Fix an Over Seasoned Dish

If you've spent much time in the kitchen, you've likely run into one of the most common and frustrating cooking transgressions, the over-seasoned dish. While this can be discouraging, especially so when you mean to serve the dish to guests, don't rush to throw the food out just yet. Using a few simple tricks, you can quickly learn how to fix an over-seasoned dish.

Steps

  1. Familiarize yourself with the four tastes. There are four commonly recognized tastes that you can manipulate in your cooking: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. The goal when cooking is to achieve a balance between these tastes. An over-seasoned dish is likely to have one of these flavors dominate; fixing this problem is achieved through the adjustment of the other three flavors.
  2. Learn which ingredients can be used to adjust each taste. There are some basic ingredients, which you can employ to alter the flavors in your food; it's helpful to keep these ingredients on hand at all times.
    • Ingredients that make a dish saltier include salt, soy sauce and fish sauce.
    • Ingredients that make a dish sweeter include sugar, molasses and honey.
    • Ingredients that make a dish more sour include citrus juice, wine, and vinegar.
    • Ingredients that make a dish bitterer include beer and cocoa.
  3. Assess the problem with your dish. Which flavor is out of balance? Once you have answered that question, correct the problem by adding some ingredients to amplify the other tastes. For example, if your dish is too salty, try adding some lemon juice and sugar to balance it out. If a dish is too sweet, adding a pinch of salt can remedy the problem.
  4. Dilute the dish. If you have over-seasoned a soup, stew or sauce, you can fix the problem by diluting the dish. Add a splash or two of water and then taste the dish. By adding water, you will cause the overall flavor of your dish to be less intense, but if you have over-seasoned, the results can be positive.
  5. Add raw potato to your dish. If your soup or stew is too salty, adding raw potato is a good option. Slice the potato into small chunks (to expose a good bit of surface area) and then stir them in. The potato acts like a salt sponge, absorbing some of the salt right out of your dish. Cook the potato in the dish for several minutes, and then discard it.
  6. If your dish is too spicy, balance the heat with some sweetness. If you were a little heavy-handed with the chili peppers, add some sugar or honey to the dish to correct the problem.
  7. If your dish is still too spicy, serve it alongside a dairy product. Dairy complements spicy foods nicely; a protein in milk called casein binds with the heat-causing agent in spices and peppers called capsaicin, keeping it from binding instead to your mouth's pain receptors. Most cultures with spicy cuisine exploit this fact. Spicy Mexican food is served with sour cream, hot Indian curries are paired with yogurt, and Buffalo wings come alongside bleu cheese.



Tips

  • Use ingredients that are appropriate for your dish. If your homemade salsa is too salty, for example, add sugar and lime juice. To fix the same problem with a dish of braised pork, you could add sugar and red wine.
  • Taste your dish throughout the cooking process; this is the best way to avoid over-seasoning.

Things You'll Need

  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Lemon juice
  • Beer

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Sources and Citations

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