for real, though, why do recipes consistently tell you to use less herbs and spices in than you should. fuck your “two cloves of garlic,” fuck your “half teaspoon of cinnamon,” and you can absolutely go to hell with your “dash of black pepper”
I’m pretty sure that the only time I’ve ever actually managed to overseason food was when working with balsamic vinegar, which is the most overpowering motherfucker of a sauce known to man
i appreciate the energy and anger in this post, which is righteous and just
Hey, foodservice professional here, and there’s an answer to that! The industry doesn’t want you to be able to cook well.
I’m serious.
Cookbooks are NOTORIOUS for not listing sufficient seasonings because that’s one of the biggest “secrets” to why restaurant food tastes good. The other ones are “we use WAY more butter than you think” and “our equipment, top to bottom, is better than yours”
Interestingly, most non-American (which is to say, “American” as in American cuisine) cultures don’t run into this issue, mainly because those cultures either lived on their own long enough to develop deep food cultures, had access to a wider assortment/range of seasoning options, or were placed in situations where you NEEDED to aggressively season the bullshit you were given by colonizers/slavemasters
So yeah! Expect any and every recipe you read to need the phrase “season to taste”, regardless of how much salt/pepper/etc is listed in the ingredients
Also! Season as you go, season in layers, and don’t season anything you have to reduce until it’s just about ready (or completely ready, like some soups)