On Seasoning

The role of seasoning is a simple one: to bring out the best flavour in the ingredients you are using. It is probably the most important thing you can do. It is also the one thing that is done badly by the vast majority of home cooks. Well-seasoned food tastes great and the flavour of most food is dramatically different when it is done well. By seasoning, I mostly mean salting. I always use sea salt, as it has a finer, cleaner taste than other salts. I rarely pepper before and during cooking, as I believe the aromatic quality and fresh bite in pepper is destroyed by cooking. I also believe that when pepper is seared or roasted at high heat on food it becomes slightly bitter. So, pepper for me is always lashings on the food as I plate up or, indeed, when I have plated up.