#13: Bitter

on the taste of bitterness; recipe for a radicchio risotto, Escher's Terra, cielo e acqua

Aperol or Campari Spritz? Campari.
Or chinotto for a soft drink.
Always coffee.
Dandelion greens, for my infusions, or to dress pappardelle pasta, with nettle and wild garlic too.
Dark chocolate.

Due to their strong flavour, bitter foods have earned a difficult reputation in kitchens, and bitter ingredients are rarely advised if one is cooking for someone for the first time. To say that a person is bitter doesn’t bring more ease either – anger comes to mind, or someone who can’t forget unhappy things that have happened in the past. I suppose bitter food sticks inside the mouth, a lingering taste of blood, like starting an argument for no other reason than the insecurity of being alive.

Bitter compounds in foods include peptides, salt, plant-derived phenols and polyphenols, caffeine, for examples, and bitter tastes contribute to one’s enjoyment of beverages and foods. Continuing with the data, studies have proven that humans possess multitudes and diverse bitter taste receptors and, reciprocally, the sensual deduction of bitter taste may be altered by one’s compound or another – that is, by a person’s context.

One of the common issues with bitterness is that it has a tendency to overtake everything else. Without making a generality, but for the sake of taking the thought forward, it stuck with me that a few friends, who quit drinking alcohol over the years, have told me that they avoid bitter tastes because they remind them of a drink. I can’t relate as far as I still drink, but I can see why. Bitter flavours cry wolf to the cooks: loud, a tad swaggering, rather than being receptive, until they’re paired with something sweet, creamy or acidic, so they can reach their full potential, strong-minded but empathetic; balanced and delicious. I should add here that research has proven that bitter tastes work well as flavouring agents: they enhance sweet and sour tastes.

A recipe for a radicchio risotto, for two, as a good example: