Captain Cook's Kitchen Stratagems: Perfect Tomato Sauce
If I cook the perfect tasting tomato sauce today, it will taste over-seasoned tomorrow.
What stratagem is in use?
Metaphorically speaking, number 14: ?Borrowing a corpse for the soul's return“. Something new is created from something old (Senger 1993: 215-232).
In this case, the sauce base ("corpse") takes on a new flavor character ("soul") over a longer period of time. This is because the more spices I pop into the saucepan and the longer they have time to work together, the more intense the interplay of flavors develops, which is why even cooking professionals advise being not too creative and sparing with the spice ingredients (Arnu 2015).
For getting the perfect tomato sauce, 2 + 1 stratagems come into question:
Number 11, ?Let the plum tree wither instead of the peach“, means in this context that I make a sacrifice for the greater indulgence: I either cook only as much as I can finish today (Senger 1993: 147-170), or I forgo the quick treat now so that I can have more of it later - in which case stratagem 11 would merge into number 16: ?To catch something, first let it go“. In doing so, you first take a step back in order to then take two steps forward (Senger 1993: 253-294).
Number 17 leads to the same result: ?Toss the brick to get the jade“. I invest time today and wait a day; in return I get lots of good food tomorrow. And also save on spices (Senger 1992: 344-408).
Sources
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