Tasting the sauce at every single step feels dumb until it isnt

I used to just season at the end and hope for the best, especially when doing big batches of braised beef for a Sunday special. Last month I started grabbing a tiny spoon at each stage: after the sear, after the wine goes in, after an hour of simmering. The difference hit me when the broth tasted flat at hour one, then a pinch of salt and a splash of vinegar brought it alive by hour two. Now I keep a small ramekin on the station just for tasting spoons, and my line cooks think Im nuts but they do it too. Anyone else find that their food got noticeably better once they stopped waiting until the finish line to adjust things?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

andrew_craig15d ago

Seems like a lot of extra work for something you could just fix at the end anyway. Most braises taste flat an hour in no matter what you do, that's just how it goes, and dumping in salt and vinegar once at the end gets you the same place. Plus you're burning through spoons and time on a Sunday when you could just let it ride.

7