Dear cooks,

Here's something that has been a research subject of mine for quite a
while. I'm now trying to compile a comprehensive report on the subject
and would be interested in some input.

The question can be best illustrated by an example:

Preparing a long and slow cooking dish, say a beef stew, one usually
starts by chopping some vegetables (carrots, onions, garlic, celery and
such), throw in some aromatic herbs and pices, saute, put aside. Next
one may brown the meet and deglaze the pan. Next all ingredients may be
added to a large pot and liquids are added. Various stocks can be used,
wine or water. Now comes the part when the pot simmers for a long time
and the kitchen is filled with irresistible aromas. Now...

At some point one may want to see how things are going? What progress
has been made? Do we need to correct something?
This is done by taking a sip of the liquids. You need to decide: Should
I add liquid? Should I remove main ingredient and reduce liquids? Is the
flavor well balanced? Will it be overintense if I reduce too much?

These are difficult questions to answer in a formal manner. Most people
would tell you that they simply use their hunch and experience. That's
quite alright.

Every cook has a set of method for balancing the flavor of sauces and
stews. Some of those are quite innovative. For example, some cooks would
add something to balance a flavor. Salt and pepper is the natural
balancing pair. I've used lemon juice, honey, Tabasco sauce, soy sauce,
mustard, ketchup(!), and many other more and less acceptable additives.

I wish to compile a master flavor-balancing table of the following
structu

There are 7 columns.

1. Balance bias: one or more words describing the problem that needs
fixing. For example: salty, acidic, hot, sweet, bland, fishy, meaty,
etc, etc.

2. Ingredient: a name or names of the compound(s) to be used in fixing
the problem. For example: soy sauce

3. Preparation: treatment of the added ingredient prior to addition. For
example: mix together soy sauce, honey and a bit of water

4. Amount: how much? For example: a teaspoon of sugar.

5. Expected effect: reduce the heat of the stew, turn it somewhat milder

6. Warnings: what to avoid? what to beware of? For example: adding wine
toward the last stage of a slow cooking dish is not recommended because
it may raise acidity to much...

7. Notes: if needed, expand on the above.

I may want to categorize this table so that for different cooking
situations and challenges there may be an instance of this table that's
dedicated to the particular challenges of the category. For example:
beef stew, fish soups, reduction sauces, cream-based dishes, etc.

I wish to evolve this table to a point when it has numerous entries and
possibly several categories.

Do you think it is useful? Can you provide inputs? Help create and
populate this table?

Thanx,
*Yoram