(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What’s For Dinner? v21.14 When Your Palate Changes [1] ['Greg Dworkin', 'Mettle Fatigue'] Date: 2026-10-03 So, the other week I bought potatoes, carrots, and an onion because I was planning on making some Japanese kare raisu. But then I said to myself, “I’ve just had some REALLY highly seasoned and rich food the past two weeks. I need something to ease my palate”. Which made me think of the fine line between “enough”, “well”, and “too much”, and how my body and palate seem to be changing post gall bladder surgery. What’s for Dinner?is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions. We also have a handy post with links from our archives here: Master Index 2014-2025 We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23! Usually, “highly seasoned” means salt. There’s an adage about how fine dining chefs are trained to season: Salt it to the point where one more grain would push it into “too salty” territory. It’s called “seasoning to the edge”. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but sometimes, you can make a mistake, OR, your palate suddenly changes. For example, I made a meatloaf and roast potatoes a few weeks ago. I seasoned the meatloaf just right, but in the roaster, I put water on the bottom, and then I put some Knorr’s chicken powder in the water to give it some flavor. Well, the water evaporated out, and what remained besides that salty bouillon was the fat that rendered from the loaf. You know that beef frying in beef fat for a bit too long smell? Not sour, but very intense? That was the crust on the bottom of the loaf. Not burnt (but close), but very intense. And that crust also felt hugely saltier than the rest of the loaf. Because that salt in the Knorr’s concentrated and fried into the bottom of the loaf. I also accidentally put too much salt on the taters when I tossed them in oil to go in the oven. Anyway, while VERY good, the seasoning (pretty much only salt and pepper and MSG) got real intense and rich. The crust and the potatoes together were very very close to being way oversalted. zenbassoon zenbassoon The week before the meatloaf, I made oven baked chicken thighs and paired it with fried corn, rice and cheese sauce, and I put BBQ sauce on the thighs after the skin crisped and I removed it. Then I mixed it all together. Also really rich and highly seasoned. I highlighted it in my last diary. In this case, it was just the avalanche of different things. The Open Pit BBQ sauce (If you’ve had it, you know), all the pepper in the corn, the fish stock in the rice (as I mentioned, it didn’t taste too fishy, but the taste was there), the richness of the butter, the poultry seasoning on the chicken, those all came together and it was almost too much. I could hardly even taste the cheese in the cheese sauce there was so much going on. Like what overstimulation does to me mentally, this overstimulation of flavors really messed with me. Anyway, after those two weeks, I had originally planned some Japanese kare raisu, as I mentioned, but my tummy told me “Nope. Make something lighter and not as rich or seasoned”. So I did. Here’s what I used, and how much it cost: 3 lbs (and change) of boneless skinless chicken thighs. From Aldi. They always have the best price for those. About $8 for 3 lbs, give or take. 2 lbs small-ish red potatoes. I buy the loose potatoes because I can buy only what I need, and they usually cost less than bagged. $1.30 a pound 1.1 lbs carrots. Again, I buy them loose to control quantity. $0.99 a pound ain’t bad, either. 1 large onion–at least a pound. $1.29 2 boxes chicken broth. These were $1.40 each. This was the only salt I used. Especially since it wasn’t low sodium broth. 2 packages fresh dill. If I drive a ways, I can get a bunch of real fresh dill, but these were prepackaged (Meyer Farms) and sold for $2.99 each 1 lemon. $0.79 each 1 large head of garlic. $0.99. Yes, I used all the cloves. I kept them whole or halved. 2 packs plain gelatin. The box is like $1.85 and comes with 4 packs. 1 cup dry medium pearled barley. The box is $2.99, and 1 cup is a bit less than half the box. So the first thing I did was bloom the gelatin in one of the boxes of stock zenbassoon Then, while it was doing its thing, I chopped the veggies and garlic and put them in the slow cooker, tossing with some dried thyme and dried tarragon, and MSG. And no, MSG is not salt, but it enhances salt among other things. Anyway, I put the chicken on top of the veggies and added the broth zenbassoon zenbassoon When the chicken hit 175, I pulled it out, turned the cooker to high, and let the potatoes and carrots get tender. Once that happened, I added the barley. When the barley was done, I diced and added the chicken back in zenbassoon zenbassoon Then I added dill. And I should have stopped there. But then I added the zest and juice of one lemon. A big lemon. And I overdid it. Too much lemon. Too bright. Too acidic. Not enough warm chicken broth flavor. Then I tried to compensate with black pepper. Didn’t help much, if at all. zenbassoon zenbassoon I mentioned the cost because of what happened during the week this was my meals. It tasted wonderful for a couple days, but then the tummy started disagreeing. Mostly because of the lemon. Also, with the barley absorbing most of the broth, along with the potatoes, it felt really heavy. I really should have at least added some water to bring the liquid level back up. That might have helped a little. And those things started messing with my tummy. And freshly without a gall bladder, I was wise to listen to the tummy. I hate wasting food, but I couldn’t eat any more after three days. It was almost a physical reaction. It was as if my appetite had vanished and I had to force myself to eat so I could get nutrition. So the rest of the week I had plain hot dogs with just a tiny bit of mustard and some cup noodles. Nissin puts their cup noodles in a microwaveable cup, so it was easy to do at school. And this is a new thing for me. Not only with regards to how my tummy is reacting post gall bladder, but at times not being able to physically eat a whole week’s worth of the same meals. Because the hot dogs I had no issues with. Nor the cup noodles. Stuff like that I could eat all the time. The meatloaf I talked about earlier? Almost the same issue but if I didn’t eat too much of the bottom crust, it was OK. So the next week I did an experiment. I made a potato salad that really worked for my new tummy and palate. And then mid week, in order to make sure I had enough meals for the week, I made a different kind of salad. First, I diced and salted a cucumber, let it sit for like a half hour, then rinsed thoroughly. While that happened, I mixed a dressing of Kewpie mayo, a dash of shiro dashi, and a touch of sesame oil. zenbassoon zenbassoon Then I diced some Aldi frozen tuna into chunks and mixed it all together using only enough mayo dressing to cover. zenbassoon zenbassoon And it worked, too. The tuna and cucumbers were bright and fresh tasting, and the dressing was umami rich, but understated and a bit earthy, so there weren’t any sharp flavors. And then I tried a slow cooker chicken soup thing again. I started with 1oz dried shiitake mushrooms I had laying around. That morning, I soaked them in about 4.5 cups of hot tap water. A couple hours later, time to make the soup. This time I made sure to dice the carrots, onion, and celery rather small. I also minced up some garlic cloves, diced a bit of parmesan rind, and then diced the few mushrooms that made up the ounce. I added no salt. Then I added chicken thighs and a box of low sodium broth and the now strained mushroom water. And no extra seasoning. No salt, no nothing. zenbassoon zenbassoon When the chicken reached 175 degrees, I pulled it to cool, and turned the slow cooker to high to tenderize the veggies more. When the veggies were tender but still al dente, I diced the chicken and turned the heat off. In succession I added the chicken, one 25oz bag of frozen ravioli (a departure because I usually add more), stirred everything together, then chopped the celery leaves and added them. zenbassoon zenbassoon And my tummy was happy. The minimal seasoning of the ingredients made it light and almost refreshing, and the smaller dice of the veg and the chicken also helped make it that way as well. Could it have used some salt added by me? Yes, a bit, but I was satisfied with how it turned out, and that was enough for me. Also, as I used frozen pasta, it didn’t absorb water like dry barley would, so I had plenty of broth, which is always a good thing. So then finally I made the curry rice. I used beef this time, as the store had a “variety pack” of bottom round on sale. It came with a small roast, a few steaks, and some cubed stew meat. I did the curry like I have done the other times I’ve made it, adding extra water so I can have some unsalted broth for other cooking. I take that broth out before I add the roux. When I added the roux, and started mixing in my rice, it looked a little too juicy for me, so I removed some of the roux. As I learned a while back with my dongpo pork, if you have too much liquid, the rice absorbs and concentrates all that flavor. Too much. But this time, I removed a good bit of the liquid curry roux in time. It turned out pretty good. The removal of some of the roux made the flavor milder–not as curry forward, which my tummy appreciated. And I can freeze that extra roux and add a couple of tablespoons to other preparations for a little extra “je ne sais quoi”. So what have I learned? Well, the main thing is that my palate has indeed changed. Not so much as a matter of “this tastes bad now, but this that used to taste bad is now good”, but in degree. For example, if I do a beef broth in barley, I need to ensure I have enough broth to counter a lot of the fat in the meat, not to serve it like a non Newtonian like stew. I’ve learned that my “edge” has moved back. I’ve learned more about my body’s reactions to acidic and astringent tastes, whether from lemons, fat, or even salt. And I’ve learned I can still cook incredible meals without adding a plethora of seasonings. And I’m not as young and indestructible as I pass myself off as. And with that said, tonight’s WFD is my second soup in a row, this time a slow cooker version of German green bean soup. And I nailed the seasoning with it. No extra salt (because smoked meats), but wonderfully herby. Like I said, I can still cook great stuff that fits my new palate. I may also make another focaccia this weekend. This time with garlic confit, goat cheese, and walnuts along with the smoked or regular flaky salt. So here’s a great topic for discussion tonight: How have physical things like gall bladder surgery, etc, and how have age and time changed your palate in general? And not just in terms of “I hated peppers as a kid but now I love them”, but in the holistic sense as well? An example might be how has your physical tolerance for the effects of capsaicin changed over the years, or something like that. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/3/800088211/community/w/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/