Chef Samin Nosrat argues that cooking delicious food boils down to just four elements: salt, fat, acid, and heat. In her new book, 'Salt Fat Acid Heat', she shares 17 years of culinary experience, emphasising that mastering these components frees cooks from relying on recipes and enables them to create meals from leftovers.
Nosrat, who trained at the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, explains that salt amplifies flavour and affects texture. She advises cooks to be generous when seasoning water for boiling vegetables, as most salt ends up in the drain and helps seal in nutrients. For everyday cooking, she recommends sea salt, with Maldon salt reserved for garnishing.
Fat, she says, adds flavour and texture, contributing to qualities such as crispness, creaminess, and tenderness. To prevent flavour degradation and toxic chemical release, she suggests preheating the pan before adding oil, and stopping heating butter before adding it to cookies to avoid them going flat.
Acid makes food mouthwatering, lifting flavour and triggering chemical reactions that alter colour and texture. Nosrat advises using salt to enhance, fat to carry, and acid to balance flavour. Regarding heat, she recommends working backwards from the desired final dish to determine the cooking process, such as simmering potatoes in salted water before mashing them with butter and sour cream.
Nosrat believes that modern life has mystified cooking, leading to a polarisation between food enthusiasts and those who delegate eating to others. She aims to demystify cooking and make it accessible to everyone, asserting that anyone can become a good cook with the right understanding of these four elements.
