Less is More

I like to explore when I'm cooking, trying new things and seeing if two ingredients can be tied together. One of the first things I remember experimenting with was orange zest. I once tried to make stir-fried nian gao (Chinese rice-cakes) with orange zest. Orange zest works well in rice pudding, and rice cakes are also rice-based, so it should work, right? Spoiler alert, wrong. I also lacked a box-grater, so I cut the "zest" with a paring knife, which also did not help. In my defense, I was also 14 at the time.

I was trying to create something new for the sake of creating something new. On the surface, it makes sense though. Cooking is a form of art, and art is about creating something. A painter adds colors to a blank canvas to capture the sunset. A pianist hits 5 keys at once to produce a beautiful sound. A cook, on the other hand, starts from things that already have their own flavors and textures: fish, beef, tomatoes, carrots, etc. E.g. a tomato is already sweet, umami, sour, and juicy, without doing anything to it.

Since you're not starting from nothing (as with most other arts), the goal in cooking is a bit different. It isn't to create from scratch, it's to highlight what's already there. Complexity in the name of being creative or novel results in one of two things: it either makes a dish worse (see above) or buries the natural flavors of the ingredients. Doing the minimm necessary to an ingredient tends to result in a good dish. Examples of this can be found across the globe. E.g. in Argentina, steak is seasoned only with salt and pepper to highlight the meat. Or in China, many vegetable dishes are very simple to highlight the natural flavors already there: a vegetable, oil, salt, and garlic, ripped in a smoking hot wok.

This isn't a blanket argument against creativity or flavor maximalism. When done right, it's fantastic. A well-executed curry needs every ingredient in its list. However, there needs to be a very clear reason for it. A good question to ask isn't "what do I want to make", it's "what flavors are already there that I want to show off". Without that, you end up with orange zest in nian gao.