The Unbound Reader, who married The Middle Son last year, wondered if I would talk about flavorings, flavor combinations that work together and what flavors work with which foods…confused?  Yeah, I have a tendency to do that sometimes, but let’s sort this out a bit.

Clearly, in order to experience the best flavors of anything, you need to start with a great cut of meat or perfectly ripe fruits or vegetables.  No amount of herbs or spices will fix any food past its prime.  But, on very good days, when the planets are all in alignment and you find the perfect, oh, let’s just say, the perfect winter squash, you will want that squash to sing when it hits the table, right?  What do you choose to enhance the sweetness, the texture, the flavor of our perfect squash?  All foods can be enhanced, their flavor boosted, by teasing out the very best parts of their flavors with salt and pepper, herbs and spices.  The key is understanding what works, how much and when to just use salt and pepper and nothing else.

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