Balancing flavours is probably the most challenging part of creating a tasty comestible. Put simply, technique can be easily taught, flavour balancing cannot. Due to supply issues with some ingredients of the planned cocktail for this column, instead of writing about an off-the-wall cocktail created using esoteric modernist techniques, we are going back to the basics to talk about flavour balancing in cocktails from an analytic perspective; specifically, we are going to discuss how salt and acid can be used to develop a better cocktail through one of the simplest (and tastiest) cocktails in existence – the Gin and Tonic. Unsurprisingly, a classic G&T is composed solely of gin and tonic water (this isn’t the same thing as soda water!) in varying proportions. We like our G&Ts with a 1:1 volumetric ratio of gin to tonic water, but everyone has a different personal preference.
Observant readers of the “Aberdeen Hi-flier” column will recall the seemingly odd addition of a pinch of salt to the concoction. In fact, the quantity actually used was far less than a pinch, closer to 6 mg than the ~0.6 g in a pinch. One might think that such a tiny amount of anything would be imperceptible; however, salt plays a much subtler and more influential role in flavour than just the mere addition of “saltiness” that one gets in high concentrations. The easiest demonstration of one of these effects is the gradual addition of tiny amounts of salt to a bitter liquid such as coffee or tonic water. At a certain concentration, the Na+ ions from the salt will interfere with the tongue’s ability to detect bitterness, resulting in the beverage losing all trace of its previous bite (this is a really useful trick for rendering otherwise undrinkably over-extracted Starbucks or trade convention coffee tolerable). The blocking of bitterness isn’t the only subtle flavour effect of salt at low concentration, but it is the easiest to describe and demonstrate. For a more practical demonstration, the same experiment can be performed with a gin and tonic, which is a complex herbal, floral, fruity, astringent, and somewhat bitter beverage. The loss of bitterness will occur as expected, but the flavour of the cocktail will also develop into a fuller, richer, more complete profile as salt is added, up until a point at which it becomes “salty.” As these concentrations are ludicrously small (just a few grains of salt for a cup), it’s difficult to give guidelines as it is impossible to measure such tiny amounts without laboratory-grade equipment, so just experiment using the finely calibrated eyeball and tongue.
Acid plays a similar role to salt in allowing the full flavour of a foodstuff to be perceived. In modern mixology, this often takes the form of adding purified citric or malic acid to the cocktail; however, the juice of any acidic fruit can be used as well, although one has to take into account their flavours as well. Lime and lemon juice are ideal for this due to their very low pHs (around 2-2.5), but there are many other culinary acids such as tamarind or even vinegar that could be used if the flavour of the drink were conducive to their addition. By slowly adding lime juice to the basic gin and tonic, the effects of pH on flavour can be observed, although this experiment is complicated by the additional flavours the juice introduces. The effect of acid tends to be more subtle than that of salt, especially as there are no extremely dramatic transformations like the bitterness blocking effect, but the tuning of a drink’s pH still plays a critical role in turning a “good” cocktail into a “great” one. Once again, experimentation is required, but the quantities used are high enough that it is reasonably easy to actually measure and record instead of eyeballing everything as is necessary with salt.
Correct salt content and pH are two of the most fundamental components of making anything, not just cocktails, taste better. In fact, often what makes a restaurant dish taste better than one from a home kitchen is an increased salt content. So, if your cocktail or dish is tasting “flat” or is missing something that you can’t quite identify, just try adding salt or acid.
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