Wayne Gisslen

Seasoning

Appears in
Professional Cooking: 10th Edition
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2025

  • About

  1. The most important time for seasoning liquid foods is at the end of the cooking process.

    The last step in most recipes, whether written or not, is “adjust the seasoning.” This means you have to first taste and evaluate the product. Then you must decide what should be done, if anything, to improve the taste. Often, a little salt in a stew or a dash of fresh lemon juice in a sauce is enough.

    The ability to evaluate and correct flavors takes experience, and it is one of the most important skills a cook can develop.

  2. Salt and other seasonings are also added at the beginning of cooking, particularly for larger pieces of food, when seasonings added at the end would not be absorbed or blended in but just sit on the surface.
  3. Adding some of the seasoning during the cooking process aids in evaluating the flavor along the way.
  4. Do not add much seasoning if it will be concentrated during cooking, as when a liquid is reduced.