Cooking and 5 senses

Cooking the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat.

Cooking makes use of all 5 senses, how so you may ask. Tongue, the eyes, the nose, the ears and the skin, yes the skin.

You need all five senses when cooking. No one sense is more important than the other.
It all really starts at the grocery store or super market.
When you select ingredients at the grocery store you don't pick up anything that LOOKS bad, do you? Your sight is your first sense that comes into play. If it doesn't look right then it's not going into your basket, is it? Look for good color in any ingredient that you're planning on using for any meal.
After you've decided what ingredients have passed your visual inspection you then want to inspect them by touch. No one wants a green pepper or tomato that isn't firm or in it bright colour. After the sight/touch test I want to give all my goodies a sniff. It's not complicated. Your nose will tell you if it's right. Fish shouldn't smell too fishy, nor should any meat have an odor at all.

Depending on what you're sampling you might also want to take a little taste. Some things you can do this with, some things you can't. Common sense will guide you with that. Don't sample raw meat, but by all means DO sample things like scent leave, curry leave or the smaller fresh fruits like grapes.
Your hearing also comes into play if you're looking for things like Okra. Grab a few stalks, and snap the ends, was it a fresh "SNAP" in your ear? Good stuff then. If not, then find something fresher.

Now on to the cooking!

If your frying egusi, while the red oil in the pan gets hot and you pour in the egusi, it should sizzle also If you're searing meat...it should sizzle loudly as you drop it in the pan. Your ear will clue you in there. If it doesn't sizzle, then your pan isn't hot enough. Also, the surface of your meat should get good and brown, but not over-done! That's sight coming into play. Don't be afraid of a deep brown color. That equals flavor! The smell should just reach the point of making you think it's burning, but that's just the outside getting a good flavorful crust.

Your vegetables shouldn't be cooked too long. If you cook them just right they'll keep a nice crunch (touch sense there!), and they'll take on brighter colors than they had when raw! There's your sight cue right there!
Throw in some herbs or spices near the end of the cooking process so they don't burn, and you'll have something that's out of this world! The smell will tell you so!

And when it comes to baking, the nice aroma of vanilla tells you the cake is been baked and should be out in a few minutes, did i mention how the nose will also tell you your cookies are burning in the oven lols.

Don't forget to sample your own cooking WHILE it's cooking, and you'll have a good idea of when it'll all come together, and if you need to doctor it up before serving. Needless to say, that's your sense of taste making it's self useful.

 

If you can smell food you better check on it.

Now begin to make good use of those senses. *wink