David Chang's "Unified Theory of Deliciousness"

[Martin Fisher]

David Chang's "Unified Theory of Deliciousness"

 

"But I believe there is an objectively correct amount of salt, and it is rooted in a counterintuitive idea. Normally we think of a balanced dish as being neither too salty nor undersalted. I think that’s wrong. When a dish is perfectly seasoned, it will taste simultaneously like it has too much salt and too little salt. It is fully committed to being both at the same time."

 

[Yiannos]

This makes me think of peanut butter cups/chocolate and peanut butter in general... I think they have this sort of universally understood perfection, and in my head it is because your palate sort of bounces back and forth between the salty pb and the almost overly sweet chocolate. That spot in between where most of the experience lies is why they are so damn good. I think?

Edited August 6, 2016 by Yiannos
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[Tri2Cook]

It will never be more than a theory because there's no way to truly unify it. Food is seasoned properly when it tastes good to the person eating it. It's entirely subjective and will never be definitive. It's not even definitive when a high end chef says so by not allowing customers to add salt to their food because they "know better". All they know is what they consider to be the dish in it's perfect form. I have no problem with that, I can enjoy experiencing the food the way they want me to experience it, but that doesn't mean I'll agree that everything is seasoned perfectly for my taste. A chef who is truly offended by a person who says "that dish is delicious but I think I'd like it even better with a little more/less salt" has lost touch with reality. To think that the only correct taste is their own isn't skill, it's arrogance.

[Lisa Shock]

One's ability to taste salt is mostly related to the salinity of their saliva -which can change. The other tastes are affected by it as well:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2182682