It was a beautiful Saturday morning on the Westside of Oahu. It was on the sixth hole when a woman playing in our golf group offered to serve us mai tais. As usual, I am curious as to what’s in things. Walking down the fairway together, we talked story about her recipe for her mai tai mix. I never worked as a bartender, but I did create a few cocktails during our “cocktail menu development” sessions when the restaurant was open. For me, creating a new drink recipe is similar to cooking. Good thing it was a long par five, as we were able to talk leisurely about the creative process of cocktails and cooking.
In the restaurant, I have a concept called the “five boxes.” Being that we were on the golf course, I renamed it for her as the five bags of balls — golf balls, that is. Each bag has a name. They are salty, sweet, acidic, heat and bitter. The salty bag has all kinds of salts, shoyus, fish sauces, miso varieties and more. The sweet bag contains not only all types of sugars, but also molasses, agave, honey, monk fruit powder and even fruits. The acidic bag contains various vinegars and citrus fruits. The heat bag has all the fresh chilies and bottled hot sauces. The bitter bag contains items like bitter melon, watercress and endives. I am only scratching the surface here, as there are many more ingredients that can go in these categories. There is a sixth flavor, “umami,” which is another story all in itself.
I have reduced cooking down to two simple ideas — seasoning and balance. The next time you cook, remember that your touch in seasoning the dish is the most important thing. Usually, it means that last little sprinkle of salt, or a few drops of shoyu which come from the “salty” category. After seasoning, the second most important thing is to balance the flavors in your dish. Combinations like sweet and sour, hot and sour, or sweet and heat, for example, are simply balancing acts.
Each of us have our own likes and dislikes, our “go-to flavors,” and a certain tolerance for salt, sugar, vinegar and hot chilies. As for myself, I only started to like “bitter” as I got more into cooking. As time passed and I traveled more, I learned new things and my palate evolved. Cooking can be complex, however, when simplified into categories like this, it becomes a little easier.
It turned out that I never had that mai tai. I had a decent round of golf with great friends, learned a new recipe for a mai tai mix, and discovered a fresh way of explaining something that I have taught for so many years. So, next time in the kitchen, notice all the substitutions you can make, and remember, if you don’t have one ingredient, you don’t have go to the store. Make do with what you have and maybe it will lead to a new dish!
Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday.
