Real butter. Kind cold, but still spreadable.

[ur-bane]

Mainly it seems to be the textures that get me. Apparently is called "Tactile Defensiveness," and it affects my sense of touch as well.

Damn! That sounds like me! It's not necessarily the taste of some things that gets me, it's the texture.

For example, I love orange juice, but I have to strain the pulp. I've done that since I was a kid. I don;t want chunks of things in my juice.
Okra....again, it doesn't taste bad, but I hate the hairiness/squishiness of it as well as the little ball-bearing seeds that pop out of it.
Another is veal....but that doesn't have a good texture or taste to me.

And Potato pancakes....I despise their texture and their taste. No matter how many times people try to convince me theirs are different, I cannot stomach them. Oh, I try them. But I never like them.

Texture.....more of a factor than taste for me when determining a like/dislike of something.

[hanna]

Or mushrooms. Ewww. They are sooooo slippery. I love mushroom soup but otherwise...............................