I think your "casually scientific" approach really sets the channel apart. Keep it up! And i'd love to see a deeper dive in combinations of flavors that make spices taste the way they do
It's really fun, I'd say Adam does something very similar, but don't forget it's still only 1 or 2 dudes and you choose to trust them. Doing it yourself really is valuable, I've done it with coffee and was shocked at how pulling a shot works over it's brew time flavour-wise. As for feedback for Ethan, at the end I was expecting more plates with the variations. I like that you choose the "laziest" and "best" options, but for me the most reasonable option at home would be untoasted but bloomed (takes no extra time or real effort). Also, if there's more options, do the flavours subtly change/improve or do the differences become hard to notice? As for the length and execution, perfect. Not too much science at the start for me to stop watching but enough for a base then straight to the more entertaining and helpful practice runs. Again, if you'd want to make a "best" version, I'd include at least a round of 4 people (and definitely keep including your own opinions knowing everything at the end!) and really make it more of a journey trying to find the sweet spot for us lazy but passionate home cooks :)
I'm Indian and I really appreciate you nailing down on why we do what we do. It also confirms the wisdom of my mother who knew these things about how to cook Indian cooking, but couldn't really tell me why.
I don’t know how to cook. I was using leftover rice for lunches and needed flavor so I dumped various spice mixes in it to make it taste different each day. I remembered one day whenever I’ve seen Indian cooking shows they heat in oil first. Tried it and wow. Still don’t know how to cook but my lunches are much better. 😊
In Indian cooking, there are 3 times you add spices - whole spices (mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom, cinammon) are added first to give the oil the flavor profile, then the powders (chili powder, turmeric powder, salt) for the body and the tempering spices at the end of the dish (cooked separately and poured) for aroma and the vessel is shut for infusion.
@@rebecca69629 Mustard seeds and dried red chilis fried in oil for savory dishes, and nuts, raisins in ghee for sweet dishes or rice dishes are two examples.
Some dishes do call for fenugreek into the body of the dish, towards the end. Add dried fenugreek available in most Indian stores. Look for Kasoori Methi
Can you do an episode discussing the water-soluble vs oil-soluble spices? I feel like that aspect of spices helps determine when and how to utilize them.
All spices are fat soluble as they feature organic chains. A handful of spices kinda bond with water molecules via hydrogen bonds (vanilla, cinammon, etc). All these work best in fat though
@@ekbp3zpe760 There are water-soluble and fat-soluble flavors. It makes a huge difference whether you make garlic "oil" for e.g. pizza crusts or langos with just garlic, oil and salt, or whether you also add water when mixing. Garlic with oil and water is much rounder and tastier. Only then does the taste of the garlic really come into its own.
@@maronily Personally I think most dessicated things will do well with water. Garlic powder, onion powder, ginger powder, paprika and pepper powder of any kind. I'm actually careful with these and don't really consider them spices. These are dried vegetables to me. Only garlic powder I add without thinking. I guess onion powder without salt would be fine too, but the rest are too much of a gamble if the recipe doesn't call for them. Ginger definitely affects how hot the food is. Things that used to be much bigger then turned into a fine powder aren't spices to me. They have flavor, but they can change acidity of the dish undesirably.
As an Indian, I cannot be more proud of the excruciating detail you went to distinguish the way Indians make gravy (toasted and bloomed) versus a nonchalant restaurant or an ill-informed cook. This method of toasting and blooming is so implicit to us Indians that any other way aka adding it later just seems weird, not to mention extremely sharp and unpalatable. Where's your Patreon link?
YES! Thank you! The day I cooked fresh curry leaves in oil - I just couldn't believe how wonderful... well I feel stupid saying it changed my life but it did damn it! That aroma. I couldn't stop talking about it for weeks! Heaven! My food tastes SO much better. Blooming & toasting spices should be taught to everyone who cooks any food.
Exactly... I remember getting angry when I saw non Indian cooks adding heaps of turmeric and masala at the end and calling it curry. Lol that's not how you're supposed to cook with spices.
dude YES- this explains so well why when i came here to Canada, some biryanis just tasted off- they had the flavour profile, but didn’t feel the same at all! knowing this now it makes so much more sense, me being used to the slow-cooked seeping flavour you get out of biryani at home.
The blooming of the spices explains why leftovers taste better (unless the dish depends upon aromatics like chervil or sesame). Great video. I would be interested in seeing more along this topic, especially for some of the herbs and spices that are in traditional American cooking, or in BBQ rubs.
Chili and some stews is a great mention for re-heated leftovers being better. Not mention that low and slow cooking for BBQ both Korean and American. It helps those spices meld and work together without any single one overpowering the combo.
If left overs taste bitter that might be because the spices werent cooked enough. Even freshly cooked dishes were spices havent been cooked properly taste unpleasant at least to Indian palatte.
@banksy2870 or cooked too much, like with bay leaves. They get bitter after a few hours simmering in sauce or a braise. When I braise pork shoulder in tomato/beer sauce, I have to fish out the bay leaves after 4 hours or they have actually made the sauce bitter. Beer can get bitter over many hours too. You do have to know your ingredients.
Your video is very interesting. As an Indonesian, living in Indonesia, and love to cook our local dish, I learned that different spices (and herbs) prepared differently. Some need toasted, burnt, crushed, pounded, grinded, grated, dice, teared. Also the timing to put each one in the cooking dish make a huge difference. The same ingredients can be put twice as we expect different flavour from it so the dish is rich with layers of flavor. Some spice we pick and discard after the dish is finish not to let it over power the flavor. Some dish need long hours to cook. One example is beef rendang from Padang, that need at least 4 hours to get the right taste and texture. It is amazing, how the same recipe can have a very different result in the hands of different cook. 😊
My mum (who is the best Pakistani cook ever!) always said that the rest of the spices don’t come out right if the salt level isn’t right. It’s helped my cooking a lot. A cool test would be making an optimally spiced curry but altering the salt level for each one and seeing how it affects the rest of the spice profile.
That kinda goes against what Ethan was arguing and my understanding of flavor, and yet I’m almost inclined to believe with you. Taste is weird af, and even the scientists don’t understand it entirely but I do believe our current understanding says salt shouldn’t enhance spices and should just enhance general flavor
She's right because Salt is the main ingredient when it comes to flavor. It's main purpose in modernity is to enhance flavor. Before refrigeration it was used for kosher meats...drawing out blood and preserving meats but now with refrigeration its not used like that for those societies who have it. Salt minimizes bitterness, balances out sweetness and enhances flavor! Its pretty amazing and an abundant resource Thanks be to God! :).
This video is absolutely perfect for my Grade 11 Food and Culture class. It’s hard to find videos about food flavours and aromas that aren’t designed for chef school. Can’t wait to show my students and try the recipes in the kitchen classroom. Thanks Ethan!
A Hungarian taught me to bloom the paprika. It tastes so good when you do that. 😋 If you dry toast it, you get a charcoal-y taste (it is a dried fruit after all, not a seed/root/stem). If you put it in at the end, you get a dusty, sour taste almost like tomatoes.
We use pig fat mostly, put some chopped onions, fry it until its “glassy”, then comes the dry grounded paprika. Make sure to not heat it too much since it will become sour. After a minute or two we add a litle bit of water a few times. Add water, wait until its vaporised then repeat. It becomes jucy
As someone who makes Indian food everyday, this video is sooo interesting and helpful. I always did things (e.g. roasting spices before grinding them) because i was just told that's the way to do it without understanding the reason. Would love to see more food science content like this!!
I found this super informative. Then I thought about it and realised oh this should be obvious as it is chemistry in motion. The ingredients are important, but the processes and methods give you the end result. Without the process being right everything falls short. I also liked what another commenter said about there being three distinct points for adding spice. Once for the flavour profile with the seeds in the oil, once with the powders for the body and once with the tempering at the end being a seperate mix you add in and put the lid on the pan. So much to learn and practice.
This confirms what I've been doing. Use toasted spices bloomed in oil for the body of the dish, then add a small touch of untoasted spices at the end to get that zingy top note.
As a scientist who loves to cook, I *love* these types of videos. I got into cooking precisely through growing up watching Alton Brown and Good Eats, and over the years realized it's the food science aspect more than anything that captures my attention. Don't shy away from the complexity, you have a great explanation and teaching style and I'm always impressed with how you're able to manage being engaging and accurate while covering the food science.
Me too, love this kinda video, but there should have been 4 tests at the end though. a) Bloomed + Toasted, b) Unbloomed + Toasted, c) Untoasted + Bloomed, and d) Untoasted + Unbloomed. It would be interesting if the two you didn't make tasted the same.
I came across your channel by accident. I love it!!! I am 65 years old & have taught young men how to cook well - & easily. So they are not dependent on a "good woman to cook for them". your channel discussed many of the techniques I taught them. I'm so glad you made this channel. thank you. PS: my favorite spice is the "Sweet Curry" (Non-hot Curry).
Love the video! Also want to add that while aroma is the most noticeable component, a whole bunch of spices have noticeable effects on mouthfeel and digestion (cloves, peppers, cinnamon, nutmeg etc). The heat that spices can build up during digestion is no joke :).
This was really interesting. I primarily cook with dried herbs and spices and wondered if you plan to do any videos on optimizing the flavours of dried vs fresh. You did touch on the fact that fat helps to recover/distribute the flavours, but I would certainly be interested in a deep dive on this topic.
I started using whole spices but unfortunately I can't afford fresh herbs, they'd cost me a third of my food money, so a video on cooking with dried herbs sounds great.
@@aonirnolaloth If circumstances allow, I'd suggest trying a small herb garden. Basil and rosemary are fairly easy to grow and resilient and besides the initial investment it's free as long as you cam keep them alive
@@aonirnolaloth Genuine question, where do you live where fresh herbs are so expensive? I'm in the North East of the US and my local produce store 5 min away sells huge bushels of most popular herbs (mint, cilantro, parsley, sage, chives, thyme, etc) for about a dollar to a dollar-fifty in quantities I usually can't even finish before they go bad.
As a 70+ yrs old Indian cooking most of my life I found this a very informative video. Have been following these practices without fully realizing the why part- thank you! Great video.
@@EthanChlebowski Absolutely loved this video. I would love to see a deep dive into gluten strength. I've been trying to find resources online, but I've found them lacking. I want to optimize the gluten strength after 1 day proving for my pizzeria. I'd love some graphs showing the relationship between kneading time / gluten strength, proving time / gluten strength, and how hydration interacts with both.
It's interesting because I've always heard that toasting your spices in fat "wakes up the spices" (per Chef John for example). But it seems like it tones everything down and makes it more well rounded.
My understanding of the saying that blooming spices “wakes up” the flavors was that it’s more speaking on preground or old spices which have lost some of that flavor. But we can test this ourselves! A couple of tablespoons of yogurt, one teaspoon of olive oil, and whatever spices are on hand. For sleeping spices, I’ll just add two teaspoons of garam masala to the yogurt as well as my olive oil and mix. For an awoken version I’ll add the oil and spices to a small pan and “wake them up” before adding to the yogurt. I’ll report back here with results! Edit: results below
You are a top tier food RU-vidr. Your videos are comprehensive, accessible, on topics that are actually informative to common topics and questions. Thank you for these.
Dude, Ethan! This video was so great- as an Indian person who grew up with these spices, it was always kinda hard to explain how the way you use them changes your dish so much and creates a totally different vibe but you absolutely nailed it! One of my personal favourite dishes has a blend of toasted and bloomed and fresh spices that adds such a vivid complexity to the food and man, it’s stuff like that that makes food so beautiful.
My grandma and mum passed down recipies to my cousins and I. These recipies require certain spices to be fried, some boiled, some ground, some whole, some toasted etc. and adding it at different times of the cooking process. We have blindly followed them as they result in awesome flavours. It is great to know the science behind it. I love Indian food so much!
Hey Ethan, been watching your videos for quite sometime. As a home cook myself it’s very gratifying seeing someone on RU-vid cook with simplicity in mind to really understand why food can be so enjoyable to cook and eat. Keep up the good work.
I absolutely love your videos and that you are one of the few people that actually explains what happens while cooking. This is so great. Its always sad that many other just say "yeah, this is absolutely necessary, otherwise it will taste shitty" but they dont explain the reasons behind it
As so many others are saying, one of my favorite elements of your channel is not just that you tell us recipes OR the techniques to customize recipes for ourselves, but the food science and/or logical reasoning behind said techniques in a way that doesn't require bookreading, so this video was a treat! Loved to see my two RU-vid cooking dads together, too!
Wow. I love these videos. Been watching them back to back now. When it came to cooking (or anything in life) I always asked “why?” Why does it have to be that way? And had no one to really answer and understand the science behind why certain things make food taste better. I finally found someone who helps me understand so I can start my cooking journey. Thank you, Ethan.
Honestly Ethan, this video really helped me understand how to better use my spices. I will likely go for the bloomed versions. I appreciate the work you put into this stuff. Definitely more spice videos would be wicked.
First off - THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! I'm a decent / passable cook (Ok, ok, I suck) but one thing I noticed was the only time I use spices is when, for instance, if I'm making a tomato sauce I use "Italian sounding spices", grab a bunch of little jars and shake some in, meh, better, but not really any more impressive then if I had just left them out. Oh, and the two garlic rules, 1- ANYTHING not sweet is better with garlic (shut up - it's true!) and 2- there's no such thing as too much garlic (shut up -it's true!). ¦¬Þ Anyway, I've been wanting to learn how to use spices to really improve my cooking but never knew how to learn it short of taking a cooking class. Second - DEEP DIVE! DEEP DIVE! DEEP DIVE! PLEEEEASE!!! Again, Thank you!
Weird; I don't remember typing this comment, but it definitely feels like I could have. Herb and spice use is something I never learned in any systematic way, so I just sort of have my half-dozen I know I like and I eyeball some amount into dishes. and really go hard on the garlic >.>
Warning : in a different yet related note : there is actually a thing called two much garlic. if you add too much garlic, you can actually sweat the thiols out, and your friends will NOT appreciate that. So. Experiment on a week you know you wont be going out, and settle on an amount your pores are okay with.
I love how you incorporate the science of cooking into your channel. Like the testing of your hypothesis, controlling everything else, & coming up with a conclusion. I'm sure it takes a lot of time and effort to put this all together but it's most definitely helping take the mystery out of the kitchen.
I love that you prove cooking is, in fact, a science. I've already used a lot of information from this channel and it's just sent my cooking to another level!
Great scientific approach ! Learned a lot from this video and as an Indian, it used to be extremely weird to see someone using untoasted spices or not blooming their spices because it does make a ton of difference in the taste. It literally completely changes the taste.
To be honest don't make these quicker your delivery is impeccable. The fact that you take time to explain the how, what and why makes these videos very valuable !
Your video is very interesting. As an Indonesian, living in Indonesia, and love to cook our local dish, I learned that different spices (and herbs) prepared differently. Some need toasted, burnt, crushed, pounded, grinded, grated, dice, teared. Also the timing to put each one in the cooking dish make a huge difference. The same ingredients can be put twice as we expect different flavour from it so the dish is rich with layers of flavor. Some spice we pick and discard after the dish is finish not to let it over power the flavor. Some dish need long hours to cook. One example is beef rendang from Padang, that need at least 4 hours to get the right taste and texture. It is amazing, how the same recipe can have a very different result in the hands of different cook.
I’d say this video was dang near perfect. Perfect length. Just enough “sciencey stuff” to educate but not let the viewer get bored or skip. And of course I love your videos but it always a good idea to have a blind taster to try the food. Especially a trustworthy/knowledgeable one. Great job.
This is a great video and it shows fairly definitively the differences in "before" and "after". What i'd like to see as well is a video more on the side of timing, and not just for spices. Example: I make a lot of dishes with onions. If it calls for say 3 onions, I'll blacken one, sauce one, and then add the last later. I get the char, sugar, and sulfur compounds for a sort of total onion spectrum. I know this from working in kitchens for a long time, but it would be helpful for the folks who think "an onion is an onion is an onion".
I love A-B testing, isolating variables and trying them out. I know this means a lot of extra work so I appreciate the effort! With the spices I knew there would be a difference but I wasn't expecting it to be so clear cut!
deeper dive into the spices!! love these explanation videos on cooking. Anyone can follow a recipe but I love understanding why we add each ingredient.
Just finished watching this and it was really helpful! It'd be great to have another of this kind of video to understand when to use dry herbs or fresh ones and what kind of difference it makes.
From experience: fresh vs dried spices are not even related. The flavor profile is so different it could as well refer to different plants, for most plants. It's like comparing fermented soy to unfermented soy. Those are not the same.
What a great first video of the channel to stumble on. I'll be looking over your catalog for sure. Edit: You asked for feedback at the end. It was the 'Beginner's Guide...' part of the title that brought me here. I'm a big fan of Alton, and seeing Meathead's book displayed prominently was an encouraging sign (love the guy, but he's all wet about resting meat). I can appreciate that a video like this is more difficult to produce. I hope you can appreciate that I got a whole lot more out of it than 95% of the cooking videos I watch. You watch a recipe video, and it informs you for one dish. Watch a video like this, and it informs every dish you make.
Ugh, yes! Thank you for this, Ethan! Toasting spices is critical! PSA - Another example of a dish where it matters: Cacio e Pepe! TOAST YOUR PEPPERCORNS, FRIENDS! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
100%. I like doing a bit of both for my cacio pepe. Roasted peppercorns for the base of the sauce, and some extra fresh ground over top for the spicy piperene!
Fantastic video! I’m a food nerd that’s also into fragrances/perfumery, and I couldn’t help but tell how much of your top/heart/base notes info is applicable. It’s often referred to as the “note pyramid”. Much of it is marketing, with many notes being things that don’t exist (like “blue amber” or something). But from what I understand the actual size of the aroma molecule corresponds to its “strength”, and at least in that way does make sense in the context of a pyramid. Nitro musks, like the ones found in detergent, are gigantic and last a ridiculously long time, while top notes like cis-3-Hexen-1-ol (smells like fresh cut grass) are quite weak and don’t last a great deal of time at all. And then all of this is also applicable in other food related circles, like wine and beer and chocolate and coffee, where the presence of these aroma molecules will greatly picture and color your experience. What a world.
I think you make the most valuable videos for home cooks. It inspires, leaves you to think differently about food in general, but also specific ingredients. It's not just what you directly get from the video, but much more how it changes your perception and thinking about food.
My first experience with Kenji Lopez was his salt or no salt when soaking beans article. I fell in love with his scientific method applied to food, sometimes destroying common food related myths. It's nice to see Ethan is on a similar track and he takes the time to make these non-recipe videos.
What a great video. Loved the dynamic of going through each element together with the blind tasting. It does par up with what I've found as an amateur cook but also reaffirms what I thought I knew and I've learned a whole lot more too! I've made simple changes like popping the spices in with the onions and oil at the start of a lamb chilli and it's SO much better than adding the spices in mid-way. Thank you for the awesome video
Loved the video, though I would like to say that the picture that maps out the different 'tasting regions' of the tongue is purely a myth. Taste buds on the tongue aren't organised in regions like the one shown in the graph, they are spread evenly throughout the entire part of the tongue that houses taste buds
Fascinating. While visiting Kerala I was impressed how chefs aimed to ‘harmonise’ the spices and flavourings. I think this valuable experiment is travelling in the same direction. Thank you.
I love this video so much. I'm trying to get more into cooking and I often like/need to understand the why of a lot of things. I also think that having precise knowledge and understanding makes your cooking predictable and repeatable. Thank you for making this Ethan.
I really appreciate the science side of things mixed with the practical "what does this look like." Thank you! Knowing little tips like this to enhance the overall meal making process is a delight!
Side by side testing is great to see especially with an outside taster! Have you thought about doing a triangle test instead of side-by-side? In a triangle test you have to pick the odd one out from 3 samples. So in this there would be 1 toasted and 2 untoasted samples.
I knew we were in for some dope content when two of my fave cooks decided to collab but this stuff is next level!! I would like to mention that in Bengali cooking, for some curries we add a sprinkling of toasted cumin powder or garam masala at the very end . It gives you a combination of a cohesive, refined sauce from the bloomed spices + nutty/floral top end notes that still give you a kick but its more mellow as its been toasted as opposed to sprinkling raw spices.
This explains why i like my cheese bread with a toasted sourdough bread, sometimes rubbed with garlic and explicitly only slightly warmed up, well riped cheese. Toasting the bread makes a huge difference of course but i never quite understood why the cheese tastes best if it's just slightly warmed up rather than melted.
Wow, interesting study!!!!! Loved that you spelt out things we do instinctively. How some people use one recipe, yet each individual persons curry will taste different, and it's easy to know who has bloomed ( lovely term for this technique) the spices and who has just carelessly just added the spices in the end. There are flavours that get infused by just frying certain powdered masalas at the end in oil just for 1/2 a minute, not allowing the powder to burn and it just changes the taste to make an unpalatable gravy delicious. Indian cooking is just matchless.
I've always known that there is a difference in how spices are used and added, but knowing *why* will certainly help make me a better cook. Clear explanations, great tests. Thank you.
I really like how the experimental angle makes the information more playful and dependable at the same time. Keep up the good work! I think I would like a 'tier video' of what cooking techniques to learn. Like what do you consider essential or more advanced? Of course it's up to what someone feels attracted to, interested in, but still.
One thing I think would be really interesting, since toasting mutes the top notes, it would be cool to see how adding both toasted and untoasted spices might affect the flavor of the final dish. That way, you get the top notes initially, but then they fade into the more mellowed, toasty notes from the toasted spices. I'll have to give that a try sometime to see how it tastes.
This is very interesting to watch and it also makes sense with fresh herbs vs Dried herbs too. Whenever I cook, I always add dried herbs such as dried oregano, rosemary and thyme towards the start of the cooking process due to the fact that you don't risk loosing those desirable high notes (like with fresh basil once you cook it a lot), and instead you want to rehydrate, release the flavours and also let them meld with what you are making. On the other hand, if I use fresh herbs, like fresh basil, I put it in to my food in the last minute of cooking in order to not destroy the desirable high notes, but just to wilt it and mix it in. In a similar way to the spices, adding herbs to the beginning or end regardless of dry or fresh depends on the effect (subtle and cohesive, or prominent) that you are trying to achieve. This also makes sense in why we use some herbs dried and why we use some herbs fresh. I dont really use dried basil in the same way as fresh because in it's dry form, it has become more mellow, and completely different product. In the same way, I never tend to use fresh oregano because it is too overwhelming to my senses when used in large quantities, and prefer to use a more mellow dry version. Thank you for this video again! Very informative and keep up the great work!
Really love your content, I feel like every day I’m improving with all the information that you and channels like pro home cooks or kenji bring for us. I even bought the food lab book because you referenced it a lot and learning a ton. Thank you!
Ethan, fantastic, everything you do informs my cooking and takes it up a notch from a passable home cook to being able to achieve taste sensations that make other people and me very happy 😁The balance is always right between the "science" and the practical and you ensure the two always work off each other. I like that you don't accept things because "that's how they've always been done" but you test them and learn in the process. You've also introcduced me, and perhaps others, to another amazing cook judging by his skill and interest in tasting. I definitely want to go watch @Pro Home Cooks ! Keep doing what you're doing 🤗 (No Ethan didn't write this or pay me to write it 😜... it is ALL my genuine reaction to this amazing video and very much deserved 😄) !!!
hi Mike! I love this episode. It's so hard to do these kinds of experiments at home, (don't want to waste the food or take the time). When I discovered blooming spices it made a huge difference & gave my dinners that home-cooked with love & tradition taste, (yay India). Now I know better how that works. I hope you do more side-by-side tastings. Super informative! Love your channel.
Such a cool video! This is very helpful as I often disregard toasting or blooming spices to save some time, now I may change it up to see the difference myself. Hope you make more of these videos, I've been a subscriber for so long, and your content always gets better. Keep it up.
Ethan, I think a very useful topic to explore is food vocabulary and flavor description. This would help people to better identify flavors and convey that information to others. It is a big, tough topic and it may be something that you and Adam Ragusea could work on together.
I'm from the Caribbean and this is also how we were taught to cook. Toast first then add in some oil and the rest of your aromatics-onions,garlic etc and allow to bloom or as we say- 'soften'.
Great video! One thing I'd suggest just on a production level, is it possible to balance the volumes between the 2 person shots and the solo info shots? This was pretty cool and changes how I think about spices. Thanks~
A microphone for the guest would be greatly appreciated. Or just use a room mike that picks up both voices equally. No point in getting a second opinion when you can't hear it.
I really appreciate the way you explain your variant and invariant factors and don't make claims that aren't easily supported by your demonstration. For example, you claim toasting whole spices makes a difference and it is clearly preferred in this case, but you don't claim that the effect will be the same (or even positive) for every spice combination. I feel the same about all of your comparison videos that I've seen so far.
I just discovered your channel! I really appreciate your pedagogic/scientific approach and how you explain everything in some detail It's a detail but I wanted to let you know that the taste buds locations at 2:43 is a myth, and all taste buds can be found all over the surface of the tongue :)
Cooking with spices and making sauces are the two areas I really want to learn more about - and this video is a great starting point. Like most people, I have been cooking my whole life, but never had this kind of info on how to do it properly. Thanks!
As a professional cook, I always took extra care in how and when I added the spices. Problem being, it was a franchise so I'd get scolded for making the food too good; "they don't want good food, they want the same crap they always get". I mean, I get it, but that doesn't jive with my passion for cooking.
It's not that your stuff was "too good." It's that they have invested so much money in food scientists, chefs, and food testers to guarentee their brand integrity with a consistent product. It may not be high art, but those ppl are the top of their field and still deserve respect. Don't be such a food snob
@@msjkramey I completely agree with everything you said. I can assure you that my food was sufficiently unremarkable following that meeting. Funny story though; months after the chef in question got himself fired, the franchise owner dropped in to check on things. Since I held the second longest tenure at that location, he recognized me as someone who liked to discuss cooking techniques and started a conversation that segued into the topic at hand. Long story short, he was cool with it. There's bound to be minor differences between locations nation-wide and if we could control those differences to improve the food, then all the better. Just as long as proper temperature control was maintained and that nothing was being removed or added from the recipes, of course.
Thanks for bringing Mike into the video as a taster. I've learned a lot from both of you. This was amazingly informative. I think there may be times when you want to preserve and made use of those top notes that are cooked off by toasting, but knowing how heat and timing in the cooking process changes spices is a game changer!
I think this is a great example why we need double blind studies for "real" science experiments. Please don't understand this too critically, the video was awesome and I don't think this invalidates your tests at all since it seemed to be so clear cut. It is just super interesting to see how you as the "scientist" influenced the test subject. I made some butter chicken today before watching this and am glad that I did it "correctly" by your tests. I tasted great :)
amazing vid, i love these explanations that broaden my knowledge as an 18years old home cook/amateur uni art student that I can listen as I animate my rotoscopy hwrk XD
I'd like to see you dive further into this, I'm especially interested in the potency of toasted spices over time instead of toasting whole spices every time you cook. Do they stay good for a few days, weeks, months and when does this overlap with pre-ground spices you can buy at the grocery store.
Please, more of these kinds of videos! Like others have said, the science-based approach sets your channel apart, and including the scientific background (even if it can be a bit daunting in terminology, which I certainly don't mind) it absolutely great. You do an excellent job of breaking it down and keeping it intellectually rigorous but accessible. All the food science videos, please!
Gastronomy has been one of those things for me where the more I learn, the more I realize how much I still don't know. Here's something I've been thinking about in regards to flavors and aroma: I think we can all agree that the texture of food has a big impact on the taste experience, but have you thought about how different things can taste depending on what you eat them with, and how? I find "thinner" drinks in general taste much better from a thin rimmed glass (wine for example), and whenever I'm making a sauce, I notice how tasting it from a spoon vs licking it off the back of a ladle offers quite a bit of difference. I could come up with many more examples, it's just fun stuff to think about once you're kinda aware of it.
I can’t believe this content is free. So much skill, film technique and thought I fee guilty not to pay. 9.5/10 you just need to mic your friend up next time
Really great video! It confirmed my suspicion that toasting the spices shouldnt really intensify the aroma and will rather attenuate some notes (which can be a good thing of course) Now i would find it very interesting to see what difference pre ground vs. fresh ground spices would make, since letting ground spices sit for a long time should theoretically remove somewhat similar volatile compounds as toasting them. So maybe a comparsion of preground spices to toasted and then freshly ground spices in a meal would be an insightful video.
so interesting, but as a non-indian, tryiing to replicate that authentic taste - can you suggest spice blends - as i'm always frustrated at the lack of freshness of so many commercial blends and sadly my own home efforts - i will definately always toast my marsala powder from now on.
The commercial blends aren’t bad, but ANY herb or spice that’s dried out and not ground fresh is going to lose the top notes. That’s why we all love our pepper grinders. 😋
Supermarket garam masala brands are no substitute for spices roasted and ground at home. You need two things : a sturdy spice grinder and an authentic YT video on garam masala blend/preparation. The actual blend of spices can range between 10-15 different spices: common ones being cumin, bay leaves, coriander, cinnamon, peppercorns, cloves, cardamom (green and black). Rarer ones including nutmeg, mace. It's not necessary to include all of them. The process is more important than the spices themselves imho.
The only way to guarantee a fresh spice blend is to make the blend yourself lol. Usually the commercial spice blends are made from the bottom of the barrel spices that don’t pass muster, which is why they’re ground up and added to a hundred other spices to mask their mediocre flavour. Go buy the whole spices and grind them yourself, once you do it a couple of times it’s fairly easy
Can you do another one where you compare whether adding spices “before” or “after” you add tomatoes to a curry sauce makes any difference? I’m wondering whether the acid in the tomatoes would affect the final taste in any way. Also, if adding yoghurt to the same sauce, when is the best time to add it? I’ve always been told that the order should be: spices, then tomatoes, then yoghurt, otherwise it won’t taste right. Also, we like to fry our spices in oil to make sure they bloom and taste really nice. What happens if you don’t do this step and instead just add them in but still cook it for 30 mins. How much of a difference does it make?
Interestingly enough, I unintentionally encountered some of this last night while cooking dinner. I was making saag for the first time. Followed the recipe (not yours since it was a Keto/Paleo version) to the letter, which included blooming the spices. But, when I tasted the complete dish later, it felt thin and flat. So, I then added 50% more spices to try to doctor it up. And, it was exactly as you said. The first taste was smooth and cohesive, and the second taste (after the added extra spices) was more punchy and immature, if that makes sense. Next time I try the recipe, I'm going to do the 150% spices, but bloom them all up front to see how that affects things. I'm guessing it'll be less thin and flat and more cohesive overall. As I type this, I'm realizing that when I make dishes like Matzo Ball Soup, for instance, I always have vegetables in the base of the stock. But, as the stock develops the veggie flavor becomes more subdued and basic (as in nearer to base notes). So, I always add more of the same fresh veggies very close to the end, and that gives me not only better textural elements (instead of mushy, disintegrating veg), but punchy, fresh veggies top notes. I really dig the combo of the developed + the fresh. So, maybe a little of both may provide optimal results after all? Aaaaanyway, the only other thought I have on this video, besides THANK YOU! is... you made a beautiful curry and failed to serve it with *basmati* rice, like it deserved. I'm sure it was still delicious. 🤪
This is absolutely fascinating and so well presented. The duplicatable experiments that provide a starting point for some to try is a great addition. Providing sources, too, is a giant bonus. Thanks.
Dude Ethan, you deserve the success your channel has seen. The content you put out is so solid and hits right where us enthusiast tier home cooks are at. Huge fan, keep it up!
It really opens up an infinity of variations in resulting VOC profiles... like toasting spices for different lengths of time (not adding all at once), or only toasting some and not others, or even different temps. Then blooming in oil, using oil as a carrier for these compounds vs. adding directly to sauce. Awesome video, and very enlightening! 😃
Neat experiment! It's good to see you putting conventional wisdom/practices to the test. I only wish you would have made the experiment double-blind because at 11:55 Mike reacts to your facial expression which suggests that there could be undue influence on the results. I think you're both experienced enough that it wouldn't be significant but that moment stuck out to me. I'd also be interested to experiment with how toasted and ground spices change over time. Is it best to toast/grind/bloom immediately before cooking or do they become better or worse when stored for a period of time?
Love Ethan's channel, so clear and concise. Great that he invited Mike. First discovered him at the beginning of the lockdown. Brings a slightly different vibe but both these guys deliver great content.
