What does Au Gratin Potatoes Taste Like?
Salty is one of the five main tastes. It has a satisfying and addictive quality with hints of sourness. Salty foods include cheeses, cured meats, chips, and olives. It is used in almost every dish and prepared food. Salt is added to enhance flavor and offer a distinctly salty taste.
Umami is one of five main tastes. It is savory with a depth of flavor. Umami is a taste in many foods, including meat, seafood, beans, and nuts. It is both naturally occurring and created through the specific use of ingredients to create a satisfying taste. Umami is characteristic of proteins and savory dishes.
Ingredients
The russet potato, is also known as the baking potato or Idaho potato and has a thin skin that is a brownish grey. The russet is larger than other varieties and has a diameter of 2-4 inches and an oblong shape. When cooked, the inside is white with a texture that is creamy and and lightly flaky and has a moist starchy quality. The flavor of the russet is mild, bland, creamy and earthy. The flavor is greatly aided by salt. The russet can be boiled, baked, fried or cooked to make its hard texture soft and edible.
Whole milk is a full fat cow's milk. Milk comes from a cow and is pasteurized and sold as a liquid dairy product. Whole milk is white and has a very thin viscosity. Whole milk has 3.25% milk fat in it and a rich and creamy flavor with a hint of sweetness. It is served as a beverage and is used extensively in cooking and baking as a liquid.
Cheddar cheese is an aged dairy product made from cow's milk and has an off white color and a dense texture. Some varieties are pale yellow or orange. It is made into a wheel and is often sold as a small block, in slices or grated. The flavor of cheddar is sharp and pungent. It is a popular cheese in the Western world and melts nicely.
The onion is a bulb vegetable, meaning its bulb and not its leaves are eaten. Onions come in many varieties, including white, yellow and red. Shallots are small and mild onions. Vidalias are sweet, while red onions are strong and sharp. The onion is usually round and has a thin dry skin around its juicy layers. This skin depends in the color of the onion, as does the flesh. The flesh, or body of the onion is made of multiple round layers, that get smaller towards the center. The flavor of onions are sharp and sweet when raw, with an astringent taste. When cooked, these flavors mellow and the sweetness emerges. Onion are a very common flavoring and ingredient for many savory dishes.
Butter is made from churned cream, usually from a cow. It has a cream color and a texture that is smooth and melts easily. The flavor is mild, creamy and salty. Butter is often sold in square sticks, or as a flat or round block. It is delicious on bread, in baked goods and makes an excellent cooking fat.
All purpose flour comes from wheat and though wheat is cultivated all around the world today, it was first cultivated in Turkey 10,000 years ago. All purpose flour is white in color and has a soft texture. This incredibly versatile flour is used in everything from breads, cakes, pastries, crackers, pasta, sauces and much more because of its pleasing and mild flavor that is slightly nutty and buttery. The gluten protein is what helps hold together breads and other products, part of what makes all purpose wheat flour so popular.
Salt is a mineral composed mostly of sodium chloride. It is the main flavoring used in food and is naturally occurring in certain foods, such as cheese, beets, meat and celery, plus many others. Salt is white and has finer granules than sugar. Many commercial salts include iodide, while others exclude it. Most salts are white, while some are naturally pale pink with minerals. Salt brings out the flavor of something and can create a tangy mouthfeel, if used in excess.
Salt and pepper is a seasoning mix composed of these two ingredients. Black pepper has a cool and mildly spicy flavor. Salt brings out the flavor in food. This combination is a mix of grey/black and white granules. It is used on many savory dishes to boost the flavor.
