How to Save a Bad Recipe

On this site’s sidebar you can find some basic information about balancing tastes, but also check this great advice below, directly quoted from Heidi and JS Ohlander, the creators of Raw Food, Right Now!, a website dedicated to making the raw food diet fun and easy for everyone. Heidi & JS help bring raw food to your world by offering tips, news, and information on integrating raw foods into your daily life. Visit their site at http://www.RawFoodRightNow.com

7 Tips For Saving Your Raw Recipe From Disaster-ville

Too oily? A lot of recipes can be completely ruined by putting in too much oil. If this happens, it’s hard to go back unless you want to make a very large batch of whatever you are making by adding in tons of the dry ingredients. Try adding some good spices and flavors to turn it into a veggie dip or salad dressing. This way, you can have it for salads, or use it to dress up just about any dish.
Too salty? This can happen just as easily with making something too oily. You can either add more of the rest of the ingredients, or put in something sweet to balance out the salt. A drizzle of agave nectar sometimes helps, but sometimes you have to salvage an extra salty recipe with honey, or even maple syrup.
Too spicy? Ouch. The best way to balance out too much spicy heat is to add some sort of fat, be it a creamy avocado, or perhaps some coconut oil or olive oil, depending on the recipe. You could also try adding some sweetness and see if that helps. Another good trick is to add lemon juice or lime juice. This can help cut any spicy flavor to make it more palatable.
Too sweet? Depending on if this is a smoothie or some other dish, adding salt can help cut sweetness. Try also adding more oil or fats. If it is too sweet and the recipe calls for leafy greens, you can always add a bunch more leafy greens and they will balance out the sweetness.
Too thick? This is most easily fixed with adding water, although sometimes that may not even do it. This one is tricky. If you do add water, we suggest you add water in small amounts, slowly, so you don’t end up with some weird coagulated blob. Go slow on this one!
Too much of one ingredient? Too much garlic? You can either up the other ingredients equally, or try adding in a fat to cut the garlic. We recommend avocadoes in this situation, depending on the recipe.
Oh no! The ultimate disaster! If you’ve tried all the above tricks and you’ve still got something you can’t stomach… When all else fails, you can dump it all into your blender and keep adding something until it tastes palatable. Boom! Instant smoothie or soup.Our favorite to add to an ultimate recipe disaster is greens or fruit. If all else fails, at least you have a savory green smoothie…still nutritious and fulfilling!

Now that you know how to save any recipe from impending doom, you will never have to throw away all that time and money, not to mention emotional investment. You will feel like a master chef in the kitchen now, able to save even the most disgusting recipe into a decadent delight.

Ingredient Tags

agave almond butter almond mylk/almond milk almonds apple cider vinegar apples avocados/avocadoes balsamic vinegar bananas basil beets bell peppers black pepper blueberries Brazil nuts butternut squash cabbage cacao butter cacao nibs cacao powder cardamon carob powder carrots cashews cayenne celery Celtic sea salt chia seeds/MILA chili/chile/chilli cinnamon coconut coconut butter coconut flakes coconut mylk/ coconut milk coconut nectar coconut oil coriander leaves/cilantro cranberries cucumbers cumin curry powder dates dill figs flax seeds garlic ginger grapes green onions hazelnuts hemp seeds Himalayan pink sea salt honey kale lemon juice lemons lemon zest limes lucuma maca macadamia nuts mangos/mangoes maple syrup mesquite mint mint extract miso nama shoyu/raw soy sauce nutmeg nutritional yeast olive oil onion powder onions oranges papayas/papaws/pawpaws paprika parsley pears pecans pineapples pine nuts pumpkin seeds raisins raspberries rosemary sea salt sesame oil sesame seeds spinach stevia strawberries sun-dried tomatoes sunflower seeds tahini tamari thyme tomatoes vanilla walnuts zucchini
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The Art of Flavour
Taste is the ability to respond to dissolved molecules and ions called tastants. Humans detect taste with taste receptor cells. These are clustered in taste buds. Each taste bud has a pore that opens out to the surface of the tongue enabling molecules and ions taken into the mouth to reach the receptor cells inside. There are five primary taste sensations:

1) SALTINESS Add a salty flavour to your food by using natural Celtic, Himalayan, and sea salts, but go easy on the portions. Even natural salts are not actually that good for us. You can also use nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), garlic “salt,” sun-dried tomatoes, and celery. Saltiness brings out all the other flavours to balance, especially anything sweet, so adding a dash to your chocolate recipes is a good thing.

2) SWEETNESS Sweetness balances the salty taste in your uncooking. Raw honey may be the first sweet flavour that comes to mind, but you can also use agave syrup, plain old fruit, maple syrup, dates and other dried fruits such as figs and apricots. Keep in mind that honey is not vegan, and maple syrup is not really raw. Both are better than refined sugar, however, and are packed with minerals and vitamins.

3) SOURNESS Balance salty and sweet flavours with a sour taste. A recipe containing these three flavours will provide great balance. For a sour taste use citrus juices, tamarind, raspberries, cranberries, pickles, tomatoes, rejuvelacs, and vinegars.

In general if your recipe has a good balance of the 3 flavors above, it is going to taste yummy!

4) BITTERNESS Generally speaking, bitterness is not desirable in large quantities, but it so happens that bitter foods and herbs can be quite healthy. They can also be tasty in the right quantity. Green tea and Okinawan goya (bitter gourd) are a case in point.

5) UMAMI Umami is a taste found naturally in seaweeds and is the response to salts of glutamic acid, like monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer used in many processed foods and in many Asian dishes. This stuff is definitely to be avoided, as is アミノ酸 (aminosan) found in far too many processed foods in Japan.

OTHER ASEPTS INFLUENCING FLAVOUR

A) AROMA Aromatics refer to the sense of smell, not taste, but they are closely related and influence each other. Aroma adds depth to flavours. Here are some aromatic ingredients to use in your uncooking: onions, garlic, shallots, leeks, celery, sweet peppers, ginger or galangal, citrus zest, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass. Aromatic herbs include parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, mint, etc. (fresh herbs are definitely better in the raw food context!) Aromas tend to come out far more when heating food, but do indeed apply to raw food preparation. Hot peppers and such like those listed below are also aromatic.

B) SPICINESS (HEAT) Spices add a combination of the above flavours, but also add different levels of heat, if not at least a “bite." Add dry spicy ingredients before marinating to balance the flavours better. Use oil to bring out the taste of dried herbs and spices. Items that add heat include black pepper, curries, chilis, cayenne, hot paprika, cumin, raw garlic, wasabi, cloves, tumeric, coriandar, mustards, etc.

C) CREAMINESS This is more of a texture than taste, but if all the spice is getting to be too much, a little nut mylk or kream can do wonders. No wonder so many hot Asian curries have coconut milk in them!
- Too spicy? Add some sweetness or creaminess
- Too sweet? Add some sour or spiciness
- Too sour? Add sweet
- Too bland? Add salt or some spiciness
- Too salty? Add sour
- Just needs a spark? Add acid or one of the aromatics added at the end of cooking, or just a touch of heat (spiciness)
- Too harsh? Try just a touch of sweetness
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