Jamaican Pork with Caribbean Pineapple Relish, recipe

Photo by Smuckers

These days, taste buds speak the language of big, bold flavors. More and more often, where you find beef and pork, you'll find ancho chiles, hoisin, chimichurri, sofrito — a whole world of tangy, powerful tastes. Whether it's a favorite ethnic sauce recipe that's older than your great-grandmother, or a trendy new spice rub, extreme flavors rule.

“Today's palate is a lot different than it was 20 years ago,” says Derek Roy, executive chef, Bon Appetit Management Co., St. Joseph College, West Hartford, CT. Roy believes people are much more in tune with intensely flavorful world food trends and bold tastes than ever before.

“The melting pot has come full circle,” he adds, noting that while ethnic treatments of beef and pork definitely pack a flavorful punch, they can have the added benefit of often employing underutilized cuts of meat, which tend to be thriftier choices in the face of rising operational and food costs. The result is good taste and good value.

“From an economic standpoint, those dishes often originated in environments where people needed to make the most of their food budgets, so they developed ways to bring out the flavor with other ingredients,” Roy says. “It really is ‘soul food.’ It's good for the soul.”

The vehicles that deliver those enhanced flavors are often marinades, rubs, sauces, condiments and cooking techniques. Roy's Sofrito Roasted Pork features a Latin American condiment, sofrito, which can boost the flavor quotient of just about anything (see recipe).

Menus Without Borders

Consider classic ethnic flavor profiles: pineapple and jerk seasoning for Caribbean food; cilantro and cumin for Mexican food; lemon and olive oil for Greek food…the list goes on and on.

Paying attention to the way spices work in different cultures means taking the time to learn about how flavors work. “Be true to the culture's food that you're cooking,” says Rolf Baumann, corporate chef for Delaware North Companies Sportservice.

In Indian cuisine, for example, “Authentic chefs can take a whole coriander seed and make that seed taste eight different ways,” says Peter Abrahamson, executive chef, Bon Appetit Management Co., St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN. In Abrahamson's kitchen, chefs buy whole spices in bulk and grind them on the premises, sometimes stopping to roast them first. For best results, Abrahamson recommends checking your spices often, as many have a shorter shelf life than most people think.

Abrahamson springs to action during the short-lived Minnesota strawberry season to flavor his Slow Roasted Berkshire Pork Loin. “We make a peppery, sweet and tart strawberry jam in bulk, preserve it, and complement many dishes with it throughout the year,” he says.

Like the strawberry jam, flavor profiles can emerge from a favorite farmers' market, but inspiration may also come from half a world away. Baumann notes that wars — like the one we're in now — are often catalysts for new tastes coming home with the soldiers. He predicts even more Middle Eastern flavors becoming popular in mainstream U.S. kitchens.

Lean Cuts for Lean Times

A lot of chefs agree that almost anyone can make a filet mignon taste great, but it takes more artistry to coax the juicy flavor out of a flank steak. When done right, the “lesser” cuts of meat like beef or pork shanks or osso bucco have a lot to offer. “The cheaper cuts have more connective tissue; the active muscle groups lend more flavor,” Roy from St. Joseph College says.